Hello everyone. I am sure the answer to my question is buried in the anals of the forum but my search has not produced much. I have a 1975 450SEL, US market car. Here is the photo of the build tag:
(https://i.imgur.com/355Hr52.jpg)
Any help is greatly appreciated.
116036 W116 450sel 12 left hand drive auto trans 7299 chassis #
the 5b or the 7 , cant remember which I think is the country of delivery
387H blue paint H is supplier code
518 BECKER RADIO MEXICO CASSETTE FULL STEREO (AM/FM - U.S.A.)
531 automatic antenna with radio installation
580 air conditioning
592 heat-insulating glass with windshield band filter and rear window pane laminated glass
636 elimination of warning triangle
491 US Version
These are just the options that required body specific changes. The rest will be on your VIN card. If you dont have one can get it from MB classic center for $75.
Rumb is correct on all counts. Here's some more info:
'4300003' is the production number. The first digit '4' represents the year the car was ordered (1974), the rest of that number is the vehicle sequence number '300003'.
'4B' Never found out what these numbers were, could be something to do with the production facility and or production line but we need Sindelfingen to help here.
'7' is indeed the country code for the US.
'M' is for 'metallic paint' if the paint code is for a flat paint, then they omit the M.
'0' indicates the vehicle is fitted with a sunroof. A '-' means no sunroof.
The "H" in paint stands for Herberts (a.k.a Dr Herbert, later Standox, and now a defunct brand name in the Axalta group - which also owns the Spies Hecker brand)
If it's a "G", it's Glasurit.
If memory serves the "5" in "5B" indicates delivery market (not version market, that's the "7") - in this case Germany, and the "B" I think is the identifier for the Sindelfingen plant at the time; 4 was used for UK, and 3 for France I believe. After 1975 that code was placed left to the sequence number.
Thanks for the help!
Originally California car, it spent last 19 years in Arizona. Not an ounce of rust anywhere. Car was repainted in blue but currently the paint is sun faded. Perhaps a good round of color sanding will bring back some shine.
Has chrome wheel opening mouldings that I believe were dealer install, don't think this was factory... The rest of the car is original down to the Becker head unit. Runs and drives good, power steering is noisy though.
(https://i.imgur.com/0muzxkP.jpg)
Nice!, That\s quite a bumper bar!
Thanks. Never seen a front bumper this intricate but here it is....