Production Year Games Playing

[Richard Madison]

I'm intrigued by the apparent fuzzy lines between model years and calendar years for some MB chassis...

Here is a story (rumor) of one way in which the model year was "manipulated" for some MB cars:

The German goverment required the model year of a car be set by the date on which production of the car was completed. If some cars were not sold to dealers near the end of a calendar year, MB would push the cars out to a storage lot without the windshield wipers. Then when they were sold in the next calendar year, MB would "finish" production by installing the windshield wipers and sell them as later year models; a 1968 built car could could have its wipers added (be "finished") in 1969 and would thereby become a 1969 car.

Can anyone confirm this story? Since 113's seem to have a steady correlation between the VIN sequence numbers and calendar months, it does not seem that this "windshield wiper game" affected Pagodas...but I do note that my "1971" was built in October 1970, how did that happen? Were the rules different for exported cars?
Richard M

[Klaus]

Richard,

here is how I know it:

In Germany, the term Model Year does not exist, only the Registration Year. The year of the car is determined by the date at which the first owner registered it and received a title (“Erstzulassung”). If a car was produced towards the end of the year and first registered in the next year, it was a next year Registration Year.

In the US, the Model Year is governed by Federal regulations, mostly by the Environmental Protection Agency with their exhaust emission limits. EPA rules state that production for a Model Year can occur in any time frame which includes only one January 1. Therefore, as an example, the maximum time frame for production of Model Year 2004 vehicles is from January 2nd 2003 to December 31st 2004. This time frame has only one January 1st, in 2004.
In order to comply with this rule, but be able to headstart the production, games like the one you described were played, although only on very limited occasions. I am not aware of any such occasions regarding the W113.
Irregardless from the maximum possible production time frame, manufacturers certify their vehicles for a specific Model Year and inform the EPA of its start (date and serial number) on an annual basis.
As described in a previous post on Yahoo, regarding your specific vehicle, the Brown Beast, the 1971 US Registration Year began with registration date of October 1, 1970 plus serial number 113044-..-018506. Your serial number should be higher than that.

Klaus

[Richard Madison]

Klaus:
Thanks for the info. I did not know how the EPA defined a "model year". I thought that for a few years a while back that a car had to be sold in the US as a model of the year in which it was actually produced (like the German rule) but maybe I'm wrong about that.

I can confirm that my Brown "Beauty" (a term of endearment, not an actual description) was built in October 1970 and the VIN ends in 021755. As the car was completed in October 1970, it was sold and titled as "1971".

I see that the VIN number versus production month is in our Database Section under "Production Month".

Hope to see you in Ohio or maybe Westbury.
Richard M

[pembash]

It is interesting to know that I am not yhe only one whose 1970- 280SL was manufactured in 12/69 but the year/model is referred to 1970. I would tend to agree that the car assumes it's year/model on it's first registration in the name of the buyer.
Bob
1970 White 280SL

quote:Originally posted by Klaus

Richard,

here is how I know it:

In Germany, the term Model Year does not exist, only the Registration Year. The year of the car is determined by the date at which the first owner registered it and received a title (“Erstzulassung”). If a car was produced towards the end of the year and first registered in the next year, it was a next year Registration Year.

In the US, the Model Year is governed by Federal regulations, mostly by the Environmental Protection Agency with their exhaust emission limits. EPA rules state that production for a Model Year can occur in any time frame which includes only one January 1. Therefore, as an example, the maximum time frame for production of Model Year 2004 vehicles is from January 2nd 2003 to December 31st 2004. This time frame has only one January 1st, in 2004.
In order to comply with this rule, but be able to headstart the production, games like the one you described were played, although only on very limited occasions. I am not aware of any such occasions regarding the W113.
Irregardless from the maximum possible production time frame, manufacturers certify their vehicles for a specific Model Year and inform the EPA of its start (date and serial number) on an annual basis.
As described in a previous post on Yahoo, regarding your specific vehicle, the Brown Beast, the 1971 US Registration Year began with registration date of October 1, 1970 plus serial number 113044-..-018506. Your serial number should be higher than that.

Klaus