66 or 67

[tpfarm]

Hi everyone, this is my first post so please be gentle.
The title on my wifes 230sl says 1967. We were told in Ga. by our expert service shop where we lived that it is actually a 66 . the last 6 digits of the vin are  019811. Knowing that the total number of 230's built  was 19831, this car would be the 20th car from the end of production. I know from the data card the car was ordered in 66. Most of the info on the data card has faded and is really hard to see. Can anyone shed some light on this .

[jameshoward]

My chassis number is 019694. According to the wiki, whilch lists the last 6 numbers of the last vehicle built in the corresponding month, mine was built in Dec. Your car would appear to be a 1967 car, as the wiki shows the last car to be built in 66 ended 019737, and the last in Jan 67 ended 019832, ergo your car is a 67, not 66. (Assuming the wiki is correct!) However, my car was shipped to the US and not first registered until Feb '67.

It is true that the data card scans are hard to read. Mine was almost indecipherable. In the end, I called the Classic Centre and asked them to transpose the information into an email, as their hard copy was in far better condition than the scan they send. They did this for me within the day, and it contains all the information in a readable format. I'd recommend that you do this if you want more complete info.

JH

[twistedtree]

Another thing to keep in mind is that there was only a lose coupling back then between the manufacture date and model year.  Then manufacture date, at least down to the month, can be nailed down with certainty.  But the model year, I gather, was essentially proclaimed by the dealer, as least in the US.  At some point this changed and model year designations became more regimented, but even then, and today, model years don't align with manufacture year.  Most model years start with cars built in the fall of the previous year.

This is a long way of saying that anything built after July of year X could be titled as model year X+1 without raising any concern at all.

[JamesL]

I think it used to be something along the lines of updates being put through the line after the summer shutdown (holidays)

But liking to bet they introduced these only gradually as they cleared out stock of old parts that needed to be used up before the newer ones were used

[WRe]

Hello,
the production statistic says that the last 230 was build Jan.5, 1967 with number 19832. During these last days in January 95 cars have been build.
See pdf file here: www.pagodentreff.de/diskussionsforum/t8728-produktionsstatistik-w113.html.
Your car must be build Jan.4 or 5, 1967.
The model year 1967 started Oct. 3., 1966 with number 18446.
...WRe

[Jordan]

Wre, I still think there was some play around those dates.  My car was built mid October, 1966, number 018613, spent the first two years of its life in Stuttgart where it was purchased and it is registered as a 1966. 

[WRe]

Hello,
as twistedtree wrote, there is only a lose coupling between the date of manufacturing and model year. The date of manufacturing is fix, in your case Oct. 1966. The model year is more or less a marketing thing, e.g. to differ between facelifts, which in case of 230 was more or less nothing.
The special thing during this time was that they manufactured 230 and 250 models in Sindelfingen (Nov. '66 - Jan. '67). In 1966 ca. 40% of the 230 cars have been exported to the US. In 1967 334 cars of the 230 model have been exported to the US, though only 95 have been manufactured. That means that they have been manufactured earlier
Source: Guenter Engelen, Mercedes-Benz 190 SL - 280 SL, Vom Barock zur Pagode.
...WRe

[tpfarm]

My chassis number is 019694. According to the wiki, whilch lists the last 6 numbers of the last vehicle built in the corresponding month, mine was built in Dec. Your car would appear to be a 1967 car, as the wiki shows the last car to be built in 66 ended 019737, and the last in Jan 67 ended 019832, ergo your car is a 67, not 66. (Assuming the wiki is correct!) However, my car was shipped to the US and not first registered until Feb '67.

It is true that the data card scans are hard to read. Mine was almost indecipherable. In the end, I called the Classic Centre and asked them to transpose the information into an email, as their hard copy was in far better condition than the scan they send. They did this for me within the day, and it contains all the information in a readable format. I'd recommend that you do this if you want more complete info.

JH

Thanks for the info, i am going to refer to my wifes car as titled , a 67.