Body and Paint Number Plate Question

[burns99]

Been reading this forum for a while which has been extremely helpful and I may be making a purchase soon (fingers crossed).

I have been looking at a 1967 250SL and everything looks great, but there are a few concerns.  (I am new and I believe I'm using the correct terms, but forgive me if I'm wrong.)

There is no card with the vin number on the door pillar.  The owner believes he may have it somewhere but cannot find it.  The car is currently registered with the DMV with a vin number and has been registered for the last 15 years.
I did find the Body and Paint Number Plate and can make out most of the numbers which confirms it is a 250SL, left handed drive, with manual transmission as it supposed to be.

I believe the owner and think he is honest, so I'm not worried about any purposeful deceit. 

My concern is if this will be a problem down the road if I ever choose to sell the car and if that should affect the sales price now.

Would anyone here be concerned?  Is the correct body and paint number plate enough?
Assuming I could get a new data card from the Mercedes Benz center, would that be just as good?

Going to see it again this weekend to try to find the number on the frame, but we couldn't find it last time.
Any thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks!
Adam

[Garry]

Hi Adam,

I think I have commented on the Facebook site as well but the Data Card is a very very important document and is easily obtainable from the Mercedes Classic Centre in CA.  It will give you everything about the car and is the critical document to have as an owner if you want to make sure that the car has its original equipment including engines, gearboxes, axles and will also give you paint and upholstery information and any other options that the car came with.

in a Mercedes Pagoda the focus on matching numbers is not considered so critical as other cars unless someone has done an engine change that is different form the model designation.  A 250Sl for instance sometimes has a 280 engine in it.  That will efect the price much more than if it had a replacement 250SL engine. Unlike say a Mustang of one particular year that may have had three different engine options, all Mercedes 250SL’s had a 2500cc engine, there were no options for engines so whilst nice to have the original engine in there it is just as important if it has been replaced to ensure that it was replaed with another 250Sl engine.  Dont get too caught up n the matching numbers game unless you are planning on bringing it up to concourse level 1.

Garry

[kampala]

Adam,
 
I think your question is how can you confirm the car matches the VIN on the paperwork and if it is important to have a VIN tag on the car -- based on this understanding, here are my thoughts.

My opinion is that a missing VIN plate is not a big deal if you confirm the car matches the paperwork.  Sounds like you've done some work to match the VIN.  The VIN is stamped on the right side of the car in the engine bay under the throttle body --- look for the flex air hose from the air filter to the throttle body and look underneath --- bring something to spray it clean and a flashlight.  See links below for location.  This VIN obviously should match the VIN on the paperwork and on the paint data plate you have already found.  

In addition, since this is a 250sl, you can also check if it is an early or late 250sl as they are different --- and it's just another point of validation --- it's a very loose validation but if the last 4 digits of VIN are 2979 or lower it's an Early 250sl and if these digits are higher, it's a Later car.  If the VIN is 2979 or lower, look for characteristics that match a 230sl, like a squarish dash, 230sl inside door handles, chrome inside mirror, curvy outside mirror etc.  

If the last digits of VIN are 2980 or greater, look for details that match the 280sl --- rounded dash, rectangular inside door handle, non-curvy outside mirror, black inside mirror etc.  

Look at photos of 280's vs 230's and you will see what I'm writing about -- look at door panels, dash, mirrors and it will make sense. Of course a few of these items could have been changed, but changing a dash is no easy feat.  


See the photos in this link so you will know how to find the VIN on the frame.  Let us know how it goes.   Good luck.


http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=6345.0

http://www.sl113.org/wiki/DataCard/VIN    (go to the bottom of this page in the tech manual)