Pagoda (pronounced puh-goh-duh)
(1) In South Asia and the Far-East, a temple or sacred
building, often a pyramid-like tower and typically having upward-curving roofs
over the individual stories.
(2) An ornamental structure imitating the design of the
religious building, erected since the eighteenth century in parks and gardens.
(3) In fashion, a flared sleeve, most popular in the
1850s.
(4) A unit of currency, a coin made of gold or half-gold,
usually bearing a figure of a pagoda temple, issued by various dynasties in
medieval southern India and later by British, French, and Dutch traders.
(5) An image or carving of a god in South and South East
Asia; an idol (sixteenth century use, usually as pagod, now extinct).
(6) Term applied to the first of the two generations of
Mercedes-Benz SL (W113 & R107) roadsters to use a pagoda-themed roof.
1580-1585: From the Portuguese pagode, via Tamil from the Sanskrit भगवती (bhagavatī (name
of a goddess, feminine of bhagavat (blessed,
adorable) from bhagah (good fortune))
from the primitive Indo-European root bhag-
(to share out, apportion; to get a share) or भागवत (bhāgavata), (follower
of the Bhagavatī). The alternative etymology suggests pagoda was
either a corruption of the Persian butkada
(from but (idol) + kada (dwelling) or perhaps from or influenced
by the Tamil pagavadi (house
belonging to a deity), itself from the Sanskrit bhagavatī. There’s also the
suggestion it’s derived a South Chinese pronunciation of the term for an
eight-cornered tower (八角塔), a use influenced by the adoption by European visitors
to China of the name of a noted pagoda in the Guangzhou region, the Pázhōu tǎ (琶洲塔). Finally, it may be from the Sinhala dāgaba, from the Sanskrit dhātugarbha or the Pali dhātugabbha (relic, womb or chamber; reliquary
shrine (ie stupa)) which made its way
into other languages through Portuguese. Given the uncertainty, it’s not impossible pagoda emerged
in its modern form under more than one influence. The related (pagod) and alternative (pagode
& pagody) forms are now rare,
occurring almost exclusively in historic texts. Adjectives such as pagodaish and pagodaesque do appear but have never been listed as standard. Pagoda is a noun; the noun plural is pagodas.
Pagoda sleeve.
Pagoda sleeve describes any funnel
shaped sleeve and the style is still seen, though its impracticality tends to
confine it to cat-walks and casualwear. Briefly popular in the US during the late 1850s, it
appears abruptly to have vanished, an 1870s revival on not so extravagant
a scale not lasting; function again triumphing over fashion. The original design was narrow at the
shoulder and very wide at the wrist, worn often with an under-sleeve, made
usually of a lighter cotton or linen fabric, matching the bodice’s chemisette
or collar. In the twenty-first century there hasn't really been another revival in the sense the sleeves are much worn by real people IRL (in real life) but the flow offered by the material has made them a favorite of photographers and designers though appearances on the catwalk remain rare.
Layered pagoda sleeve.
The variation of the pagoda sleeve which most closely emulated
the architectural motif was tailored with layered tiers. It may not have been co-incidental that the pagoda
sleeve’s decline in popularity was at the time of the US Civil War, conflicts
often imposing austerity in fashion as in other parts of the economy. The style didn’t entirely vanish but
certainly became restrained, the replacement “bishop” and “bell” sleeves both
of a more severe cut but all three terms were often used interchangeably.
Yellow Crane Pagoda, near Wuhan, China.
In architecture, a Pagoda is an Asian temple, rendered usually
as a pyramidal tower with one or more upward curving roofs. Although most associated with structures
created for Buddhist religious purposes, the first may actually have been built
in China, even before Buddhism spread there.
Whether these early buildings used the motifs of the pagoda as a stylistic
embellishment or for some function purpose such as rigidity or water drainage
isn’t known but it does seem the technique improves resistance
to the stresses imposed by earthquakes. In
Buddhism, the structure’s original purpose was to house relics and sacred
writings but the style soon extended to other sacred and secular sites. Made from wood, brick, or stone, they can
have as many as fifteen stories, each with an up-curved, overhanging roof and
the tradition, in the East, was always to build with an uneven number of
levels, a convention not always followed in Europe.
