Yes, right now it is sort of random. There is great utility in being able to sort it by name, year/model, or VIN. If one got really inventive, one might even figure out a way to sort the VINs chronologically without regard to the two digit 10, 12, 20, 22 LHD/RHD & transmission indicator, or search/sort vehicles in such a way that it might even be possible to easily just find RHD or manual transmission vehicles. If it were possible to cross reference the VINs with the build date range table elsewhere in the Tech Manual one would even be able to search for all vehicles in the database built in February 1966, for instance.
I belong to a number of collector vehicle registers and it is uniformly mandatory with those other organizations to provide, at bare minimum, full VINs and full engine numbers, including noting if it is a replacement engine, in order to be a member of those registers.
Not all who have added vehicle details to the Pagoda SL Group registry included complete VINs, much less complete engine information. A car registry is only truly useful if certain information is uniformly complete, such as full VIN, full engine number, and color codes. So it might be wise for us all to check and update our registry listings accordingly.
As an example of this I noticed when checking that there is a typo in the engine number information for my 230SL: one "zero" is missing (it reads 127.981 12 04049 but should read 127.981 12 004049) which means that it does not appear in proper sort order when sorting the table by engine number.
Where complete information is available, a registry such as ours over time can become a really important resource for those of us interested in production details and assembly plant practices back in the day. For instance I noticed that two LHD automatic '66 230SLs have sequential engine numbers: 127.981 12 003867 and 127.981 12 003868, yet their chassis numbers are several hundred vehicles apart. A more complete and accurate registry would shed additional light on things like this.