How often do you spot another Pagoda ?

[Tonys113]

Abe,
Funny you mention that no one saw you. I too have ben driving my Silver 69 with the Hard Top on for the last 4 days. It's still a bit cold here in "Snowchester, NY' but I couldn't wait any longer. Many other drivers have made me aware of their appreciation seeing my car but....

Tony

[hill]

I drove my red car with the hard top on for four days from Ventura, Hwy 1, Monterey, Carmel, and down 101....FOUR DAYS and nobody saw me...I am sad.
abe

I drive mine 250 or so days of the year and I have been spotted twice.

[glenn]

Saw a white 230SL in front of a repair shop on the ocean NC/SC line.  Mechanic said the owner was 'Rohr'.  Left a note for him.

[Kemal]

Riding my motorbike through  "Chepstow Road W2" London with flowers tucked in to my saddle bags [ Mother's Day ] driving towards my parents home I saw a silver 230SL with its roof off parked along the side of the road, of course I stopped to place a visitors card on the windscreen!  Pagoda Group.

Are you here?  Are they ever ??
Maybe one day! 

Kemal
280SL
Manual LHD69

[bpossel]

Pagodas in Memphis are rare!

Yesterday 3/22/09 between 4:30-5:00pm - spotted a gold Pagoda w/hardtop & fog lights on Walnut Grove Road West Bound.

Who are you ?  Are you out there ?  Would like to have you attend our local MBCA club meeting....

Bob 

[wingding]

Boy...... On the open highway or in town ......... 1991 coming down the Long island expressway.... and there it was..
Solid white - hardtop on .... Passed me on the right {multiple lanes} I sat there and announced it's coming.... white 280sl - american market...   a BEAUTY!!!

THAT! Was a LONG TIME AGO!

[Cees Klumper]

I was thinking about this topic over the past few days, because I decided to drive the Pagoda to our vacation home in France (a 400 mile trek Amsterdam-Antwerp-Brussels-Luxembourg-Metz-Nancy-Langres on main highways, with the last 30 miles on local winding roads) and back for an extended weekend stay. I decided to go with the traffic, try out the new Vredestein tires, and check performance and mileage in general.

I returned yesterday which took a bit over 6 hours, so I averaged about 70 MPH. The weather was rough yesterday, and in the Belgian Ardennes there was some heavy snowfall and one resultant bad accident, that had just happened a minute or so before I passed by it (car upside down beside the road, several more dented).

It's probably rare to see a 40-year old car keeping up with, and oftentimes passing, modern cars over hundreds of miles. I found the most comfortable speed to be between 70 and 80 MPH.

Over the weekend, I drove about doing errands maybe 100 miles. So, in short, plenty of opportunity to be spotted and reported here! Over the entire trip, I only saw maybe three other old cars; one, a Jaguar E-type from the late sixties looking pristine, in Vesoul - a city where cars like that would be extra rare. He had a local tag (French department no. 70) and we gave each other thumbs up.

[Andres G]

This is interesting. I have only seen two pagodas in town in the past 5 years I've lived here... one of them is a 1968 250 SL (one of only two that supposedly came out of the factory  that year).

But more interesting than that, was the fact that on my way back from Texas towing the trailer with our newly acquired SL, we saw a Dodge truck towing another SL on Interestate 40 heading West towards Oklahoma City. It was a white car with a light blue hardtop... definitely nice color combo.

If the owner is here, please chime in. It's definitely not normal for me to see one of these, even less if they are being trailered in the opposite direction.

Andres

[waqas]

It's definitely not normal for me to see one of these, even less if they are being trailered in the opposite direction.

Well, someone must have gotten wind of your recent purchase. We have strict laws in Texas about maintaining a certain percentage of pagodas within state lines. Conservation of energy, good vibes, and all that sort of thing... 

[glenn]

I was thinking about this topic over the past few days, because I decided to drive the Pagoda to our vacation home in France (a 400 mile trek Amsterdam-Antwerp-Brussels-Luxembourg-Metz-Nancy-Langres on main highways, with the last 30 miles on local winding roads) and back for an extended weekend stay. I decided to go with the traffic, try out the new Vredestein tires, and check performance and mileage in general.

I returned yesterday which took a bit over 6 hours, so I averaged about 70 MPH. The weather was rough yesterday, and in the Belgian Ardennes there was some heavy snowfall and one resultant bad accident, that had just happened a minute or so before I passed by it (car upside down beside the road, several more dented).