Grand Pagoda, Kew Gardens, London.
Built in 1762 and designed by Sir William Chambers
(1723-1796), the Grand Pagoda at Kew Gardens, London, is an example of what in
the eighteenth century came to be called “follies”, the term referring to the tendency
of increasingly rich plutocrats to build grandiose structures fulfilling no
purpose. A gift for Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1719–1772), Dowager Princess of Wales, who had done much to extend the exotic garden at Kew Park, it was the first building to offer an aerial view of
Greater London. A ten-storey octagonal structure, although it was based on the fifteenth-century
Porcelain Tower in Nanking, it’s thought Chambers based his design on a woodcut which
erroneously showed ten floors. Happily,
despite not having the requisite uneven number of levels thought in the East to
bring good luck, the Grand Pagoda still stands and is a fine example of chinoiserie (a loanword from the French from the Chinese chinois ), used to describe the European interpretation and imitation of Chinese and
other East Asian artistic traditions.
Taipai 101 in the
renegade province of Taiwan. Although not technically a pagoda, it borrows aspects of the design.
Pagodas almost always have a central staircase and, in
common with many architectural styles, consist of a base, a body, and a top
although, because of the origin in sacred representational form, pagodas tend
not to be optimized for the functional maximization of interior space, whether circular,
square, or polygonal. Because of their
height, they’ve always attract lightning strikes, something which may have played
a role in the perception of worshipers of them being spiritually charged places
but the electrical propensity proved useful in the modern age, lightning rods
and cabling often added.
The Mercedes-Benz Pagoda
Mercedes-Benz SL W113 (230, 250 & 280) 1963-1971.
The pagoda roof on the 1963 230 SL was initially misunderstood. The designer didn’t lower the roof’s centre;
it was actually the side windows which were raised. The engineering advantage was a strengthening of the structure and, when in place, the hardtop, although un-stressed, became an
integral part of the passenger "safety-cell" introduced in 1959. It had the additional benefit of making
ingress and egress slightly easier. All that was of interest to designers and engineers but for most, it was the delicacy of line which drew the eye and women especially proved loyal and often repeat customers. There were those who hoped for more and when the 2.3 litre 230 SL made its debut in 1963, thought it was too much the replacement for the 190 SL (R121; 1955-1963), and not sufficiently a successor to the 300 SL (W198) which as both the gullwing coupé (1954-1957) and roadster (1957-1963) was one of the supercars of the era. In that the critics were of course correct but it wasn't that the factory had failed, it was that it had abandoned that market, its priorities now to pursue objectives which lay in other directions.
1971 Mercedes-Benz 280 SL.
By the late 1960s however, Mercedes-Benz understood the gusty, high-revving straight-sixes, on which they'd re-built the brand's post-war reputation, were technologically bankrupt and that success in the next decade would be delivered by a range of larger-capacity, mass-market V8s, the known concerns then mostly about pollution rules rather than a rise in the price of oil. The events of October 1973 would change that but while US$2 a barrel oil was being pumped in abundance the engineer's attention remained fixated on poise, power and performance and the W113 even played a small part in the development of the new, bigger engines. Although, bizarrely, one W113 had been fitted with the 6.3 litre (M100) big-block V8 used in the 600 and 300 SEL 6.3 (presumably because the engineers wondered what would happen), a more plausible prototype was the one which used the new 3.5 litre V8 (M116). That was a more satisfactory machine but the limitations of the old platform meant even it couldn't be considered for production. All the V8 W113s were scrapped once testing was complete as was the even more unusual test-bed which used a Wankel engine, something for which (never realized) high hopes were once held.
Significant knob: 1967
Mercedes-Benz 250 SL five-speed.
