New member introductions

[Garry]

Welcome Greg, and congratulations on your purchase, it looks like a really nice 280SL and a great color.

Garry

[w113dude]

Very nice car Greg and welcome,

  The lesson learned - Wait for the right one.  I always heard ..." buy the best car you can afford, or you will spend way more on fixing problems".

I have to disagree, if we all bought the perfect car this forum would not exist wouldn't you say?. (coming from someone who did not wait and could not afford the perfect one) 

Happy Driving,

[Flyair]

Shaun
interesting remark, I must say…. so in conclusion we are here a a bunch of Pagoda victims fighting to get them back to a correct, if not perfect stage

[gboyd]

This is whats great about this forum.  We get to connect with people all around the world that share a common infatuation with a piece of rolling art.  And to w113dude, to to be clear, this car is not perfect.  I've spent plenty of time drooling over those Brian has at motoringinvestments.  But it was the perfect one for me, that I could afford at this time in my life.  I'm still pinching myself that I actually have one.  I first have to fix that gas smell in the trunk or my wife will not ride with me, and that could make for a pretty lonely Pagoda experience. (I'm not inferring that I make her ride in the trunk..... but sometimes....hmmm)

[w113dude]

I first have to fix that gas smell in the trunk or my wife will not ride with me, and that could make for a pretty lonely Pagoda experience.

If I were you I'd think twice before fixing that smell in the trunk. remember you are never lonely when driving a pagoda 

[49er]

Welcome Greg, Beautiful car and I hope you will have many years of driving enjoyment with it. I have had mine for 44 years now and it is still a thrill to get behind the wheel and go for a spin. Congratulations.

John

[Peter van Es]

Great car!

[gerster]

What a magnificent car you have now Greg. Congratulations.

Greetings: Ger.

[jorge espinoza]

Just started a rebuild of my 1968 280sl 4spd . I just bought the car in November and had the drive train rebuilt . The rebuilt engine was turned on today and purred beautifully . Car should be ready before Christmas and will be my best X-mas present so far . All your input has been very helpful , thanks to all Jorge .

[KevinC]

Jorge,

Looks like a nice car. Best of luck. Keep posting pics.

Kevin

[kampala]

Congrats.  Very nice to hear you got it purring ... major accomplishment.  A Xmas to remember ... all the other kids on your block will be quite jealous.

Enjoy.

Oz

[jedwards]

Good day to you all and a very Merry Christmas. 

My name is Jeff Edwards and I am a new member based in Perth, Western Australia.
I recently purchased a lovely red 250SL, to replace my 1984 Porsche Club-sports Cabriolet,  which has gone to a collector in Brisbane.
The 250SL will keep my 1969 Aston Matin DBS Vantage company.
My daily drive is a Mercedes 230SLK.

I have previously rebuilt a W107 series 450SL, so I am hoping the 250SL will seem reasonably familiar as a result.
I hope to make a useful contribution to the group.

best wishes
Jeff

[lamakdaddy]

Hello from Abu Dhabi.  I am a Brit living in the UAE and love cars, old and new.  I purchased this california car in mid 2012 and had it shipped over.  Its in great condition with lots of evidence of being well looked after.  It does need the gearbox shift rebushing.  I have also had the AC compressor changed to the rotary type and it seems to be working well.  She is 670 colour code. The hardtop should be the same colour but has been resprayed to a nice contrasting brown which i do like.  The interior has been retrimmed in congac (GAHH supplied accoding to the invoices).

I notice the engine ticks loudly under acceleration- it can be heard more inside the car and sounds like a sewing machine. Other than that it drives well.  The underside is very original with the rootbeer coating intact.  Its in remarkable condition.  She has been rechromed and repainted - both to an exceptional standard. 

Overall I am pleased with the purchase

[Larry & Norma]

Nice looking car, European headlights and bumper overiders, unusual combination?
Enjoy.

[w113dude]

Hello from Abu Dhabi.  I am a Brit living in the UAE and love cars, old and new.  I purchased this california car in mid 2012 and had it shipped over.  Its in great condition with lots of evidence of being well looked after.  It does need the gearbox shift rebushing.  I have also had the AC compressor changed to the rotary type and it seems to be working well.  She is 670 colour code. The hardtop should be the same colour but has been resprayed to a nice contrasting brown which i do like.  The interior has been retrimmed in congac (GAHH supplied accoding to the invoices).

I notice the engine ticks loudly under acceleration- it can be heard more inside the car and sounds like a sewing machine. Other than that it drives well.  The underside is very original with the rootbeer coating intact.  Its in remarkable condition.  She has been rechromed and repainted - both to an exceptional standard. 

