Extremely original 230SL

[cascadia]

I've sold a lot of Pagodas, but my most recent has so many original details that I thought I'd post some pics here for reference.
The car has its original soft top, all original interior, untouched trunk floor, and perfect glovebox details. Full pic gallery available to view at https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1967-mercedes-benz-230sl-22/

[kampala]

Looks like a very nice car.

Question:   The textured undercoating seems to be on the rim (edge) of the wheel-wells - see photos 144-149 in the BAT link.   Is it normal for the textured undercoating  to be on the rolled wheel-wells - right on the visible edge - seem odd?   

I don't recall seeing this on other original cars - typically you can see the spot-welds on the rear wheel-well edges where it attached to inner panels.  Here its covered with undercoating.  Also typically the undercoating on front fender edges stops inside of the rolled edge.   Would be good to hear from others who know more.

[DaveB]

Question:   The textured undercoating seems to be on the rim (edge) of the wheel-wells - see photos 144-149 in the BAT link.   Is it normal for the textured undercoating  to be on the rolled wheel-wells - right on the visible edge - seem odd?   

Yes this undercoating is original.
It's great to see how well everything holds up when a car is cared for.

[DaveB]

The angled bezels are correct for 230 and early 250. The only non-original parts, I think, are the seatbelt retractors (and the exhaust tips). And it's missing the exhaust shield. It's a great reference car!

[Jordan]

It is a beautiful car, love the two tone.

2 questions.  The data plate shows 0 as the country destination code.   I have never seen this and it is not in our tech manual.  What does it mean?

The car has the chrome strip between the two rear bumpers (under the license plate).  This was only seen on Euro cars and I am wondering if it was added later or maybe the original owner ordered it with that chrome piece?

[thelews]

This car looks very much like my car, an early 250 SL.  As I noted in BAT, the gearshift position appears to be too far rear.  I notice it is missing the driver side underdash panel. 

I noticed the rocker color appears to be the dark grey, like mine, and not black.

The two tone is nice, but I have trouble with the wheel combo.  I don't know what the solution would be there, it just looks weird to me.  My mother had a '71 in the same combo, but she had the full wheel covers.

[DaveB]

It is a beautiful car, love the two tone.

2 questions.  The data plate shows 0 as the country destination code.   I have never seen this and it is not in our tech manual.  What does it mean?

The car has the chrome strip between the two rear bumpers (under the license plate).  This was only seen on Euro cars and I am wondering if it was added later or maybe the original owner ordered it with that chrome piece?

Don't know about the country code. And you are right, the trim between the bumpers is unusual on a US car. You can see why MB deleted it for the USA - the numberplate rides uncomfortably over the top.

This car looks very much like my car, an early 250 SL.  As I noted in BAT, the gearshift position appears to be too far rear.  I notice it is missing the driver side underdash panel. 

I noticed the rocker color appears to be the dark grey, like mine, and not black.

The two tone is nice, but I have trouble with the wheel combo.  I don't know what the solution would be there, it just looks weird to me.

There was a change in the gear shafts, with later versions bent forward. But that was apparently in 1966, so yes, seems unusual on this one. The gear shifts in the video look a little notchy and awkward, perhaps new bushings might bring the shifter back into alignment. I agree about the wheel/hubcap colour combo not looking quite right. Maybe the two-tone works better with a lighter colour top and wheels.

Also I was wrong before about the exhaust shield, it is not missing.

[badali]

I noticed the car has a fan shroud on the radiator.  Earlier ones don't have it.  The fan is different also.  Was that added to production as the 250SL production started?  This car is near the end of production for the 230SL.

[mbpaul]

The written description says it has a Becker radio.  First time I have ever seen a Becker radio with a Blaupunkt faceplate.  I wonder what else they have wrong in the description.

[Peter van Es]

Bob has kindly sent me originals of the photographs, so that I could upload them on the Technical Manual for posterity (just in case Bring-a-Trailer stops hosting old cars).

I've created an "Originality" section on the Technical Manual. This has a "Photo Gallery" feature. Have a look:

https://www.sl113.org/wiki/Originality/1967230SL

If more people want to share large sets of photographs, I can help out.

Peter

[JamesL]

Great idea
Maybe someone can be nice to the chap at Motoring Investments 😉

[dirkbalter]

This is great section. Love it

[Bracqtobasics]

Currently helping a family member look for a 230SL myself and have been watching BaT intensely over the past few weeks and doing an healthy amount of research and couldn’t help but notice this beautiful example. I’m far from an expert but it appears to be one of the most original 230SLs I’ve come across and congratulations to both the seller and new owner on an excellent car. Cheers

[cascadia]

It's certainly one of the most original that I've ever come across. It was a real treat to check out all of the little details as I got to know the car.
Greetings from Portland, Oregon USA

[Mike Hughes]

The proper color of the wheels is always body color on a 230SL, so the red wheel, black hubcap center is correct for this red car with black hardtop.  As the body color is so bright the wheel color does stand out a bit more than it does on my Havana Brown 230SL with Light Beige hardtop.

The textured undercoat wrapping around to the edges of the rolled wheel arches is one indicator of unmolested coachwork, along with the gray rocker panels front fender notches and spot welds along the front fender edges in the engine bay

[Iconic]

Peter,
Thank you for making this valuable addition to the Forum.
Take care,
Mark

[JN]

Great reference pictures
Do you have a picture of the undercoating on the rocker panels?

JN

[cascadia]

Yes, they are shown here: https://www.sl113.org/wiki/Originality/1967230SL

[Merc_Girl]

Bob has kindly sent me originals of the photographs, so that I could upload them on the Technical Manual for posterity (just in case Bring-a-Trailer stops hosting old cars).

I've created an "Originality" section on the Technical Manual. This has a "Photo Gallery" feature. Have a look:

https://www.sl113.org/wiki/Originality/1967230SL

If more people want to share large sets of photographs, I can help out.


Hi Peter
Thanks for putting the pictures onto the Tech manual.
Are you able to put all the photos up as I see there are a few missing. Just mindful that if findatrailer, I think that’s the website? Takes the images down we may loose a valuable resource.
I would do myself if I had any clue!!
Thanks
Katie

Peter

[cascadia]

It's doubtful that Bring a Trailer would take the original listing down. They've built up quite a database of cars that have been listed, and that's an integral part of their platform. Their search function is actually a great resource for information on makes and models.

As far as the photos uploaded here, in the Tech Manual, I chose the ones that had most relevance to originality, and left out the ones that didn't stand out as particularly worthy of that attribute.

But if you want to view them all, here again is the link: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1967-mercedes-benz-230sl-22/

[114015]

Bob,

Thank you so much for bringing this car up to us here.
This is clearly one of the most interesting and untouched 230ies that I have seen so far (and I have seen quite some throughout the last 40 years...).

Again, thanks a lot for your highly valuable input here
or 'Kudos' like others would say...

Best,
Achim