Why Was The Pagoda So Crazy Expensive? Mercedes 250SL (1967)

Comments · 764

• HE

  @henryvaughangarcia8254 · 10 months ago

  Looks so much better than any Mercedes made today

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• AB

  @abikepeddler · 10 months ago

  Having spent 50 years of my life with a 65' 230SL as an integral part of my life, I can speak glowingly about them. My father purchased ours Jan 31st 1967, for $3450, 87 days before I was born. Ours was the 4-speed manual and having driven both auto and manuals, I can say definitively, you want the manual in the 63-67 early cars. (The auto is more appropriate in the fatter 280SL's)  The very definition of the term "sports car" is any 2-seat convertible with a "sporting pretence", the W113 Pagoda really should not be considered a sports car. It is more of a car for the sporting gentleman and I think that is why they are so timeless. Unlike other sports cars of the '60s (E-Type, Corvette etc...), the Pagoda was never trying to keep pace with the competition. While those other vehicles chased horsepower and styling trends, the Pagoda stayed in itsown category, a category that it alone created. What the Pagoda is is high brow. No other car has ever matched it because almost no manufacturer has ever attempted to do so. (Lexus tried with the SC430 and failed miserably.). The W113 is also supremely usable being arguably the first "modern" car. When you drive one of these today, they drive surprisingly modern. They feel current. They don't feel "old".  They have a large trunk (boot), are easier to work on than Jack is suggesting, In parts are not as expensive as stated in this video, you just have to know where to find them. (eBay can be your friend). But the best thing about the Pagoda is it dead nuts reliability. Once you sort one of these out, they just run forever. We put 184,000mi on ours over 50 years and it never, not once, left us stranded.

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• AN

  @AntonHoward-mx9sb · 10 months ago

  I was 17 in 1985 and my mum suggested I save to buy a pagoda, she'd always loved them........should always listen to your mum.

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• CH

  @ChishanFipz · 10 months ago (edited)

  Back then, and for the next 20 years - Mercedes were pure class - Now, especially the last 10 years - there's absolutely nothing I admire or aspire about them whatsoever. Pure crass.

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• KA

  @katziahmed · 10 months ago

  Back when Mercedes Engineers engineered the cars - Not accountants engineering them.

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• RE

  @realLsf · 10 months ago

  What a beautiful car. I’d rather have one of those than any super car

  113

• AM

  @AmericanMuscleSoul · 10 months ago

  Wow, the Pagoda is one of those cars where the price actually makes sense once you hear the history.

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• JO

  @joelhenderson4450 · 7 months ago

  Paul Bracq should have gotten a Nobel Prize for his designs including this ol gal.

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• JO

  @johanfolkesson5170 · 10 months ago

  ”Two cars for the price of two cars” 😂👍

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• JA

  @jamiewallace7685 · 10 months ago

  @<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FozHNiivasA&amp;t=165">2:45</a> - &apos;Two cars for the price of.......well......two cars&apos;.<br>hahahaha Cheers Jack - I just sprayed beer all over my laptop screen.<br><b>And</b> it&apos;s coming out of my nose, too, god damn it!<br>Heh!<br>🤣

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• NI

  @nigelalderman9178 · 10 months ago

  I can remember a very spoiled daughter of a French countess being given one of these on her 18th birthday in 1963. It was a good accessorie to go with her Rolex and much older playboy lover. They were all on a different planet to me as a young boy. Beautiful though.

  4

• RA

  @rafflesnh · 10 months ago

  As a schoolboy in the early 60s in Nairobi, I remember one of my fellow pupil&apos;s mother turning up one afternoon in a white Pagoda just like the one in the video. As this would have been somewhere between 1963 and 1966, I guess it would have been the 230SL, but wouldn&apos;t swear to that. However, its beautiful lines did not go unnoticed among most of the school cohort who were extremely envious of the schoolboy concerned, me included. The name of the lad was Nick Cardwell, and his mother was the well known local rally driver, Lucille Cardwell, who drove for Mercedes in several East African Safari Rallies of the time.

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