Overall I am pleased with the purchase

Hi Kamal,
Very nice color car, it looks to be a US export with Euro headlights, is it 717 white color code?
Since the car was in the shop recently I would assume valves and the timing has been checked.The ticking that you hear could be something as simple as the speedometer cable, when they get too dry and old they make that kind of sawing machine noise. disconnect the cable from behind the speedometer and take it for a test ride.

[lamakdaddy]

Hi

It's 670 color code which is gorgeous.  It's a US spec. The PO fitted euro headlights.  I will at some stage remove the side markers and overrides. The only issue is that it seems to nice to paint and the bumpers are in exceptional condition  so don't warrant replacement.

I will have the valve clearances checked as I am convinced that this is the noise as its related to engine speed.

Thanks

Kamal

[Flyair]

Kamal
,
warm welcome.

I also have a US style 1971 280SL and wasn't excited too much about side markers anne overriders as well as US headlamps. As the car is undergoing renovation, I took this opportunity to install Euro headlamps and remove side markers. The first item is clearly very easy (although excessively expensive). The second requires welding and repainting, but this want fine. For the moment I do not touch overriders. While removing it poses no problem, there are holes that have to be filled. And re-chroming the bumpers may not give the same quality as the original one. So maybe I will try the idea that - if I remember well - Cees was promoting: removing overriders and filing the holes with plastic plumbing caps...
I looked around but did not see appropriate caps…. so it is just a plan so far
   

[FRITZ68]

I have been getting some help regarding my wife's 1968 280SL on this forum and just sent in my year's membership, so I guess I am now an official member.  I am the retired founder of Tip Tools (now TP Tools) in Canfield, Ohio (our ad is always on the rear page of Hemmings Motor News above the index). We sell tools and equipment for restoration of antique cars and have been doing so since the early 1970s.  I am retired now, but still help my son with the business. 

In addition to helping out at work, my son and I have a small car museum in Canfield (over 35 cars - 2 Mercedes - my wife's 280SL and my 1962 220SEb 2 dr Hard Top.  See www.tipcars.us for some of the pictures.  Pictures of our two Mercedes are on the forum under the current topic on body and paint, along with a lot of history on the SL.  The forum topic deals with striping and a new paint job.  Since we have so many makes and models of cars, we participate in many other forums, but the Pagoda SL Group is the best of all - a very friendly group and all are very helpful.  Thanks to all for so much assisstance and advice.

Fred (Fritz68)

[Garry]

Welcome aboard Fred,

I had a look at your site some time ago when you first came on and you look like you have a wonderful shed of vehicles collected there.

Thanks for joining as a Full Member.  Whilst a major part of our site can be viewed free, to get the Pagoda Notes and Pagoda World magazines and to access some areas of the site such as wiring diagrams and linkage adjustment videos, we seek a small fee that in turn covers the cost of running the site.  All Board positions are voluntary and are manned by a varied crew from around the world

We need some paying members otherwise the site would not run so to others, if you are posting here and consider you are getting good value from the site, then i encourage you to join to help defray the cost of running it.

Garry
Membership Secretary
Other than Americas.

[FRITZ68]

Thank you Garry - glad to be here and hope to participate and help others as they have helped me.

[lamakdaddy]

How amazingly cool to have your own car museum.  You must have worked extremely hard to get to achieve this.  The 280sl looks great!

[kampala]

Fritz,

Welcome ... I echo that it's pretty impressive having a car museum.  I checked out the site under your paint discussions. 

One thing (among many) I have learned from this site is that when folks comment on wrong seats, or wrong trim etc, they are not doing it criticize, even though that's how it sounds, but are really doing it to advise on originality or to open up the discussion on differences. 

Sounds like you've done a tremendous amount of work on the Pagoda in a very short time ... well done.


Best,

Oz

[ja17]

Welcome Fred,

From the serial number, it looks like you have one of the earliest 280SLs Produced.  We have a lot of other W113 owners here in Ohio, so you are in a good network.

Yes I have seen the TP tool adds for years.

Joe Alexander
Blacklick, Ohio

[SGJ91]

Hello.

I don't actually have a W113, but I'm a fan.

I'm afraid the only M-B driving experience I have is with W204 C300s.

I hope to get myself a W113 in the future, perhaps even as a daily driver.

[Flyair]

SGJ91
most welcome…

I think that most of us share the same idea of being addicted to Pagoda style Ownership is optional, yet advisable . I would even say that not owning a Pagoda you miss a lot of simple pleasures, but you also are immune from lots of troubles, deceptions that end up in huge expenses. On that balance pleasure exceeds troubles…. of course

So, maybe you can launch a new trend: those who are funs, but not owners, should start a "Adopt a Pagoda" movement…. What do you think?