According to records in the Mercedes-Benz archives, of the 49,000-odd
W113s produced between 1963-1971, 882 were fitted (between 1966-1971) with the ZF five-speed manual
transmission, thus less the two percent of the count. Founded in 1915 in the in the south-west
German state of Baden-Württemberg, ZF
Friedrichshafen AG (commonly known as ZF Group) was originally called Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen (literally
the “Cogwheel Factory of Friedrichshafen”) and their diverse range of products remains highly regarded. While
US collectors gravitate to the 280 SL, the short-lived 250 SL is a favourite among
some because the handling is as taut as that of the 230 SL while the greater
torque and wider power-band improves performance. Produced between December 1966 and January
1967, its run was barely a year with only 5,196 were made but with improvements
like rear-disk brakes and thicker anti-roll bars, the purists think of them as
the “perfect 230 SL”, preferring the driving characteristics to the “softer”
280 SL. For the aficionados not fixated
on air-conditioning and leather trim, the most rewarding W113 is said to be a
250 SL with the optional ZF five-speed, a 4.08:1 rear axle and the optional limited
slip differential.
Over its life, although the appearance didn't change, the W113 was subject to constant product development, the engine growing first to 2.5 and later 2.8 litres but the emphasis always was more on improving low and mid-range torque rather than outright power although, by 1968 when production began, the 280 SL was usefully quicker and even a little faster than its predecessors. It wasn't sportier though, the stiff suspension of the original softened as the decade grew into middle-age as more attention however was devoted to creature comforts because things like the seats and air-conditioning were more important to the target market than ultimate cornering performance, something indicated by the majority being sold with automatic transmissions, sales of the four-speed manual declining year-by-year while the optional ZF five-speed was rarely specified. In the collector market, five speed cars are much sought, the most desirable those with leather trim (although the not quite indestructible but famously durable MB-Tex vinyl is a better choice for a roadster), air conditioning and the forged aluminium "Bundt" wheels by Fuchs.
1967 Mercedes-Benz 250 SL "California Coupé" with rear bench erected.
Almost all W113s were sold with both a folding fabric soft-top and the pagoda hard-top but one interesting variation was the "California Coupé" which was actually nothing more than a W113 outfitted with the standard removable hard-top but no soft-top, a folding bench-seat fitted in the space the deletion made available. That made the California Coupe (as was the spelling in the US) technically a 2+2 but it was really suitable only for children and then only if the passenger seats had been moved forward; for a single adult-sized occupant the rarely-seen option of a transverse seat would have been more comfortable. The bench seat was of utilitarian appearance and perhaps best thought of as a "padded parcel shelf" but when folded it did provide a helpful increase in storage space. Just how many of the W113s were "California Coupes" seems uncertain; the figure 1,110 has circulated but without documentation. Of course without a folding top, the thing was suitable only for days when it didn't rain but, as everyone in Stuttgart knew, California had plenty of those; the variant was available worldwide and, counterintuitively, there appear to be a remarkable number in Scandinavia. The name was unofficial, the factory released the variant as the "SL Coupé" and it was the audience who decided on the "California Coupe" appellation, reviving the label applied to the stacked headlight assembly used for a number of models between 1959-1973 because US lighting regulations outlaws the ovoid-shape composite headlights used for the RoW (rest of the world) production. The composite headlights offered much more luminosity but the US manufacturers of sealed beams liked things as they were and, with the traditional techniques, obtained from the politicians the protectionist laws needed to protect their market share. However, the style of "California headlights" was much admired and eventually they appeared on some models of the RoW cars, albeit fitted with superior European lights.
Even
with the passenger seats moved forward (left) legroom was marginal and even by 2+2
standards, the California Coupé definitely an “occasional 2+2”, those with
young children perhaps the target market.
The rarely ordered transverse single (centre) at least accommodated
adult-sized humans but was obviously only for one. When the bench was folded (right), the
storage capacity became more generous that that enjoyed by most two-seat
roadsters. The optional rear seats for
the next generation SL (R107, 1971-1989) were more elaborate and legroom was
slightly improved.
Available both as a 250 & 280 SL, the California Coupe was one of three occasions the SL was sold without a folding top, the others being the original 300 SL Gullwing and the AMG SL 65 Black Series (2008-2012), on the R230 (2001-2012) platform. The Black Series was some 250 kilograms (551 lb) lighter than the 604 horsepower AMG SL 65 AMG (made famous in 2005 when Lindsay Lohan crashed one) and rated at about 10% more powerful (although some suggest that number is conservative). The weight-loss programme included substituting some metal components with carbon-fibre units but of greater significance was the deletion of the folding aluminium roof, replaced by a fixed structure in carbon-fibre, something which produced the additional benefits of a lower centre of gravity and greater rigidity. Only 400 were built, 175 for the US market and 225 for the RoW; production of the R230 Black Series is sometimes quoted as 375 but those maintaining the register insist the true count is 400.
