280SL Data plate decode needed

[Frank Mallory]

Yes ... I KNOW: A guy named "Frank Mallory" asking for help with his data plate decode. My father, Frank Mallory Sr, would have been unimpressed  
   After 35+ years of fiddling with and collecting Mopars, I, Frank Jr, finally jumped in and bought a '68 280SL 4-Speed last month.
Ironically; I am an expert at decoding the Chrysler fender tags... however, that is due to the wealth of information available for them.

After poking around and failing to find a simple W113 tag-decoding web page, I've decided it would be best to ask the experts, which (Ahem!) would be YOU guys. A couple of things about my car: it's supposedly a 1968 model, but is titled as a 1967. The speedometer is in kilometers, but the headlights are U.S.? The car has California plates dating from 1970... maybe it was imported at that time?

Any help, opinions, or guidance you could give me would be greatly appreciated. Other than spending about a thousand miles behind the wheel of my Dads beloved 1967 250SL 5-Speed in the late 1970's, I am a Pagoda idiot.  
   Thanks!

[66andBlue]

Hello Frank Jr,
as Louis wrote in response to your first post we are very happy having you in our fold.

Your car was built most likely in June 1967 May 1968  (http://www.sl113.org/wiki/DataCard/USModelYear) but without the car's data card it is not possible to find out where it was delivered.
The ID plate reveals quite  a bit but it will be even more revealing if you have the date card for the car.  You can obtain it for free from the Classic Center in Irvine. Here is a link that should help you: http://www.sl113.org/wiki/DataCard/DataCards.
Give Tom Hansen there a call and you should have it soon and then we can go to the next level.

[49er]

Welcome Frank,
 If I am reading your plate correctly it appears your car would have been built in May of 1968 and sold as 1968 model. My 280 SL ( VIN 113044-10-003820) was built in June and was delivered in September as a 69 model. I also suspect it is a European model. The data card that Alfred mentioned will answer those questions for you.

John

[66andBlue]

Hello John,
thanks for catching my mistake - I was looking at the 250SL column!
I have corrected my entry.

[Frank Mallory]

Thanks so much guys! I will get on the ball and get that data card.

[JamesL]

050 G is the paint code.... and it's there twice, indicating that it's 050 (White - well, one of them, anyway) G (Glasurit) body AND hard top - which seems to be the case from the picture

[Jordan]

Frank, your body and paint number plate show your car was originally sold in Germany.  The Data Card will tell you where in Germany.  The headlights were probably changed to US version when it was imported into the US. 

[Frank Mallory]

I called the MB Classic Center; they were very nice, and I was instructed to email them proof of ownership and simply state that I wanted a data card for the car.
   2 hours after I emailed them my request, I received a response telling me that it had been forwarded to Germany, and I should receive the info by Thursday this week. Nice!
   I wish the Mopar broadcast sheets were that easy; you either find them hidden in the car, or you're just flat out of luck.

[Frank Mallory]

Well ... as my Dad would say: Rats!

Here's the reply I got from Germany:

"Unfortunately this datacard is heavily distorted. I translated what I could
read. Thank you

(See attached file: 113044 10003084.pdf.zip)

Engine: 130983-10-001230
Front right and left axle- 218
050- Paint, White
131- Interior Trim, Black MB-Tex
401- Single seats
416- Hardtop mounted
422- Mercedes-Benz power steering
600- Trim strips on hardtop
740- Folding top fabric, Black

Kind regards, / Mit freundlichen Grüßen,

Classic Parts"

They did include a copy of the card... it does'nt look distorted at all, just very faint and hard to read. Here's a link to a pic of the card if you want to take a whack at it> http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo65/ConvertiBee/General/280SL/datacard.jpg

[jacovdw]

Hello Frank,

From what I can see on your datacard, the "Auftrags-Nr" looks like 8 228 4116 (it is generally 8 digits long) and tells you the following:

a) first digit is the last digit of the year the order was placed - 8 for 1968.
b) the next 3 digits represent where in Germany the order was placed.

Now to me the next 3 digits look like 228, but could also be 229 or 223.
223 = Darmstadt
228 = Offenbach
229 = Stuttgart

c) the last 4 digits (4116) represent the sequential number for the dealer/region/country for that year.

Hope that helps to shed some light on the subject.

[zoegrlh]

For sure the city code is 229.

[114015]

Tires ("Bereifung 5-fach") are (were) Conti.



Achim

(BTW What happend to your father's 250 5-speed? Still in the family?)

[Frank Mallory]

Thanks for the info guys. Regarding my fathers 250SL, after 40 years of being told that it would be left to me, he changed his mind at the very end and decided that it would be sold as part of his estate when he was gone.
   I was unhappy about this, and I told him so in his final days. We did not have a single issue dividing us... this was not a personal affront on his part.
   Dad would have made a great German. He was coldly logical, and his decisions were always based on logic rather than feelings or emotions. The 250SL took its last ride with him about 4 months before he passed. It was of course driven by someone else (not me), and the driver did not pay any attention to the temperature gauge.
   It overheated on Rockville Pike. Dad told me that most likely that the head had warped. This was the condition that the car was sold in.
   I do not know who bought it.

Dad had Retinitis Pigmentosa... a condition that caused him to become mostly blind. I have it too, and I am legally blind, unable to regularly drive although I do get out there with the help of a co-pilot occasionally.
   I enjoy life, I enjoy tinkering with my 5 collector cars, and I am looking forward to a day sometime in this decade when medical science gets me fixed so I can be "a real boy" once again...

[114015]

Thanks Frank,

For the nice profound story. Sad that your greatly reputated father would not want to pass his car to you anymore. :'(

But don't worry to much, you have got a very nice 280 now.
So enjoy!

Welcome to the Group!

Achim