For the seasoned collector
- March 22, 2020
- Classic Cars, Mercedes, W113
- Posted by Brian Peters
- Comments Off on For the seasoned collector
I hope everyone is healthy and staying home as directed by their government so COVID-19 can run its course with the least casualties. I’m currently holed up at the Villa Zee Zaw with laptop at hand, rescue-kitten on my lap and coffee-shop cat between my feet. Not a bad place to be considering the bum-knee from my recent trek in the Peruvian Amazon. It gave me time to think about our desires.
Besides purveying highly authentic classic-cars, I like to explore nature, especially the rainforest, write philosophical sci-fi (where all the world’s ills get solved) and hang out with kool-cats. The cats are like little Buddhas (except for the occasional hissing) as they mostly take life as it comes.
As the clock ticks and I get closer to my, “best if used by” date, I realize there is not time for every whim. I must be selective as others should, who like me, have already lived some decades. Which, brings me to my automotive point in this rambling.
When one reaches a position where indulgence in vintage machinery is possible, one quickly discovers the logic of pursuing the very best. It is not a matter of snobbery—it is a matter of time, the value of one’s time, the plethora of substandard examples and the upside-down economics of making one of those right.
Motoring Investments has 5 world-class Pagodas, 4 of which are ready for immediate delivery to senior W113 enthusiasts. None of the four can be duplicated for equal or less cost by purchasing a cheaper car and improving it. Economic law forbids it. These are probably not for newbies to the collector-car world (unless newbie happens to have significant resources and trusted advisors). Nor are they for a speculator or side-hustle practitioner. Each of these cars are for someone who desires the best of the Pagoda world, who knows what the best looks and feels like and is willing to part with the necessary resources to put to put it in their garage.
They range from a low-mileage preservation-car in silver/black, showing cosmetic abrasions from the past fifty years, to the highest serial number Pagoda in private hands—the second-to-last car built (now in the final phase of restoration). There is also what is arguably the ‘best Pagoda’ in the world (ask me to qualify that if you are comfortable parting with $275k) and a documented low-mileage signal red ’71 which had an $85k cosmetic freshening. Four of these are priced more than double the average W113 Pagoda on today’s market (but if you’ve read this far, you probably don’t want an average car).
If these are not the desired colors or specification, restorable Pagodas start at about $50k plus a top-level restoration at $300k+. We are happy to restore your car to your specification.
~ Brian