It's probably rare to see a 40-year old car keeping up with, and oftentimes passing, modern cars over hundreds of miles. I found the most comfortable speed to be between 70 and 80 MPH.
Over the weekend, I drove about doing errands maybe 100 miles. So, in short, plenty of opportunity to be spotted and reported here! Over the entire trip, I only saw maybe three other old cars; one, a Jaguar E-type from the late sixties looking pristine, in Vesoul - a city where cars like that would be extra rare. He had a local tag (French department no. 70) and we gave each other thumbs up.

Ah, memories. Jealous of you in Luxembourg-Metz-Nancy.  1971, seems like yesterday.

[Cees Klumper]

Hey Glenn - were you living here at the time, or visiting?

I will be doing the same trek again this coming Monday - interviewing in Luxembourg Monday afternoon, then onto the house near Langres to talk to the architect supervising the upgrade that is due to start at the end of next week, then onto Paris for another job interview on Wednesday. Wherever I end up, the Pagoda is coming with us ...

The speed limit nowadays in Luxembourg and France on the major highways is 130 KPH (around 80 MPH). The highway runs through Metz and Thionville, and the speed limit there is either 55 or 70 MPH, with a bunch of speed cameras to catch offenders.

Since the 'Shengen treaty' came into effect, the border crossings have become much easier; most of the time, it's just 'slow down to about 30 MPH, pass the border, then accellerate back to normal speed'. Only once in a while (for example, two weeks ago when I passed on a Friday night between France and Luxembourg) there are random checks, for example to catch drug smugglers.

To get the topic back on track: I spotted a very odd-coloured Pagoda in Amsterdam today, parked on the Rozengracht. Unpainted hubcaps, hardtop on. Anyone from here?

[Klaus]

Just came back from a 3900 mile trip in my Pagoda, NYC - Cincinnati - Mobile - Sanibel Island - Savannah - Outer Banks - NYC. Saw R107, R129, R170, R230 etc., but not a single Pagoda.
C'mon guys, it's spring, get your garage queens on the road!

[J. Huber]

Wow, Klaus. Quite a road trip. 

I really like the lighthouse shot! I am sure we'd all love to see some more pics!

[abe280SL]

I saw a silver with the top down going S on 101fwy near Topanga Cy exit in Calabasas at 1pm today.
Anyone here?
abe

[J. Huber]

Ok. So I'm a little hard up so bear with me. You guys seem to see 'em all the time, I have to wait months on end (unless I drive over to Dick M.'s house but that's cheating -- and his neighbors probably think I'm stalking him...)....

So does this count? Today turned out to be take the 3 daughters and their Mom shopping day. Thankfully, I was able to get a short Pagoda drive in this morning, while number two or maybe it was number three was drying her hair... pheww.

Anyway, after endless hours of "how's this?", "what da ya think Daddy?", and "does this make me look fat?"... you get the picture, I was ready for a break. So was junior -- so I offered to take her to the restroom in Target. While I was whistling outside the door, I noticed the weekly ad on the wall... Surprise, surprise, surprise...Right behind 3 teenie boppers modeling something or another was... a beautiful white 280SL! I double took, then asked if they had an ad I could have. They only had that one but said check the web... so here it is -- at least until the sale runs out...

http://weeklyad.target.com/target/default.aspx?action=flashfullscreen&storeid=2395101&fullscreen=y

[J. Huber]

Finally! a three-dimensional spotting. Between Auburn and Grass Valley -- parked outside a small European car repair shop. Although it was pouring rain, I swung in and spent a good while just taking it all in. Really pretty US-spec off white 4-speed 230SL with an almost teal blue interior. Ivory wheel. Never saw that combo before. I'd swear its original and frankly the car was in fantastic condition. Very straight body, perfect chrome & glass, red lamps, original CA plates. the longer I stared at it the better in became... It was clearly someone's pride and joy. Made mine look a bit rough around the edges.

[Peter van Es]

Today, 15th of April 2009. As I was driving my Pagoda to a meeting with my Tulip Rally driver on the N207 in the Netherlands along Nieuw-Vennep, open top, saw a dark blue, hard top Pagoda coming the opposite way. We waved. I suppose it's cheating as that way is the major road to van Dijk of www.classicsl.com, and they have customers coming or going on a regular basis. But in the infamous words of Kemal: "Helloooo, are you out here???" 

