German car configurator. See what your W116 would have cost in the day!

Started by BCDC, 28 November 2020, 04:58 PM

BCDC

1978 280SE Cream with blue interior. With SLS

Type17

Very interesting - my W116 ('76 350SE, with electric windows, central locking and tinted glass only) would have cost DEM38,674 (about €19,775 / US$23,000 / STG£18,000 / AU$32,400) including 11% VAT / sales tax.


For comparison, the average house price in the UK in 1976 was £11,520...
'76 350SE in Silver-Green

ptashek

That site has been my go to for many years, and is a fantastic price/options reference for several models over the years.

My favourite feature is you can export and save the exact list for your own car. Mine's here:

http://www.w123-hannover.de/export/1356307934_PL25_450_SE_W116.html
1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

BCDC

Thank you. It's good fun isn't it. Mine came to 35,588 DM and using the AUD converter from German Mark it was $29,785.04. I'm not sure how accurate this is from the time in 1978 but that was quite a lot of money back then. According to the internet that's $164,852.43 in 2020. A new S series Merc now is around $400,000. I'd say mine is pretty good value and much more classic than the new ones.
1978 280SE Cream with blue interior. With SLS

floyd111

I saw that the SSK 500 started at 22000,- pre-war German Mark..and upwards.
Imagine having that kind of money to spend, right after the Wall Street crash.

Mick74

This is very informative, and another thing to bore innocent bystanders senseless with!

I had to guess at the radio fitted, but figured that it would be reasonable to have a radio cassette. Why spend DM84k and pinch on the audio?
In 1979, we had Irish pounds, or the punt IR£, before the Euro. The car would have been IR£41,500. The average price of a house in Ireland was IR£20,000. Today, the average price of a house is 280,000 Euros (IR£220,500). In hindsight, the 2 houses would have been marginally the better investment.

http://www.w123-hannover.de/export/1608717721_PL25_450_SEL_6_9_W116.html
1979 6.9 #6475