Pagoda perfect match for Wicht

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This article was published 16/06/2023 (1023 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There are certain people who have personalities that are an exact match to their vehicles, and Manfred Wicht is a perfect example.

Wicht is German-made, and so is his car, a 1965 Mercedes Benz 230 SL Pagoda two-seat roadster/coupé, also known as the Mercedes Benz W113 convertible.

The car got the nickname Pagoda because of the concave shape of the hardtop that is rounded inward like the inside of a bowl — and resembles East Asian temples.

Wicht said he had his eye on the Pagoda well before he got a driver’s licence.

“In fact, when I was growing up in Germany, I went by a Mercedes dealership all the time and I saw a Pagoda sitting there, and thought to myself, I’m going to have one of those for myself one day. But that was a gazillion years ago,” he said as he laughed.

As the years went by, Wicht became a mechanic, joined the military, and in 1975, was sent to Canadian Forces Base Shilo — the second year that German soldiers were trained there — until the program ended in 2000.

While on base, Wicht met and married his wife Penny.

They had two sons and eventually settled in Brandon, while he perfected his craft as a mechanic at Precision Toyota, parts and service manager at House of Nissan, and before he retired, was shop foreman at Murray Chevrolet.

That’s why, he said, cars were always a part of their lives, with “a soft spot for European cars,” including an Alfa Romeo, Triumph, a Lancia and a Mercedes 250 SL.

It was while driving past a repair shop not far from his home that Wicht saw a 230 SL Pagoda parked outside and said to Penny, “How nice, they’re fixing up that car.”

But almost a month passed, he said, the car hadn’t moved, and the weather started to change.

“It was snowing, and that car was still sitting there, what a shame,” said Wicht.

“And one headlight was busted — apparently a snowplow ran into it. So I went in and talked to the guy.”

A few weeks later, Wicht bought the car and was given a piece of its history by the previous owner, including the original bill of sale from Germany.

“This car was built for the European market. There are other cars that are built for the U.S. market, and those ones have a few differences, including marker lights on the side,” Wicht said.

“It was owned by a doctor in Berlin in 1963 who put on about 70,000 kilometres, and then according to the shipping documents I have, he sold it to a woman in San Francisco, and then it came to Canada, to a doctor in Brandon, a beekeeper, and finally to Penny and me,” said Wicht.

The Pagoda is “my baby,” Penny said.

“He bought it for me, and it’s an automatic because I couldn’t run a clutch anymore after my knee surgery,” she said. “I just enjoy sitting in the passenger seat and feeling the wind in my hair.”

The Pagoda was manufactured at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Stuttgart, Germany, from June 1963 to January 1967 and is powered by an inline 2.3-litre six-cylinder engine, with multi-port fuel injection and comes with a removable hard top.

It’s 14 feet long, almost six feet wide, and four feet high, with “European” oval headlights, said Wicht.

“The turn signals for both the European and U.S car are inside the headlights, but they are placed differently. On the U.S car, the turn signal is underneath, but on the European, it’s at the very top of the light. And at the bottom of the oval are fog lights that are incorporated into the headlight system, too,” Wicht said.

Fixes have been few, Wicht said, but he just finished putting in new brakes, and in the past has done transmission repairs, found and fixed the source of oil leaks and purchased new floor mats.

Parts that had to be ordered from Germany posed no problem at all, he said.

“I have the advantage that I speak German, so getting parts from there was not really a big deal. And I’ve had to search a little bit, but it was manageable, and even now, finding parts for this car is not that bad.”

When people hear the story about how Wicht saw his dream car in a snowbank, investigated, and eventually bought it, he said he receives thanks for rescuing it.

And in a way, he added, it has been rescued twice. About three years ago, his garage caught fire with the Pagoda inside and when firefighters responded, they had to cut the power, but that prevented him from opening the door.

“So I started up the generator at the motor home, ran a power cord to the door, opened it up and drove it out safely. That was the second rescue, and it’s worth it — the style of this car is absolutely timeless.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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