1969 LHD 280SL FOR SALE

[stickandrudderman]

I don't very often advertise cars for sale as few can come with my integrity attached but a customer has asked me to find a new home for this car.
This is an exception as we've known the car since the owner imported it and have done way to much work to be able to list it all here.
suffice to say that you will find it very hard to find a better one.
The only room for improvement is the black MB tex has a couple of minor tears but obviously we would be happy to assist a new owner with whatever suits their requirements.
Based on some of the exorbitant prices currently being asked here in the UK I believe that £125000 is a fair asking price.

The engine detailing was discussed here:
https://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=24404.msg174538#msg174538

[Mike Hughes]

"F" reg:  Is it a '68, or a '69 registered in '68?  (And how does one know for sure?)

[JamesL]

Mike,
The joy of it is that our registration letters used to change August 1st, so chances are, it’s what you’d call an MY69 car as most “Fs” will have been made after the summer shutdown and so likely include any model updates, but as we know, MB didn’t suddenly introduce updates as soon as everyone was back from their vacations

The only sure way to tell would be the VIN, but the whole MY thing is not an issue over here. It’ll either be a 68 or 69F, just as my car is a (Jan) 70H, though made during Oct69. While I know the birth month, it’ll always be considered here as a Jan70 car based on 1st registration.

Colin, GLWTS. It looks lovely

[specracer]

Looks like a lovely car!!

Might make sense to let a potential buyer know if it is an auto or a manual (as you didnt post an interior pic).

Best of luck finding it a new home.

[Mike Hughes]

Hi James,

The situation with your "H" reg is exactly what happened with my RHD '67 MGB a couple of years earlier, which is was first registered NLR23F in January of '68.  The U.S. Air Force officer who bought it had just arrived in the country in December of '67, just before the Christmas Bank Holidays, so even though he picked out and paid for the car before Christmas his registration did not get processed until after the New Year.  This is how I know that "F" is a 1968 registration!

Which brings me back to my secondary question about how one can tell a '68 from a '69 280SL?  For most U.S. spec cars, foreign and domestic, it is easy to differentiate between '67, '68, and '69 models:  '67:  no side marker lights and no headrests.  '68:  side marker lights and no headrests.  '69 Side marker lights and headrests.  Since this car appears to be a Euro spec LHD car, I was just curious how does one tell the difference between a '68 and a '69?

[stickandrudderman]

We removed the side markers........

[Chris_ATL]

Just need to wait a few more months for the GBP to plunge again and that's a steal...

Really, the exchange rates are making UK cars attractive at the moment...

[JamesL]

Hi James,

The situation with your "H" reg is exactly what happened with my RHD '67 MGB a couple of years earlier, which is was first registered NLR23F in January of '68.  The U.S. Air Force officer who bought it had just arrived in the country in December of '67, just before the Christmas Bank Holidays, so even though he picked out and paid for the car before Christmas his registration did not get processed until after the New Year.  This is how I know that "F" is a 1968 registration!

Which brings me back to my secondary question about how one can tell a '68 from a '69 280SL?  For most U.S. spec cars, foreign and domestic, it is easy to differentiate between '67, '68, and '69 models:  '67:  no side marker lights and no headrests.  '68:  side marker lights and no headrests.  '69 Side marker lights and headrests.  Since this car appears to be a Euro spec LHD car, I was just curious how does one tell the difference between a '68 and a '69?

That's sort of my point. The "marker" is the plate (F/G/H) and everything else here is what it is. The Porsche purists are a little more hung up about it as Porsche were more disciplined about changes to models coming in after the summer shutdown. But look at some (of Achim's) posts on here about when changes came in and they are all by VIN (rather than date) and not necessarily consistent by month. The concept of a "model year" is seen, from here, as a particular US thing.

[Mike Hughes]

I see your point.  The M-B chassis number tables in the technical section simply record the month and year each range of chassis numbers was produced without mentioning any model year. 

Since Colin says that they removed the U.S. spec side marker lights, and one can detect headrests in photos he posted of this LHD car, I would be led to think that it was originally a U.S. market '69 model year car that later made its way to the UK.  When it arrived in the UK the U.S. title must have shown that it was first registered in 1968, which may explain how DVLA allowed it to be registered on period "H" plates.

Putting all that aside, Colin and his team have done some wonderful work on that car and I hope that both the present and future owners are satisfied with the results.

[mrfatboy]

I have always been curious when MB switched to the later intake manifold/engine.  I attached the change list from the pagoda notes and that specific info is blank.

My friend's Oct 68 280sl is the early style and another freinds Aug 69 is the later style intake. The change is sometime between those two dates.

Can anybody else narrow it down.

[Benz Dr.]

I have always been curious when MB switched to the later intake manifold/engine.  I attached the change list from the pagoda notes and that specific info is blank.

My friend's Oct 68 280sl is the early style and another freinds Aug 69 is the later style intake. The change is sometime between those two dates.

Can anybody else narrow it down.

I think there may have been another one after that one. More of a square box on the ends of the intake tubes.

[Jonny B]

The reason there are blanks, is that all those changes occurred at the noted VIN and date. Hans, Achim and I sourced our information from Engelen's book. He listed the change date and the VIN number then listed all the changes that were put in place 1,2,3, etc.

[Iconic]

This thread has been hijacked !! 
Stick, good luck helping your customer sell that beautiful Pagoda.

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Good Luck with the sale Colin for your customer!

Dieter