On the way back I got caught in torrential rains, such that I had the car aquaplane in a deep puddle (it was dark and raining cats and dogs so I didn't spot it)... luckily I managed to hold it. That's when you suddenly realise that permanent 4WD and ESP do actually add value in terrible weather.

Peter

(ps: see pictures as to why it's called the Tulip Rally)

[Faber]

Hehe....nice post - keep an eye out for Italian side indicators accompanying a "For Sale" sign if my current effort does not pan out...(-*

[Peter van Es]

Right... a very, very fruitful weekend. On Saturday I spotted three Pagoda's at the Tulpen Rally Car Ceck (see http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=10620.0) and I made sure of alerting one of the owners to this site.

On Sunday I drove my Pagoda to and from my field-hockey match in beautiful weather, we passed the Oude Woudenbergse Zandweg in Zeist at around 14:30. There was a Pagoda Parked on someone's driveway. I didn't have time to stop, and it looked very similar to the grey one in the Tulip Rally Car check.

Then today, as I was driving around my home town of Hilversum, I spotted another Pagoda that I haven't seen before. A darker beige coloured one? Because the traffic in Hilversum is a mess I could not stop and talk to the driver.

Anyway, beat that guys! Four, maybe 5 Pagoda's spotted in the wild in one weekend!

Peter

[Cees Klumper]

Hey Peter - can't top your experience, but I did see three Pagodas in traffice last Friday and Saturday, in and around Amsterdam. Even noted one of the license plates: DE-05-71, dark blue and top-down.

[Mike]

I just returned from a few days of rest in Naples, Florida.  What  beautiful place Naples is.  Lots of great cars, including three different Pagodas spotted during my short visit.  One was anthracite with hardtop fitted and being trailered on Route 75.  Another was light blue metallic and another was light blue non metallic.  All three looked nice from what I could see but each was travelling in the opposite direction so I was not able to get close.

[dixy2k]

On Pacific Coast Hwy in Seal Beach a red 230 (I think), a gentleman and his grandson perhaps.

[dwilli3038]

While returning from a Mercedes event in Milledgeville GA last weekend I saw a white 113 top down headed south toward Lake Oconee.

[Drewtee]

Yesterday evening in Kent on the A21 near the 'Princess Royal Hospital' a Grey/ Brown Pagoda. We spotted each other. I was in my Mid blue Pagoda with Blue roof.

[Bob G ✝︎]

When I was very young, O gee that makes me feel old! if you passed another Pagoda the owners would flash their headlights at each other out of some mystical secret hand shake in respect for one another. at lease that's what I remember when riding with my dad in early 1968.

forward to 2009 forty years later" I get no respect" as Rodney Dangerfield used to say. Very few know the secret hand shake any more. I live in a town of frumpy elephant size trucks and very few if any good old German classics. You have to go to Irvine a 20 mile drive  to experience that.

One Sunday morning I was heading to pick up a book at the Branes &  noble on Pacific coast Highway traveling down Bellflower to PCH two lanes in front of me I spot a nice creme 280SL with a gentleman & his dog out for a Sunday ride. Well I got excited and pulled a couple of Steve McQueen moves in my freckly old Toyota Cresseda to catch up with him and get his attention. Luckily for me Starkey & Hutch had the day off or I would of spent the night in the slammer trying to explane to a judge with a little humor my unsafe driving practices. Definitely not a candidate for the safe driving award of the year.  just plan stupidity and over excitement .

Well I got his attention alright This guy might of been a bodyguard the way he was build. so I do not think I was intimidating to him at all , he was just trying to figure out why some nut in an old Toyota was after him . He had a certain sergrin on his face when I approached him.

We both pulled over and I carefully introduced my self to Steve  the owner.  to bad I was not driving the SL that day, but then again I would not of pulled those moves had I been driving it. We talked a little exchanged numbers and I went on my way to pick up my book and Steve well the coast with  the top down and riding in style.
On another note, I live right  by Long Beach airport and twice a 1943 B17 bomber flew over me . Now that a very humbling sound four prat and Whitney rolls royceengines producing almost a thousand HP each. It is quite a sound. If you haven't seen the story of The Memphis Bell as a row of these taxiedown the run way in line it drives shivers through me like the sound of 24 pagodas in song.
anyone got some extra cash laying around !! just a  cool couple of million, I will pay it back tomorrow  I promise!!!

Bob Geco