US Delivery 5 Speed 250SLs

[steven harris]

Hello everyone. Fantastic site. I sold my 71 280 SL (Automatic) a few years ago and missed it. I just bought a 67 250 SL with a 5 Speed and was wondering how many 250 SL 5 Speeds were delivered to the US. The car came with all the paperwork from purchase (1 owner car) so I am confident it was delivered to the US. It came through MB Manhattan. Just curious to know how many came through US - most of the ones I've seen were delivered to Italy.

[Benz Dr.]

I can't tell you how many were exported to NA but I think there were about 855 Pagodas with 5 speeds built. I also have an original 5 speed 230SL that was export to Italy so what you say makes sense. I'm not sure why they were so popular there but it appears they were.

[mbzse]

.../... how many 250 SL 5 Speeds were delivered to the US

AFAIK - very very few. The ZF gearbox was not offered in the US by M-B. On this Forum, a letter from M-B to that effect directed at a prospective US buyer in SF was published.
Frank Mallory Sr (RIP) imported his new silver 250SL ZF 5sp into the US personally - as he was returning from Germany.

The car came with all the paperwork from purchase (1 owner car) so I am confident it was delivered to the US

All the more interesting, then. Great if you can put the car's data card on this website, the codes denoting a 5-sp should be on it.
/Hans S

[steven harris]

On vacation now. I'll post it when I am back. Car was ordered through Mercedes Benz Manhattan on 17 February 1967. Invoice shows DB 180 Silver with MB Tex Blue #115 and top 723 blue. Manual transmission 5 speed floor shift ($464.), power steering ($200.), AC ($385.), Becker Mexico ($230.), tinted windshield ($30.) and $141. for metallic paint. Check to Daimler Benz N.A. On June 23, 1967 for $7137.00 (after $500. Deposit - total $7637.) The four months between the order and delivery suggests that the car was specially ordered. I need to read through the correspondence to confirm.

[Garry]

Maybe it was like mine, ordered in Sydney as a Tourist delivery where they ordered it from their local dealer and then went to Germany to pick up and use for some time with temp registration in Germany before MB would then arrange to have it delivered back to the country of order and register locally. 

That way you could order what you liked even to Euro spec. Which may explain the 5 speed gearbox.

Garry

[steven harris]

Interesting idea, but the records show it was first delivered in NY and first registered in Idaho. I'll check through the correspondence between the original owner and Mercedes Benz. I wonder if MB Manhattan was by then factory owned. The original Park Avenue showroom by FLW was commissioned by Max Hoffman who was the original US distributor of Porsche, MB, and BMW. I think that by the mid-1950s, Mercedes had bought back the distribution rights from Hoffman and if the Manhattan dealership was factory owned (as it is now), that might explain why someone from Boise, Idaho would order a car from a NY dealership.

[Garry]

Mine does the same thing, first registered in Sydney at the MB dealer ( at that time there was only one in the state) even though it was picked up in Germany by the new owner and used for a month or more there before being taken back to MB who then arranged for it to be sent to the Sydney dealer.