How often do you spot another Pagoda ?

[thelews]

Last night I was driving my 190 SL when I spotted what I thought looked like a Pagoda in the distance ahead of me with the top down.  I sped up, made the stoplight and caught up to the guy.  Beautiful dark blue with a creme interior, very sharp car, correct white walls.  He turned onto a road going into my relative neighborhood, and I stayed behind, ready to follow him home and find out who, what, when, where?  He then pulled over and I pulled up alongside to ask some questions, when, before I could say anything, he said, "are you John?"  A bit surprised, I asked who he was, not recognizing his name and he stated he wanted to follow me home.  I said sure.  We got to my house, he pulled in the drive and then got out and handed me a bottle of wine.  He'd driven 20 miles from the other side of town to thank me for referring him to Black Forest where he'd had upholstery and other work done on the car.  It all came together for me at that point, I'd seen the car at Black Forest several times and admired it.  Beautiful 230 in a knock out combination.  We had a fun hour in my driveway and garages swapping stories.

[JamesL]

A first for me!! I saw a Pagoda while IN my Pagoda

B1123 between Metfield and Halesworth in Suffolk.... coming towards me a Db906 280 (HDS ****)  We waved honked and went on our divergent ways and I spent the next couple of minutes wondering if I should turn round and hare after him.

A Sunday afternoon stalk.....

[suzy]

Saw 2 this past week.  One, a silver blue with a blue softtop, coming out of UCLA.  i sped up (wasn't in my Merc) and asked if he'd heard about the pagoda rally.  He wasn't very pleasant.  Bummer.  the other was my exterior color, and i saw him on Santa Monica Blvd off Roxbury in Beverly Hills while i was in my Merc, but i couldn't catch up to him!

[J. Huber]

You know, the sighting of another Pagoda is always fun -- but what gets me is how random this can be:

Example 1: This past Spring, I was down in Santa Barbara with my youngest daughters for a visit. Of course, seeing a Pagoda there is not much of a stretch, I would see several around town when I lived there. What was weird about this time was, I stepped out of my hotel at 6:30 in the morning to fetch a coffee, glanced up through some bushes and caught the fleeting glimpse of just the hardtop of a light brown Pagoda passing by. Split second. One in a bizillion chance?

Example 2: Last weekend, I was playing in a Charity Golf Tournament and on about the 6th hole I was hunting for my wayward tee-shot. That part is not a rare occasion    -- but when I looked up, about 10 feet away on the other side of the fence was a (rather dusty) brown 280SL with a cream hardtop. Just struck me as pretty random sighting...

[49er]

Hello James, other then the day you and Dick drove over I have only seen ONE other Pagoda in the last couple of years! That includes trips to Great Britain, the Seattle area, the San Francisco Bay area,  and the Southwest. Heading off to Europe next week for a month and I expect to see them on every street corner. We are going to meet up with Peter H (on this Forum) in Germany so I know for sure I will see at least one over there

John

[Ulf]

Almost tailgated a silver (180 like mine) 280 SL here in Copenhagen about an hour ago, he was a really nice guy who stopped to chat and gave me the phone number for some secret Mercedes-guru just half an hour away. Funny thing was that our cars looked almost identical with the same shade of dark red leather. This really made my day, as I'm growing steadily more unhappy with my current MB mechanic...
I'll try persuading him to become a member of this forum as he had owned his car for 11 years and seemed very knowledgeable about Pagodas.

Have a great day too!

Ulf

[J. Huber]

Hey Ulf -- sounds like a lucky spotting. Gurus like that are hard to find (near your home that is)...

Hey 49er -- hopefully you will see more Pagodas more often from now on... even if its the same one (mine!) And I am very envious of your visit to Deutschland and Peter H. His place looks fabulous as do the surroundings. Gute Reise!

[Peter h]

Hello

today i spottet a white 230sl from UK (but LHD) driving along the Mosel River from Traben-Trarbach. I pass the Pagoda and we wave our hands, then i turn left to my hometown Enkirch.
If someone else is driving along the Mosel on vacation, please give me a call www.neumuehle-enkirch.de and we meet us in our hotel for a coffee or a glass wine and a little talk about our Pagodas.

Peter

[France]

This time a real sighting...we headed out of Breckenridge for beautiful Telluride this week, came through Gunnison.  There, parked at a commercial garage, was a late 280, signal red like Carling, but with brown interior and headrests.  Texas plates...good nick...must be a seasonal resident having some work done.  The next Pagoda I see will be Carling herself, ensconced in A/C splendor for the summer.  It will be early November before I drive again.

[JamesL]

Silver 280 with silver hardtop just south of Gare de l'Est in Paris about 2 pm yesterday

Only caught a passing glance but for some reason I thought it looked like a US car (re-import?)

