How Many 1971 Pagodas Are Still in Service?

[teddyk]

Hi All, odd question, but does anyone know or have a guess as to how many 1971 280SLs are still on the road today?  I know there were 830 manufactured, but curious how many are still left.

Thanks, TK

[Cees Klumper]

My guess is about half

[MikeSimon]

830 - you are talking about CY 1971 cars, not MY 1971?

[teddyk]

I'm not sure what CY means, but I think I'm talking about model year.  Wikipedia has the production numbers by year for all W113s:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_W113#cite_note-17

[MikeSimon]

CY means Calendar Year. The 280SL was produced in January and February of 1971. MY is Model Year and that started sometime in July of 1970.
I am sure there were more than 830 cars produced for Model Year 1971.
The Tech Manual lists serial numbers for MY 1971 as about 3850 and for CY 1971 as 833

[teddyk]

Ah - that's very helpful distinction.  Makes a lot more sense that 3850 1971s overall were manufactured than 830.  When I saw that wiki article I was surprised that MB would've even bothered with <1,000 cars.  Thank you for setting me straight!