Author Topic: Original miles  (Read 4155 times)

mauro12

  • Full Member
  • Gold
  • *****
  • Italy, Sicily, Messina
  • Posts: 643
Original miles
« on: April 16, 2017, 23:48:38 »
Hi everyone! I wanted to ask you if there is a way to know with sureness the original miles of the car. I don't have any documents or history of service in my car but  only the odometer which mark 9000 km so likely my car has 109.000 km . You think is high rate for this engine?
Mauro Pisani
250sl 1967 5speed zf manual

Rolf-Dieter ✝︎

  • Associate Member
  • Platinum
  • ******
  • Canada, ON, London
  • Posts: 3683
    • Best Pagoda Site second to none!
Re: Original miles
« Reply #1 on: April 17, 2017, 00:29:04 »
Hi Mauro,

One unfortunately never knows without the cars service documents from the start since as you know our odometer turns over to zero after 99,999 KM or Miles.

I purchased a 1987 BMW is new in 1987 and we managed to put over 400,000 KM on that car. My daughter had her for 10 years and just sold her to a BMW Mechanic. Now this car had all the records and the odometer does not turn over after 99,999 to zero.

So yours could be 109,000, 209,000 one just don't know. Be happy if you have matching numbers and she runs well. There may be a way once you disassemble the engine and look at wear and tear what the true mileage would be, that as you can imagine is expensive and something I'm sure you don't want to do.

Enjoy the car.

Dieter
DD 2011 SL 63 AMG and my 69 Pagoda 280 SL

Benz Dr.

  • Associate Member
  • Platinum
  • ******
  • Canada, ON, Port Lambton
  • Posts: 7220
  • Benz Dr.
Re: Original miles
« Reply #2 on: April 17, 2017, 03:51:53 »
 A couple of quick checks on some easy to see pieces can often tell a lot.

Fine cracks in the steering wheel usually denote age unless it's been changed.
Heavily worn pedal pads are a good sign. Look for wear on the edge of the brake pedal pad.
Look inside the glove box. If the paint is a lot brighter than the surrounding dash it's not a low miles car or it sat outside a lot.

 Most of this advice goes out the window on a restored car however, few people restore rear view mirrors - good place to look for signs of age or at yourself for any clues.
1966 230SL 5 speed, LSD, header pipes, 300SE distributor, ported, polished and balanced, AKA  ''The Red Rocket ''
Dan Caron's SL Barn

1970  3.5 Coupe
1961  190SL
1985   300CD  Turbo Coupe
1981  300SD
2013  GMC  Sierra
1965  230SL
1967 250SL
1970 280SL
1988 560SEC

mauro12

  • Full Member
  • Gold
  • *****
  • Italy, Sicily, Messina
  • Posts: 643
Re: Original miles
« Reply #3 on: April 18, 2017, 18:21:05 »
In every case do you think 109.000km is high for this car? im almost sure this is the original rate of mine
Mauro Pisani
250sl 1967 5speed zf manual

Cees Klumper

  • Full Member
  • Platinum
  • ******
  • USA, CA, Fallbrook
  • Posts: 5719
    • http://SL113.org
Re: Original miles
« Reply #4 on: April 18, 2017, 19:31:57 »
109,000 km is very low for a car fifty years old. That would make it 2,000 average per year. What would worry me more is if the car sat completely unused for a long period of time, that is never a good thing for any vehicle. Anyway at this age it's not important how many kms the cars have done (except for people who think that is important for some reason) but what does matter is the shape everything is in. I wouls much rather have a 500,000 km car that is in great condition than one with 50,000 that is in poor condition. After all these cars, properly maintained, can easily do a million or more kms.
Cees Klumper
1969 Mercedes 280 SL automatic
1968 Ford Mustang 302 V8
1961 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Coupe 1600
1962 FIAT 1500S OSCA convertible
1972 Lancia Fulvia Coupe 1.3
1983 Porsche 944 2.5
1990 Ford Bronco II

hkollan

  • Associate Member
  • Gold
  • *****
  • Spain, Castilla-La Mancha
  • Posts: 519
Re: Original miles
« Reply #5 on: April 18, 2017, 20:08:28 »
In every case do you think 109.000km is high for this car? im almost sure this is the original rate of mine

Hi,

Without a complete documented history the original mileage is anyones guess.
109000km is as Cees says extremely low mileage for a 50 year old car, and would be very rare if it is the case. If you believe the car to be this low mileage based on the condiition, I would enjoy the fact that you have a nice car and worry less about original mileage.  Maybe if you put up a few pictures of the car, including interior and engine
You could get some better answers to your question.

Hans
Hans K, Cuenca, Spain
1968 280 SL 387 Blue met., parchment leather
1971 280 SL 462 Beige met, Brown leather
1968 280 SL 180 Silver, Red leather
1964 300 SE Lang 040 Black w/Red leather
1985 500 SL 735 Astral Silver w/Black leather
1987 560 SEC 199 Black met., Black leather

TheEngineer

  • Associate Member
  • Gold
  • *****
  • USA, West Seattle, WA
  • Posts: 775
  • '69 280SL,Signal Red,
Re: Original miles
« Reply #6 on: April 18, 2017, 23:52:42 »
It is notewordy that Mercedes in the workshop manual, page 00-5/5 publishes: cylinder wear is 0.01 mm for 10,000 Km. Therefore, if you still have the original engine, as indicated by the data sheet, and if you measure the bore and if you find that it has never been bored by having the original pistons, like 86.5 mm diameter for a 280SL, you can correlate the wear and the indicated mileage.  For example: you measure 86.7 mm diameter this gives about 200,000 Km
'69 280SL,Signal Red, 09 cam, License BB-59U
'67 230SL, 113042-10-017463 (sld)
'50 Jaguar Roadster XK120, #670.318 (sld)
tired engineer, West-Seattle,WA

mauro12

  • Full Member
  • Gold
  • *****
  • Italy, Sicily, Messina
  • Posts: 643
Re: Original miles
« Reply #7 on: April 19, 2017, 17:02:32 »
Here some picture! The car was not restored, it has the normal signs of the time
Mauro Pisani
250sl 1967 5speed zf manual