230SL Paint/Body Plate Clarification

[neelyrc]

A friend of mine recently acquired a storage building which housed a collection of mostly European cars. Included were two 113s.  He is sorting through the collection to determine what to sell and what to keep for his own collection. One of the 113s, a Euro 250SL, is rough, incomplete and partially disassembled.  This one he will likely offer for sale as a project. Data card not available.

The second 113 is a 230SL, presently not running, but cosmetically decent which he is considering keeping. Data card not available. A poor quality photo of the paint/body plate is attached. There were several iterations of the paint/body plate for the 230s and this particular three line plate is not described in detail in our Technical Manual.  Best I can tell the three lines read as follows:

        670   - - -
     113042 10      2
      00521    05773

I have interpreted this plate as follows:

Line 1.   Body color 670 (light ivory 670H).  Car delivered without hardtop as no color code indicated.

Line 2.   First eight digits of VIN.  Car delivered in Germany (2)

Line 3.    Production Number  00521 followed by body number 05773

I would appreciate confirmation of my interpretation or otherwise.

The car has been repainted and appears to be havana brown 408. It currently has a hard top mounted, also havana brown.

[rwmastel]

I think you got it right.

Don't forget that if needed, the full VIN can be found on the right frame rail, below the intake manifold.

[neelyrc]

The full VIN is not in question, Rod.

The clarification being sought is due to the incomplete paint/body plate information included in our Technical Manual.  The three line paint/body plate is not covered in detail.  This could be because we as a group do not have the knowledge or because this form of paint/body plate was used for a relatively short period, or for some other reason.  A line by line description of the three line plate similar to that of the four line plate would make our manual more complete.

[rwmastel]

I would appreciate confirmation of my interpretation or otherwise.

I was providing confirmation that your interpretation was correct.

Regarding 3 lines, perhaps this was a basic car, so no option codes are present.  Is there power steering?

[neelyrc]

Thank you for your input, Rod.

The Technical manual indicates that the first line containing option codes was not included on the early version of the body/paint plate when it was moved under the hood from the A Pilar. This early version with only three lines is the version on the car in question. Also this version does not include the hard top code. As indicated earlier a complete explanation of this version is not included in the manual.

I do not know if this car has power steering.

[Lorsar]

I believe that lines 2,3,4 of the later body plate are the same for lines 1,2,3 of the earlier plate. 

[Jordan]

Ralph, what year is the 230SL?

[Jowe]

My data plate is similar as Ralph’s friend’s. No option codes are present on it. April 1964, #3221. Obviously, M-B added option codes later in the 113 production run.

[rwmastel]

Johan,

Nice example, backing up the other example, information.

Originally, the plates and screws were painted with the body.  Did you need to replace your plate?  Did a restorer "clean it up"?  Oh, I see the engine bay is black and the car is ivory (or similar), so whoever did that black paint in the engine bay must have done that plate.

[neelyrc]

I believe that lines 2,3,4 of the later body plate are the same for lines 1,2,3 of the earlier plate.

No, the last line of the earlier plate does not start with a dash or letter as on the later plate. The penultimate lines do appear to be the same for both plates. The top line of the earlier plate does not match the second line of the later plate as there is no roof code on the earlier plate after the paint codes.

[neelyrc]

Ralph, what year is the 230SL?

The VIN plate on the firewall has been replaced by a plain metal plate with the embossed number 10-007719.  I believe this to be the last eight digits of the VIN.The owner has not yet confirmed that the VIN stamped on the longitudinal frame member matches this substitute plate. If confirmed this indicates November 1964 production.