As I arrived at the SL Shop to celebrate 60 years of the Pagoda, Sam Bailey ushered me past the nicest collection of restored SL’s I’d ever seen and gave me a quick tour. While it was fascinating to hear the lengths to which the SL Shop will go to keep these fabulous cars in the peak of health, we couldn’t help but wonder if the filthy weather might make the day a washout.
But it turns out that Pagoda owners laugh in the face of rain, and a steady stream of them arrived during the morning, happily chatting all things SL as they warmed up with coffee and pastries.
An early arrival was Gareth, who’d driven his late father’s 280SL into the workshop a few weeks before. Seeing his car sitting on a jig, with no engine, gearbox or suspension and with half the floor missing must have come as a bit of a shock, but the quality of the new passenger side floor and rear suspension turrets must’ve been a reassuring sign that the car would soon be returned to its former glory.
Heading out onto the waterlogged M40 in convoy was about as far from the classic car dream as you can get. Traffic was thick, visibility poor, the road surface streaming. And yet ‘my’ SL (shared with Sam) ploughed serenely on, the steering uncorrupted by standing water, no doubt helped by having new ‘classic’ tyres in the correct size. The windows even stayed completely steam free.
The only thing betraying the SL’s age was wind noise around the soft-top and the small 1960’s mirrors set a little too far back on the door. But the powered steering had no slack and the engine pulled strong and smooth. I was enjoying it a little too much – after a while Sam nervously asked me to slow down a bit.
Arriving at Brooklands for the first time and getting a glimpse of the banking, now covered in vegetation of varying shades of green (though not British Racing Green, sadly) was enough to get the heart beating a little faster. Then Mercedes-Benz World hoved into view, looking exactly like the secret headquarters of a Bond villain.
Luckily there were no boiler-suited henchmen with machine guns to greet us, just quietly efficient staff in MB polo shirts ushering us into a rather over-zealous track briefing. There was no mention of being sliced in half by a laser, but I did start to wonder how dramatic the track session was going to be when they said we should inform our co-driver and maybe get out of the car if we were about to vomit.
There was just time to have a quick look round the exhibits at MB World which included a Pagoda restored by the Mercedes Museum in Germany. Sam took great delight in pointing out it had the wrong windscreen wipers.
The track, inevitably, proved to be very wet, but it was fun to throw the Pagoda around at the moderate speeds allowed by the conditions. For a moment I felt a bit like Rudolf Uhlenhaut demonstrating the capabilities of the new 230SL to journalists at the 1963 Geneva Motorshow, lapping the similarly short and twisty Circuit d’Annemasse in Vétraz-Monthoux, in a time slightly faster than Mike Parkes had set in a Ferrari 250GT.
Then our group of Pagodas lined up for a quick picture, the reflections of the headlights in the soaking tarmac creating a very attractive shot.
A quick change into dry socks and shoes and it was time to regale the diners at The Brooklands Hotel with hilarious stories of filming classic cars for The Car Years on ITV4 (you can also find it on ITVX), followed by dinner and more chat with the SL Shop’s guests some of whom had met us there.
It was all good fun, and proved once and for all that even 60 years on, the Pagoda is a true all-weather classic – just as long as you’ve got the correct wipers. If in doubt, ask Sam.
Words: Alex Riley
As I arrived at the SL Shop to celebrate 60 years of the Pagoda, Sam Bailey ushered me past the nicest collection of restored SL’s I’d ever seen and gave me a quick tour. While it was fascinating to hear the lengths to which the SL Shop will go to keep these fabulous cars in the peak of health, we couldn’t help but wonder if the filthy weather might make the day a washout.
But it turns out that Pagoda owners laugh in the face of rain, and a steady stream of them arrived during the morning, happily chatting all things SL as they warmed up with coffee and pastries.
An early arrival was Gareth, who’d driven his late father’s 280SL into the workshop a few weeks before. Seeing his car sitting on a jig, with no engine, gearbox or suspension and with half the floor missing must have come as a bit of a shock, but the quality of the new passenger side floor and rear suspension turrets must’ve been a reassuring sign that the car would soon be returned to its former glory.
Heading out onto the waterlogged M40 in convoy was about as far from the classic car dream as you can get. Traffic was thick, visibility poor, the road surface streaming. And yet ‘my’ SL (shared with Sam) ploughed serenely on, the steering uncorrupted by standing water, no doubt helped by having new ‘classic’ tyres in the correct size. The windows even stayed completely steam free.
The only thing betraying the SL’s age was wind noise around the soft-top and the small 1960’s mirrors set a little too far back on the door. But the powered steering had no slack and the engine pulled strong and smooth. I was enjoying it a little too much – after a while Sam nervously asked me to slow down a bit.
Arriving at Brooklands for the first time and getting a glimpse of the banking, now covered in vegetation of varying shades of green (though not British Racing Green, sadly) was enough to get the heart beating a little faster. Then Mercedes-Benz World hoved into view, looking exactly like the secret headquarters of a Bond villain.
Luckily there were no boiler-suited henchmen with machine guns to greet us, just quietly efficient staff in MB polo shirts ushering us into a rather over-zealous track briefing. There was no mention of being sliced in half by a laser, but I did start to wonder how dramatic the track session was going to be when they said we should inform our co-driver and maybe get out of the car if we were about to vomit.
There was just time to have a quick look round the exhibits at MB World which included a Pagoda restored by the Mercedes Museum in Germany. Sam took great delight in pointing out it had the wrong windscreen wipers.
The track, inevitably, proved to be very wet, but it was fun to throw the Pagoda around at the moderate speeds allowed by the conditions. For a moment I felt a bit like Rudolf Uhlenhaut demonstrating the capabilities of the new 230SL to journalists at the 1963 Geneva Motorshow, lapping the similarly short and twisty Circuit d’Annemasse in Vétraz-Monthoux, in a time slightly faster than Mike Parkes had set in a Ferrari 250GT.
Then our group of Pagodas lined up for a quick picture, the reflections of the headlights in the soaking tarmac creating a very attractive shot.
A quick change into dry socks and shoes and it was time to regale the diners at The Brooklands Hotel with hilarious stories of filming classic cars for The Car Years on ITV4 (you can also find it on ITVX), followed by dinner and more chat with the SL Shop’s guests some of whom had met us there.
It was all good fun, and proved once and for all that even 60 years on, the Pagoda is a true all-weather classic – just as long as you’ve got the correct wipers. If in doubt, ask Sam.
Words: Alex Riley
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