Mercedes-Benz SL R107 (280, 300, 350, 380, 420, 450, 500 &
560), 1971-1989.
The pagoda roof was retained when the R107 was
introduced in 1971 but, despite the contours, it was only ever its predecessor which was known as "the pagoda". Because of concerns impending
US legislation would outlaw convertibles, Daimler-Benz didn’t develop open
versions of their new (W116) S-Class platform so the R107 SL remained in production for
close to two decades as the marque’s only drop-top. The factory claimed the pagoda roof was the
strongest ever offered and, like the W113's pagoda, a slight aerodynamic advantage was
claimed, directional stability said to be improved. Strongest or not, made from steel and glass,
it was certainly one of the heaviest. SL actually stands for “super light” which was sort of true when first it was used in 1952 but by 1971 was misleading at least, the R107 no lightweight and a grand tourer rather than a sports car. For years, the factory never much discussed what the abbreviation "SL" stood for and the assumption had long been it meant Sports Light (Sports Leicht), based presumably on the SSKL of 1929-1931 (Super Sports Kurz (short) Leicht) but the factory documentation for decades used both Sports Leicht and Super Leicht. It was only in 2017 it published a 1952 paper discovered in the corporate archive confirming the correct abbreviation is Super Leicht. However defined, the R107 is heavy, the removable hard-top infamously so.
1974 Mercedes-Benz 450 SL.
The R107 had a unexpectedly long life and except for the disfiguring modifications to the bumpers and headlights, the appearance changed little except for a mid-life revision to the size and design of the aluminium wheels. The longevity exceeded slight that of even the 600 (W100; 1963-1981) and coincidently, across the Grosser’s eighteen years, the only obvious change was when the two-piece hubcap & trim-ring combination (the appearance of which suited the design) was replaced with a one-piece wheel cover (which wasn't as satisfactory) whereas over much the same duration, eight different engines and several transmissions were fitted to the R107:
280 SL: 2.7 litre (168 cubic inch) straight 6 (M110)
300 SL: 3.0 litre (183 cubic inch) straight 6 (M103)
350 SL: 3.5 litre (215 cubic inch) V8 (M116)
380 SL: 3.8 litre (231 cubic inch) V8 (M117)
420 SL: 4.2 litre (256 cubic inch) V8 (M117)
450 SL: 4.5 litre (274 cubic inch) V8 (M117 (iron-block))
500 SL: 5.0 litre (301 cubic inch) V8 (M117)
560 SL: 5.5 litre (338 cubic inch) V8 (M117)
US market Mercedes-Benz: 1987 560 SL (left), 1989 560 SL (centre) and 2001 SL 600 (right).
By the mid 1980s, safety
advocates had for some time been lobbying for “eye level” (ie to the driver in
the following vehicle) brake lights, citing research which indicated their presence
reduced reaction-lag times and, at speed, reducing that by a fraction of a
second can be the difference between life and death. It was under the administration of Ronald
Reagan (1911-2004; US president 1981-1989 and hardly friendly to new
regulations) that in 1986 the US mandated the CHMSL (centre high mount stop
lamp) but because the acronym lacked a effortless pronunciation the legislated
term never caught on and the devices are known variously as “centre brake
light”, “eye level brake light”, “third brake light”, “high-level brake light”
& “safety brake light”. The
manufacturers, "slippery slide” (or "thin end of the wedge")
theorists who believed if they acceded to even some innocuous suggestion from
government then it would encourage edicts both more onerous and expensive to
implement, resisted but lost. When the by
then 15 year old R107 had to gain a CHMSL, it may be the project was handed to
the same team responsible for designing the bumper bars because what was done for
was a “bolt on” job atop the trunk (boot).
Like the bumpers, it seemed to suggest the design brief had been: “make it stick out
like a sore thumb”. If so,
they succeeded and while the revised model (1988-1989) used a similar concept
mounted closer to the tail, it was at least smaller and when the R129 was
developed, the opportunity was taken to integrate a CHMSL into the lid.
