+24 60 Years Mercedes ‘Pagoda’: Taking care of Baby
Meet Baby. No, not my ravishing co-driver Julie, but the equally stunning 1963 Mercedes 230 SL ‘Pagoda’. With the Pagoda celebrating its sixtieth anniversary, we took the sleek SL out for a sunny drive along the Belgian and Dutch seaside.
The Mercedes 300 SL is steeped in competition history: Carrera Panamericana, Le Mans, Mille Miglia. In fact, the legendary Gullwing and the roadster road models were derived from the competition car, at the request of Mercedes’ North American importer, Max Hoffman. The 300 SL transformed Mercedes’ image in the fifties, adding glamour and even sex appeal to the predominantly serious and – whisper it – a bit dull German brand.
Paul Bracq design
Early sixties, Mercedes needed to come up with a replacement for what had proven to be a successful formula. With the 300 SL, the company had a halo model, with the 190 SL, a cheaper four-cylinder ‘junior’ SL was on offer as well. The task to replace both cars befell what became known as the W113 SL, or the Pagoda, a reference to its typical kink in the roof. The hard top roof became a defining factor for the W113 generation of the SL, just as the gullwing doors did the trick for the W198 Mercedes 300 SL. The Frenchman Paul Bracq came up with the elegant and sporty design.
Funny roof
However, the idea for the removable hard top roof in pagoda form was not Bracq’s. It was Mercedes’ safety pioneer Béla Barényi who had come up with this idea – and patented it – earlier. But the new Mercedes SL was the first time this idea actually made it into production. Barényi’s influence on the W113 SL can hardly be overstated. The pagoda concept was purely a practical one: creating more headroom for the occupants in comparison with a classic-shaped roof. The hard top facilitated year-round functionality for the new SL, something the 300 SL roadster did not offer on the same level.
Based on a shortened version of the W110 sedans, the 1963 Mercedes 230 SL featured more innovations, such as the safety cell with crumple zones at the front and rear, and the Barényi safety steering wheel.
Grabbing that last summer breeze
It’s exactly this two-ringed, thin steering wheel that seems to float, that I am holding, as I guide ‘Baby’ along the coastal roads around the Knokke area. One minute you are in Belgium, the next minute you are in The Netherlands. No hard top today, the sun is out, and we want to experience that last breeze of warm wind stroking our hair. After that, it’s OK, we are ready to surrender to winter.
The 230 SL is just the right partner for this. It was presented 60 years ago, early in 1963 at the Geneva motor show. Whilst the new 230 SL did not have that pure performance component the 300 SL roadster carried in its DNA, you’d be wrong thinking the W113 was a softie. In Tazio 10, out in December, we’ll do an in-depth profile on that one time the W113 took on and won the toughest road rally of its time: the 1963 Liège-Sofia-Liège, also known as the ‘Marathon de la Route’.
Faster without the roof
The pull of the 2.3-litre is strong in the mid-range. This is a fuel-injected six-inline. It is no match for the 3-litre inline six of the 300 SL roadster, but it’s a damn’ lot stronger than the four-pot you’d find in the 190 SL. With 150 hp peak power, it sits below the 175 hp-strong 300 SL. But the mid-range torque – max 196 Nm at 4200 rpm – make it a more than capable performer. Funny thing, the 230 SL was actually a bit faster (200 kph, 125 mph) without the ‘Pagode’ hard top .
Leave it in third
The four-speed manual has long gearing, on country roads you can pretty much leave it in third for the whole day. It never was intended to be a continuation of the pure-bred 300 SL, but as an oldtimer rally car, the W113 has its own cards to play. It’s not just a much cheaper option, it’s also highly reliable when taken care off, and it certainly has a charm of its own. This car, built in August 1963, has its own story to tell. It was delivered new to a Belgian owner, a mrs. Le Chien. The car was white with blue leather interior, just as we have it with us now. No whitewall tyres anymore, though.
Famous collector
“The car remained with its first owner until 1981, when mrs. Le Chien moved to the South of France”, the current caretaker of the car tells us. Thierry Dehaeck is famous all over the world for his Citroën SM and Chapron collection. A visit of his collection through his Cadycars restoration workshop in Ypres is always worth the detour, as the Michelin guide would recommend. Next to the Citroëns, Thierry Dehaeck collected many of the automotive icons. ‘Baby’ – he gave it the personalized registration – holds a special place. “I didn’t call it Baby originally,” he is quick to point out. “But this was how it was referred to by the previous family that owned it.”
Your car is waiting in the workshop, we kept her for you
Brussels salesman
Mrs. Le Chien left the car with a Belgian dealer, garage GXL in Brussels. It was here an American working in Brussels, stumbled upon it. “Donald Newman was actually looking around to buy an Austin-Healey. Instead, he let his eyes wonder across this beautiful white Mercedes 230 SL in the Brussels garage he was visiting,” Thierry Dehaeck says.
Holiday
“He could not decide, and went on holiday to the United States. For the next two weeks, all he could think of was this beautiful Mercedes that was playing with his mind. As soon as he was back in Belgium, he rushed to the garage, only to find it was no longer in the showroom. He was disheartened, only for one of the salesmen to walk up to him and say. ‘Not to worry mister Newman. Your car is waiting for you in the back of the workshop. We kept her for you.’ On May 22nd, 1981, Donald Newman drove off with his Mercedes 230 SL, in exchange for 150,000 Belgian francs (4400 dollars at the time).”
‘Daddy’s Baby’
“Mister Newman took great care of the car, pampering it, some would say. He participated in many Concours and drove it on rallies. Within his family, it was known as ‘Daddy’s Baby’.” Baby remained with the same owner right up until 2010, when Donald Newman sold the car to his friend Brian Laudenbach. He kept it until 2012, at which point he advertised it for sale.”
This is the moment where ‘Baby’ tickled Thierry Dehaeck’s curiosity. “I was the CEO of the food manufacturing Group Pidy at the time,” he explains. “We had factories in Belgium, France and in the United States. I was travelling in the US at the time, and I just came across this advertisement for a Mercedes 230 SL, ‘sold new in Belgium’. That tickled my curiosity: what was a Belgian car doing in the US. I got in touch with mister Laudenbach, and I was told the whole ‘Baby’ story. In December 2012, I had the car shipped to Belgium.”
Still performing
Dehaeck, only the fourth owner of this Mercedes 230 SL in sixty years, contacted Donald Newman. “We got in touch through Facebook. He was happy to learn the car had found a good home. I would call him regularly when I was travelling to the United States, and the plan was always to reunite mister Newman with his Baby if ever he would come to Belgium. Unfortunately, he passed away abruptly in 2020.”
Sixty years on, ‘Baby’ is still performing her old tricks. Joyfully humming over the wind, swiftly darting from corner to corner. ‘Baby’, sixty years on, I can think of just the one tune that perfectly captures this moment: ‘I want you’.