[49er]

Been in Europe three weeks (St. Petersburg today) and have not seen one pagoda other then Peter's a couple of weeks ago. Did see one vintage citroen in Bamburg Germany:-)

John

[dean]

Saw white one w/ hard top on, on Theodore Fremd in Rye, NY

[J. Huber]

OK, So I commented earlier on how random Pagoda sightings can be... How's this one?

So my daughter and I were looking on You-tube for an old commercial from the early 70s. Long story but I was explaining how things were when I was 12...

Anyway, I quickly came across a commercial for Hot Wheels from 1970. Clicked on it, and in the second segment, some kid (who looked a lot like me then or maybe Bobby Brady) announced that he was racing his...Mercedes 280SL! Blue one, looked like 396 G. Struck me pretty random since I was not even looking.

[RobMarks]

Spotted this one in ipswich rd Brisbane

Had NSW plate "6"

Curious whether its a member here

Your heart jumps at 100 yards  Haven't seen any others for many months

rob

[knockmacool]

Spotted this one in ipswich rd Brisbane

I couldn't help but notice it seems to be carrying a handbag on its rear bumper- is that an Aussie thing ?

[Garry]

Thats an Aussie thing, we have been sprung, we all have them,  now you all know about us folks down under.

It is actually a water bag I think which we use here occasionally that is made of jute/hessian and when moving the air flowing over the bag will bring the temperature of the water down. Called the Coolgardie Effect I believe. They are normally slung off the bull bar of a large four wheel drive vehicle in the outback.

This guys number plate No.6 for the State of New South Wales (NSW) is probably worth 4-5 times the car!!!! At least someone is going to take the number plate before they take the car.

[mbz.280sl]

Yesterday while visiting Kennebunkport, Maine I was walking in the center of town and a grey beige 1968 280 SL drove by .
I didn't get a chance to get close to the car but about ten minutes later it drove by in the opposite direction.
I got to stop the guy and talked to him for a minute. He didn't know about the web site so I told him about it.
It was a real clean car and naturally it had the top down. He knew about SL Tech. 

[Jim Donati]

New sighting !

Today I crossed paths with what appeared to be a tobacco brown 280SL with parchment interior  on Highway 1 as it passed through Morro Bay.  The top was down and the couple was enjoying the mild 70 degree temperature as they headed north up the coast of California. The vehicle looked to be in very good shape and the color combination was very striking.

Jim

[Faraizim]

Last week I spotted a silver later model with the top down outside of a popular italian restaurant in town it was the first 280SL i've seen here in 1 year. I've been looking desperately for a mechanic in Salt Lake City (two failed missions to the Benz dealer and an independent shop here and $1500 later). I dropped my business card in the front seat of this 280SL with a note for a mechanic referral. I got a call that night from the owner, a doctor, who suggested a guy who only does old Mercedes in an old dusty alley in the city. Long story short: i have an appointment set up tomorrow. some tasks that he will attempt to tackle:

+install head rests recently purchased.
+fix sagging driver's seat.
+fix lack of dash lights/gauge lights
+fix leaking rear axle
+get car passed emissions/engine tune
+get air vents blowing
+replace tachometer cable

and perhaps more.

[Ulf]

Faraizim - almost the same thing happened to me (read above) a couple of weeks ago, haven't gotten around to contacting the "guru" though as I've been really busy catching up on work after the holidays. I have some of the same symptoms as you (tach cable, no dash lights, leaking rear axle or diff), so please keep me updated when you get them fixed, just to compare causes/prices :-)

[Olazz]

Not seen a Pagoda on the road for a long time, then in the last month:

Silver 230 driving along lake front in Ascona (Switzerland) beautiful sunday afternoon
White 280 with blue soft top in Knightsbridge, in rush hour traffic.
All black 230 driving slowly up South Moulton St. A lady in her late 70's (I guess), parked and stepped out. Very classy indeed!
 

[peterm]

Great Neck street fair on Long Island- I'd recognize Richard M's car anywhere. Tunis beige with those euro fog lamps  I searched for him but the crowd swallowed him up. Though, I do think I saw him getting a pony ride in the kids area.

[Ulf]

Right now there's a (light) gold metallic US-spec 280 parked right outside my window

[49er]

Wife and I are spending the weekend in Monterey, CA and today around 2:00pm I spotted  a brown Pagoda going north on HWY 156 near Castroville. Hardtop with roof rack was on.  I haven't seen many Pagodas "in the wild" so this was a real treat

John

[Olazz]

Driving on Saturday eveing near Essendon in Herts, turned  corner and approaching the T junction was a Gold SL, roof down. First one I've seen whilst in a Pagoda.

Slowed down to see if he did too, but he didn't.

There aren't many pagodas round these parts, so wonder if he is a forum member.