The factory had not planned to develop the 5.5 but two factors forced their hand, the first the news BMW unexpectedly were reviving their 5.0 litre V12 project, shelved in the 1970s when the political and economic atmosphere proved unfriendly. The other was pressure from the US where dealers were losing sales because the largest engine Mercedes-Benz were then offering (the 3.8 litre V8) was thought inadequate and the volume of "grey-market" sales of 5.0 litre cars (500 SL, SEL & SEC) was troublesome. With their own V12 years from readiness and the 5.0 V8 not suitable for modification to comply with US emission rules, the solution was obvious; thus the 560 range, offered mostly in the US, Japan & Australia, then the markets with (1) a taste for big engines and (2) the toughest anti-emission laws. However, although it packed the biggest engine, the 560 SL wasn't the fastest R107, that honor accorded to the 500 SL which used a modified version of the 5.0 litre V8 first offered in 1977 in the 450 SLC 5.0 (the C107, a long-wheelbase coupé based on the SL). Used (improbably but successfully) as the factory's entry in long-distance rallies, the 450 SLC 5.0 was a homologation special produced only to ensure the bits and pieces needed to make the thing competitive in motorsport (the all-aluminium engine and some light-weight body & structural components) could lawfully be used. Toxic though it was at the tail-pipes, by the standards of the 1980s, the 500 SL was a genuine high-performance car.
Cyndi Wood (b 1950 and genuinely in pink) with her 1974 Mercedes-Benz 450 SL. A whiff of scandal is attached to Ms Wood's 450 SL.
Not all versions were sold in all markets, the sixes never offered in the US, the 420 sold mostly in Europe and the 560 rarely seen outside Australia, Japan and the US while some 500s are seen in the US and Australia but all are private or grey market imports. The labelling of the early US versions was however confusing; although called a 350 SL (as it was in the rest of the world where it used the 3.5) it was fitted with the 4.5 litre V8, chosen because (1) the 4.5 was certified for sale in the US, (2) the improved low-speed torque characteristics of the long-stroke 4.5 was better suited to US driving conditions and (3) the increased displacement partially offset the power loss caused by the early, primitive anti-emission equipment. The US market cars were later re-badged 450 SL, matching RoW (rest of the world) production. Fuel consumption of both the 3.5 & 4.5 was poor, even by the slight standards of the time, the larger 6.3 litre (386 cubic inch) and 6.8 litre (417 cubic inch) big-block V8s surprisingly little more thirsty when cruising though those were fitted to much heavier cars.
It was a footnote too in what was a sign of the times in the 1970s, the 350 SL in 1980 the last occasion the factory would offer a manual transmission behind a V8 engine. In truth, using the clunky Mercedes-Benz four-speed was not all that satisfying an experience but the rarity of the small number of 350 SLs so equipped has made them a minor cult among collectors, almost all the 227,000-odd R107s produced as automatics. The 3.5 litre 350 SLs & SLCs are notable for being among the final Mercedes-Benz V8s available with a manual transmission, the last apparently sold as late as 1980 and although the numbers were low, the configuration was in the 1970s offered even in the W116 (1972-1980) 350 SE sedan and long wheelbase (LWB) 350 SEL. Not exactly Lotus-like in precision of operation, the gear-shifts can be a little clunky but, as a manual V8, those 350s do have a minor cult following among collectors. Curious as it now seems, a four-speed manual was available also for the 3.5 V8 W111 coupé & cabriolet (1969-1971) and W108 & W109 LWB sedans (1969-1972). The R107 had always been intended to be exclusively V8 powered but the 280 SL entered the line in 1974 in response to the first oil shock (1973) and in many markets, a six cylinder version remained available to the end. That the end didn’t come until 1989 is because for much of the R107’s early life, the very future of convertibles in the US was uncertain, threatened by what was thought to be impending US legislation which would ban the things. That never transpired but much of the 1970s and 1980s were troubled times and there were other priorities so the R107 remained the only convertible offered until replaced in 1989 and a four seat drop-top didn’t return to the line until 1992.
1980 Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC 5.0.
