1965 230SL literature

[john.mancini]

Looking to buy original glove box manuals and MB plastic envelope for 1965 230SL.

[Jonny B]

To find the originals eBay is your friend, and some patience. Keep in mind the only items specific to the 230 SL will be the owners manual and the parts book. The other books, maintenance record keeping, maps, dealers listing, and others are generic to MB from the era. There is a lot written on this in Pagoda Notes - Volume 2 no 2.

There are some vendors with reproduction manuals.

[cabrioletturbo]

Sent PM.

[john.mancini]

Thanks Johnny B. I have accumulated quite a bit of 280SL factory literature, sales brochures, manuals, etc. over the years. I find the 230SL stuff a lot harder to find. Did the owners manual and parts book come in the tan plastic holder like the 250 and 280 SL's?

[mbpaul]

Yes, they came in the tan plastic holder.  Did the later manuals come in several languages like the 230SL did?  I have seen English language only ones for sale on ebay and that is not what came with the car.  Somehow I ended up with two owners manuasl but I cannot find one of them now.  And it was the one in slightly better condition.  I also have some sales brocheres and other things.  Of course, none are for sale but if somebody would like to see what they look like, I can post pictures.

[Aaron h]

John, I may or may not have what you or someone else may need.  Pictures below.  I removed this set from a 1964 or 1965 230SL that was being parted out (unnecessarily) due to a seized engine.  The car only had 59,000 miles on it.  It was a crying shame.  I saved all that I could!  It was a pretty car.....Horizon Blue with a midnight blue hard top and wheel embellishers, with blue leather interior.  One owner car, too!  The saddest part was that the car was cosmetically perfect, and had absolutely zero rust.  My hands were tied due to my having worked at this place at the time.  I couldn't do anything about it.  :/ 

[Jonny B]

Aaron, nice save! And too bad about the vehicle.

As a point of note - when looking for the manual on eBay (or anywhere) if you want to be sure you are getting an original, one tip is to look at the drawings for the dash. In an original manual, these should be in color. The reprints rarely are.

[mbpaul]

Aaron, your pictures are exactly the same as from my 1966 230SL!  Everything the same--even the Blaupunkt radio manual.  Since the factory only installed Becker radios, the radio had to have been installed after the car got here.

Jonny, I did not remember any color at all in the manual but you are correct.  There is one of the full dash and another of just the instrument cluster that are in color.

[mbzse]

.../...Did the later manuals come in several languages like the 230SL did?.../...

The Owners Manual for our W113 Pagoda cars came in some different editions.
The ones in the US were special.
Otherwise there was a pure German version.
Then also a "Nord" version (English, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Swedish)
and a "Sud" version (English, Spanish, Italian, French, Portugese)

The W113 sales Literature can be studied on Gerster's website:
http://oudemercedesbrochures.nl/W113.html

[mbpaul]

My manual that came when the 1966 230SL was delivered in the USA is in German, English, Swedish, Danish and Dutch.