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Typo in the Color Codes section of the site

Started by Shervinator, 18 May 2023, 02:03 AM

Shervinator

Hey everyone, I tried to email the webmaster/admin (info@w116.org) about this, but the email bounced back. I didn't know who else to contact, so I'm writing this here (admins, feel free to fix the issue and remove this thread if you see fit).

I noticed that in the Color Codes page of the site, DB-904 is incorrectly listed as "Dark Blue Metallic". In my research, I have found that 904 was in fact never metallic.

The names for it were actually "Dark Blue" and "Midnight Blue" during the W116's production run. To verify this, I went through literature for all the different years of the W116 (1972–80). For 1972 and 1973, I was not able to find any official Mercedes-Benz press materials that listed colors, so I referred to various paint companies' rosters of paint chips and codes (which I uploaded to Imgur; links below). For 1974 through 1980, I found exterior color brochures on eBay and used those for reference, uploaded to Imgur for posterity. Some brochures appear to have been reprinted for multiple model years. Here are all the years and the names used:

1972: Dark Blue (904)
1973: Dark Blue (904)
1974: Dark Blue (904)
1975: Dark Blue (904)
1976: Dark Blue (904)
1977: Dark Blue (904)
1978: Dark Blue (904)
1979: Midnight Blue (904)
1980: Midnight Blue (904)

I'm not entirely sure whether all these brochures were made for the US market, UK market, or Australian market. I'm guessing the ones with multiple languages were not for the US market. I'm also not sure whether the color names varied by market.

But from these resources alone, it looks like Mercedes-Benz called the color "Dark Blue" until switching the name to "Midnight Blue" for 1979 and keeping that name for years to come (through the W126 generation and beyond). And no, it was never metallic.

It would be great if the admins changed the name(s) of the color on the site for future interested owners and enthusiasts.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that both my Mercedes-Benzes are Midnight Blue (a 1984 300SD and a Euro 1985 500SEL), so I have a bit of a bias here. ;D

Thanks for reading.
1984 300SD
Euro 1985 500SEL

admin

The Color Codes page has been fixed.

The email should be working now too.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention!

Shervinator

1984 300SD
Euro 1985 500SEL

Shervinator

Quote from: admin on 12 June 2023, 03:52 PMThe Color Codes page has been fixed.

The email should be working now too.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention!

Another item I just realized should be revised...

Maple Yellow (606), one of my favorite colors on the W116, was supposedly offered for the 1972–79 model years and presumably replaced by Manila Beige (681) for 1980.

However, I just found this 1980 300SD (produced in January 1980) that is Maple Yellow (606)! At first I thought it had been mislabeled by Bring a Trailer, but upon closer instead the data plate on the radiator support actually does have "606G" stamped on it.



The 1980 exterior colors brochure I linked to above does not list Maple Yellow as one of the available colors, and upon second glance neither does the 1979 brochure (the latter may be because it was printed in 1979 but actually meant for 1980 models).

I can only conclude that Maple Yellow was also offered for the 1980 model year, but that it must have been a special order color. The colors page should also be edited to reflect this, in my opinion.
1984 300SD
Euro 1985 500SEL