Pagoda Roof

The term 'Pagoda' in car design...

 

"A pagoda is the general term for a tiered tower with multiple eaves"

 

Then Mercedes-Benz reinvented the use of the word in car design with their W113 SL with that famous roofline :

 

 

Now it is on their excellent new 2013 W246 B-Class. An efficient aerodynamic concave roof design to assist in air flow.

Wow! Hi-tech (or is it?).

 

 

 

Now I come to think of it, many cars have this feature these days.

 

 

Including the C6 Corvette:

 

 

But did Mercedes actually start this trend...?

 

Let's go back to the very late 1950s (well over half a century ago) - to the design of the 'SY' series Rolls-Royce model (Silver Shadow). This car was finally introduced in 1966 after a long design period.

No C.A.D. back then.

 

Look at Crewe's prototype 220PMB's roof (Hmmm, '220 Pagoda Mercedes-Benz'- wrong plate used on this one):

 

 

Notice the higher roofline on about ten inches of the outer sides.

 

Let's use my 1975 as another example...

 

 

There is a distinct 'Pagoda' style roofline on all these cars. This continued into the SZ series (Silver Spirit/Spur) series as well.

 

 

Another reminder that Rolls-Royce really were way ahead of everybody else for a long time.

"There's only so much you can do - Just make sure you're the first to do it." (Anonymous)

 

(Posted by David Irvine)