Mercedes Benz 'Pagoda' 230, 250 & 280SL: The Essential Buyer's Guide
Mercedes Benz Club gazette, August 2007-UKOur very own Chris Bass has written both these pocket or glovebox size guides and by his own admission has relied very heavily on the late Roger Edwards, particularly for the Pagoda volume. We are sure Roger would have been pleased with the results and for those who knew him it is easy to imagine his dulcet tones coming out with some of the phrases Chris has seen fit to use.The objective of this series is to have a 'marque expert by your side' and each edition (not just for Mercedes) is full of advice about running costs, paperwork, important statistics and even valuation.Conveniently divided into 17 small sections, which include technical advice, the format inevitably means there is some repetition of sections of text in each Mercedes-Benz book, and there is also great similarity between the two volumes. The content is extremely useful and would appeal to both the novice and the experienced enthusiast alike and there are many pointers that would help a potential buyer to identify whether a particular car is genuine or not. A buyer armed with one of these books might also help put off any seller that is in any way underhand.Both volumes are well illustrated with useful photographs although the Pagoda version has more large photographs than that for the R107 and consequently some of the detail is lost. The text is clear and concise in each case and Chris Bass has obviously put considerable thought into the precise wording to avoid ambiguity. As Pagoda owners for some years, even we found some useful information so we would certainly expect these volumes to have wide appeal.To conclude, they make interesting but light reading and are a useful library addition to anybody interested in purchasing one of these SLs or to existing owners.