The C107
SLC (1971-1981) was unusual in that it remains the only LWB (long wheelbase)
coupé derived from the SL range which began series production in 1954. The SLC’s existence was not a deliberate
choice by the factory which would have produced two-door coupé and cabriolets
based on the new S-Class (W116, 1972-1980) but didn’t because of looming US federal
motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS) which included FMVSS 208 (roll-over
protection). Published in 1970, one
obvious implication was the banning of “real” convertibles in the US market and
while the local manufacturers challenged in court some of the provisions in
FMVSS 208, they made no attempt to challenge the demise of the convertible,
their sales of the configuration having fallen to the point the body-style was
no longer offered in most lines and even without the intervention of government
it’s likely availability would anyway further have been restricted to the odd
specialist product. Indeed, Chevrolet,
aware of the coming edict, had in 1968 released the coupe version of the third
generation (C3) Corvette (1968-1982) as a kind of targa, the so-called “T-top” with
removable roof panels, the remaining structure essentially a roll-bar able to “drive
through” FMVSS 208.
The W107's (air)brush with scandal concerns the "pink" 450 SL Ms Wood was awarded for (deservedly) being chosen by Playboy magazine as the 1974 PotY (Playmate of the Year): It was white. Vogue's artists made their models thinner, Playboy's made their cars pinker.
Since the first Mustang was presented in 1964, the PotY's prize had been a pink car but whether Mercedes-Benz couldn’t or wouldn’t supply a pink car isn’t known and in photographs, Ms Wood seems unconcerned. Playboy's (pre-digital) production staff were famously adept at air-brushing and other editing techniques so making a white car appear pink would not have been a challenge, even if the bodywork was a little more
rectilinear than their usual fare. Whether it survives isn’t known but anyone who fancies a pink R107 should find one to paint, a remarkable 227,000-odd produced over 18 years and for much of its life (and well-beyond) the sturdy roadster was the preferred (one suspects almost the obligatory) transport for types such as interior decorators, Hollywood starlets, successful hairdressers and the wives of cosmetic surgeons.
Compliant and not with FMVSS 208 as drafted. 1978 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe with T-Top roof (left) and 1978 Chrysler New Yorker, the last of the four-door hardtops (right). The indefinite extension of the "temporary exemption" of convertibles from FMVSS's roll-over standards created the curious anomaly that Chrysler could in theory have maintained a New Yorker convertible (had one existed) in production while being compelled to drop the four-door hardtop. Market realities meant the federal court never had to set to resolve that and no manufacturer sought an exemption for the latter.
In an
example of the way government and industry in the US interact (mostly through
the mechanism of “campaign financing” with lobbyists as the intermediaries), in
1971 the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) granted a “temporary
exemption” for convertibles from the rollover parameters and originally the
sunset clause was set to 31 August 1977 (ie, the end of the 1977 season), a
date chosen because by then Detroit’s existing convertible lines were schedule
to have reached their EoL (end of life).
The FMVSS 208 standards were otherwise maintained and that was what
doomed to four-door hardtops which, lacking a central (B) pillar would have
been prohibitively expensive to engineer into compliance. However, late in 1972 an unexpected ruling
from a federal court held that FMVSS 208 existed under the provisions of the NTMVSA
(National Traffic & Motor Vehicle Safety Act (1966)) and this was found to
contain no statutory basis which could extend to the banning of convertibles. In fact, the judgment stated, the act obligated
the agency “to afford such vehicles special consideration.” Detroit no more expected that than did the NHTSA
but while the manufacturers were sanguine about no longer producing
convertibles, the regulators were compelled to decide what to do about their
regulation and, given Detroit’s attitude, they decided to kick the can down the
road and simply extend the “temporary” exemption, nominating no end-date.
