Sweet city ride: Old-school Mercedes parked on 28th Street between 10th & 11th.

An old-school Mercedes was parked on our block this week. This seems like the type of car James Bond would drive in the Sean Connery era.

Evidently it is a Mercedes 280SL, which was introduced in the late 1960s and continued in production through the early 1970s. Its nickname is the “Pagoda,” which based on Wikipedia is inspired by its “slightly concave hardtop.” Now I don’t know a whole lot about cars, but I gather that a “hardtop” is the actual roof of the car, and why a convertible is nicknamed after its roof I have no idea. But here we are and I’m just the messenger. This indeed is a sweet city ride.