Mercedes-Benz W113 Pagoda Soft Top — Complete Frame for 230SL, 250SL & 280SL

Imagine a warm summer evening, the sun dropping low over the horizon, and you reaching up to unlatch the soft top of your Pagoda. One smooth motion, the roof folds away behind you, and suddenly the car feels twice as alive. That’s the moment every W113 owner buys the car for — and that’s exactly what this frame was built to give back to you.

This is a complete, contemporary-built soft top frame for the Mercedes-Benz W113 Pagoda, hand-made in Poland to original Mercedes factory specification. Every single component — down to the notoriously tricky galvanised springs — is built by our craftsmen, who have been producing these frames for over ten years. It fits the 280SL, 250SL and 230SL without any modifications, and it’s ready to be installed on your car by a competent trimmer.

⚠️ Important — this is the final production run

After more than a decade of making these frames, we have decided this is the last batch we will ever produce. Only 5 complete kits remain in stock. Once they are gone, they are gone for good — we will not be starting another run. If you have been putting off your Pagoda soft top project, or if you’re mid-restoration and know you’ll need a frame at some point, this is your last honest chance.

Why a new frame instead of hunting for a tired original?

Let’s be straight with each other. Original W113 soft top frames are now well over 55 years old. The ones still floating around on the market have usually lived hard lives — rusted hinges, fatigued springs, bent tubes from careless handling, and mystery repairs done with whatever happened to be lying around in the previous owner’s garage. Even “good” originals often need to be completely stripped, straightened and refurbished before they’ll operate smoothly, and the labour cost of that work frequently exceeds the price of a new frame.

Our kit gives you fresh metal, fresh springs, fresh hardware — everything operating exactly the way Mercedes intended when the car first rolled off the line in Sindelfingen. No corrosion, no metal fatigue, no hidden cracks waiting to surprise you a year after fitting.

Ten years of refinement, measured on real Pagodas

This is not a frame someone copied from a single example and called it a day. Over the past decade, our workshop has measured multiple original W113 frames, cross-referenced the dimensions, and — crucially — made corrections for the deformation and ageing every surviving original has suffered. The resulting pattern was then test-fitted on many different W113 bodies to confirm it fits correctly regardless of which year or model you own.

In practical terms, this means the frame drops into your car and aligns properly out of the box. The only adjustment you’ll need to make is fine-tuning with the included distancing washers to account for the small dimensional variations that every 60-year-old body shell has developed over its lifetime. No grinding, no bending, no “creative” fitting.

Built to survive Polish winters and everything else

• Steel construction throughout, built to take the mechanical stresses of decades of daily opening and closing;
• Fully galvanised — no rust, ever, even on the hidden internal surfaces that always fail first on originals;
• Front section additionally powder-coated for maximum resistance to stone chips, weather and mechanical damage;
• Hand-made galvanised springs — getting the galvanising process right on springs is genuinely difficult work, and most replica makers skip it or cut corners. We don’t. These springs will outlive the rest of your car;
• All hardware produced in-house to Mercedes’s original specifications.

What’s in the kit

Unlike most vendors, who sell the bare frame and charge extra for every small accessory, here you get everything needed to fit a new soft top to your car — all in one box, one price:

• complete roof frame;
• two locks and two handles;
• two rosettes;
• extra supporting bar to be sewn into the canvas (this one is often missing from other kits entirely — here it’s included as standard);
• two hand-made galvanised springs;
• distancing washers for adjusting the frame to your specific car;
• a complete set of chromed screws.

No hidden fees, no “oh, you also need to order this separately” surprises. Everything you need to mount the frame on your Pagoda is in the box. The only two things you’ll need to source separately are the canvas itself (which your trimmer will sew to fit) and the chromed trims and rubber roof seals — we don’t make or sell these.

Here’s a short video presenting how to properly operate our roofs:

Fitting

The video above shows the frame moving smoothly through its full range of motion, ready to be handed over for canvas fitting. We strongly recommend using a skilled trimmer who knows W113s — these cars are not getting any younger, and individual body dimensions vary more than you’d expect after six decades on the road. A good trimmer will use the distancing washers we include to dial in a perfect fit for your specific car.

(The black supporting cross visible in the photos and video is only there to display the frame for photography — it is not part of the kit.)

How ordering and delivery works

1. Place your order through the website, or message us first if you have any questions;
2. We pack your frame carefully for international shipping;
3. Because we travel frequently for parts sourcing, your kit ships within 3–7 working days of payment being received;
4. Shipping is by UPS Express Saver, fully insured to the complete value of the set;
5. Most European customers receive the frame within 3–5 working days of dispatch; worldwide delivery typically takes 5–10 working days.

At your request, we can ship by FedEx or DHL instead — just ask for a quote before you order.

Payment protection

Your purchase is protected by the standard Visa and Mastercard chargeback rights, so your money is safe throughout the entire process. We have built ForTankmen over more than a decade of honest dealing with collectors and restorers around the world, and we want you to know the formal protections are there as well. Have a look at our About page to see exactly who you’re buying from.

Warranty

• 24-month warranty for individual (private) EU customers;
• 12-month warranty for business customers;

covering durability and mechanical stability of the frame and all included accessories. We make these frames ourselves, we stand behind every single one, and if anything goes wrong within the warranty period, contact us and we will make it right. Simple as that.

Technical data

• Weight: 31 kg
• Dimensions (packed): 139 × 45 × 25 cm
• Fits: Mercedes-Benz W113 — 230SL, 250SL, 280SL
• Construction: steel, fully galvanised, front section powder-coated
• Made in: Poland
• Warranty: 24 months (private EU) / 12 months (business)

Questions about fitting, shipping, or anything else? Drop us a line through the chat window on this page, or email us directly here. We answer every message personally — no call centres, no chatbots, just tankmen talking to Pagoda people.

Remember — only 5 kits left, and no more will ever be made.