1980 Mercedes-Benz 500 SLC.
In Europe
and the UK, the manufacturers were not so relaxed because their sales of convertibles
in the US market had been among their most profitable lines and representations
from the lobby group Automobile Importers of America (a multi-national
aggregation representing manufacturers from Europe, the UK and Japan) had also
made representations to the court and while they didn’t get all they wanted,
they got convertibles and that allowed the life of many (some with roots on
drawing boards in 1959) to be extended even into the mid-1990s. Long before the federal court handed down
their ruling, Mercedes-Benz had already decided not to commit to an S-Class
convertible (cabriolet in their nomenclature) and that the SL would be the only
model offered in the style, the RoW market enough to sustain profitability of
US sales were banned. For a “big” coupé,
the C107 SLC was created by stretching the roadster’s wheelbase and adding a
fixed (non-pagoda) roof; the pair otherwise mechanically identical. More than a 2+2, the SLC was a genuine 4-5
seat car and the rear legroom, while not generous, couldn’t (by coupé
standards) be described as “cramped”. By
default, the R107 roadster had a rear compartment configured as a storage area (the
rear upright upholstered in the early versions and later carpeted) but there
was also a rear-seat for two, more elaborately styled than that of the earlier California
Coupe and although the limited legroom meant things remained cramped, the R107
had a longer compartment and the stowage of the soft-top was more efficient so,
with the front seats moved forward, it was creditable as a “more than occasional”
2+2.
1999 Mercedes-Benz AMG SL 73. The standard R129 range (1989-2001) included the straight-six & V6 280, 300 & 320, the V8 500 and the V12 600. In 1993 the factory's naming convention changed to make the model designation a prefix so the earlier cars were 500 SL etc and the later SL 500 etc. The AMG range extended to the V8 SL 55 & SL 60 and the V12 SL 70, SL 72 & SL 73, the designations all indicative of displacement.
By 1989, improvements in metallurgy and structural
engineering meant the pagoda curves were no longer required to achieve the
desired strength, it being now possible to render an even stronger roof in aluminum
with the advantage of a significant weight reduction. It’s not known if a pagoda roof was
considered but the late 1980s was the last era at Mercedes-Benz during which engineers held sway over salesmen so a mere styling gimmick would likely have been vetoed. Much admired as it had been, by 1989 the origins of the R107 as a design of the late 1960s were looking obvious; it had after all been on the market for what would usually have been two-three model cycles so hopes for the new SL were high.
1997 Mercedes-Benz SL 320.
The R129 didn't disappoint. Introduced in 1989 as the 500 SL, it was based on the fine platform of the W124 (which had proved its competence as the 500 E) and as well as the 5.0 litre V8, would be offered also with 2.8, 3.0 and 3.2 litre sixes, the larger of which, for general use, proved remarkably effective alternatives to the big-engined versions which tended to attract most publicity. That was certainly the case in 1993 when the 600 SL was released with the new 6.0 litre V12 (M120) which remain in the line-up until the end of R129 production in 2001. The M120 would prove to be one on the best engines Mercedes-Benz ever made and it made headlines at the time as the company's first road-going V12 (their previous V12s were all for racing or the Luftwaffe and the planned 600K programme was scrapped in 1940 because German industry suddenly had other priorities). Some purists thought the front-heaviness detracted somewhat from the fine balance achieved by the six and eight-cylinder cars but it was the beginning of the emergence of AMG as a major player in the high-performance market and for them, the M120 was a base the like of which few other manufacturers offered and in time, 7.0, 7.1 and 7.3 litre SLs would appear with the AMG badge, offering a naturally-aspirated driving experience (including aurally) very different from the turbo-charged competition. The AMG V12 SLs were a reminder of the way things used to be done, done faster. That the Citroën XM (a car hardly as innovative as the DS, SM or CX had in their day been) won the 1990 European Car of the Year can be explained only by dark hints about the undue influence (or worse) of French journalists. The R129 was runner-up and remains, unlike the XM, fondly remembered and much admired.
Temple
of the 500 Lohan, Kijiang, Riau Islands Province, Indonesia. Many Buddhist temples use the pagoda root as
an architectural feature and despite the traditional appearance, the Temple of the 500 Lohan is a recent construction.
Lindsay Lohan selfie in pagoda-themed black skirt, New York, 2018.
Not etymologically or in any other way connected with Lindsay Lohan, in Buddhist theology a Lohan
is an individual who had achieved Enlightenment and was a true follower of
Buddha. The Lohans are also known as the
Arhat, Arahat or Arahant while in the Far East, the transliteration was often
phonetic and in the Chinese 阿羅漢 (āluóhàn) it was often shortened to 羅漢
(luóhàn) and, via the Raj, this was picked up in English as Lohan or luohan
whereas in Japanese the pronunciation of the Chinese characters was arakan (阿羅漢) or
rakan (羅漢).
