Topic: W116 registration statistics from Germany

[ptashek]

Gotta love how easy the German KBA makes to compile these. So there you go, German registered W116s as of January 2019:

280 SE,SEL   3,868
350 SE,SEL   674
450 SE,SEL   685
450 SEL 6.9   207 <--- 

Compiled using:

Registration stats (in MS Excel format) - https://www.kba.de/SharedDocs/Publikationen/DE/Statistik/Fahrzeuge/FZ/2019/fz6_2019_xlsx.xlsx?__blob=publicationFile&v=5
Designated manufacturer/type identifiers (in PDF format) - https://www.kba.de/SharedDocs/Publikationen/DE/Fahrzeugtechnik/SV/sv42_pdf.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=9

[UTn_boy]

Those are impressive figures considering how costly it is to own/drive/register classic cars in Germany. 

[marku]

Interesting that there are so many compared with here. Last time I looked there were only 17 450SEs on the road but then the 116 has never been very popular it has always been the SLs that had the big following.

[ptashek]

How costly it is to own/drive/register classic cars in Germany.

I must disagree.Tax and insurance for classics are   very affordable,  and parts prices are some of the lowest within the EU.

[Wolfgang Germany]

In Germany the tax for classic cars older than 30 years costs about 190 Euro (capacity independent). The insurance about approximately costs 150 Euro for liability insurance.

In Germany the W116 ist still an underdog and not very loved. W108 / 109 is more popular, because it has the classic Paul Braq design. The W126 is also more popular, because it has the more modern design and technology. Maybe it is also due to the design by Bruno Sacco. I once asked Bruno Sacco, what he thought about the design of the W116. He said: "The Geiger was blame for this terrible design". He meant Friedrich Geiger  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Geiger). He said deliberately "the Geiger", which sounded a little pejorative and indicated his dislike for Friedrich Geiger. In his opinion, the W116 should have had plastic bumper from begin and some other things too. But his responsible time should only come after 1972.

[marku]

Don't agree with the "terrible design" I think the 116 has real presence unlike the 126 which looks quite mundane by comparison. As for plastic on the bodywork, never, the more chrome the better.

40 year old cars here are exempt from both tax and testing a saving of about £250 and as for numbers on the road and those on SORN (standard off road notice) to preserve the registration, there is a site which lists them all.