Who has the oldest 116?

[gregdeklerk]

My 280SE was sold in May (I think) 1974 and is #20106. Who has older?

Greg

[s class]

I had a '73 280S but it doesn't really count since its been stripped and discarded.

[gregdeklerk]

I also had a 73 280SE as a parts car, but it was too far gone and it has moved on to return back to dust.

[Des]

More importantly.....who has the lowest body # 6.9?

[gregdeklerk]

Des, you are right, but that is a sub catagory as the 6.9 was only launched in 75.

WDB11603622000001, anyone?

[Des]

Mercedes Benz keep the first and last cars off a particular production run for their museum

earliest 6.9 I have seen is #111

[Des]

mine is #5440 with engine number 5594

I recently had a look at car number #6045 at my mechanic which had engine number 6156


One possible answer is that AMG bought brand spanking new M100's from Benz for their various hot rod project cars.

[Des]

Thats a good point, these engines, in fact whole M100's were built on their own production line, not directly related but there is an interesting discussion here about M100 motors,

http://www.m-100.cc/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1909

One point I picked up on was that M100 have a lot smaller piston bore clearance as a result of the alloy pistons used, as apposed to chevy rubbish which changes size due to heat.

[Des]

I cringe at the thought of getting a compression test tone, mine has only 213k on the clock, but after watching topgear recently, talking about horses escaping from the motor, it just makes you wonder.
On the other hand maybe that's a good thing? Rebuild my motor with !2;1, 7.3ltr pistions etc..

[OzBenzHead]

Okay, so mine's one of the youngest 116s around (December '79 birthdate), but here's another numbers anomaly:

There were, according to my data, 150,593 280SE (W116 M110) models manufactured, yet my VIN ends with 155504.  Seems there must have been some numbers lost.  Were they, perhaps, test/trial examples that were never released to the public?

My engine number ends with 73657 - no obvious correlation there (and, yes, it is the original donk).

According to the same set of production numbers, the following were built:

280S = 128,848
280SE = 150,593
280SEL = 7,032
300SD = 28,634
350SE = 51,100
350SEL = 4,266
450SE = 41,604
450SEL = 59,578
450SEL 6.9 = 7,380

Grand total = 479,035.

[oscar]

my 73 350

116 028 22 016421 am I winning so far 

In regards to OBH's comment, I used to assume that the last 6 digits related to the 116 shape so a 450 could have 17000 then the next model to leave the factory could be a 280 with #17001.  Clearly the 6.9's aren't included.  But if my misconception was correct there'd be a lot of 1977 (approx) and later models with a vin suffix higher then the total built for that model. 

OTOH, If I am wrong which I probably am, would it be fair to say that my 350 has lost siblings, ie a 280S, 280SE, 300SD, 450SE, and 450SEL somewhere in the world with a vin suffix of 016421 ?   Can you imagine trying to collect that set

[Des]

Herr Bateman is correct, each model, e.g. 280S, 280SEL has its only set of starting and ending body numbers,

Make sure when you are checking the VIN number you don't get it off the options code plate otherwise this will give you a false reading, see mine:



Based on that you would think I owned the 203rd 6.9 ever made.

Cars should have a metal tag next to this or one on the firewall with the full vin number

[gregdeklerk]

Here is what I understand the VIN to mean: I will use mine as an example:

ADB 116 024 6 2 020106  (Spaces inserted by me)

1. ADB = Africa Daimler Benz (South African model), will also be for most of you WDB = West Germany   Daimler Benz (Assembled in Germany).

2. 116 = obviously series

3. 024 = 280SE (020 = 280S, 025 = 280SEL, 028 = 350SE, 0029 = 350SEL, 032 = 450SE, 033 = 450SEL, 036 = 6.9 etc)

4. 6 = assembled outside of Germany. Most of yours would be a "2" which means built in Germany.

5. 2 = automatic transmission. If you have manual, it will be a "0"

6. 020106 = Should be the number of 280SE built ("build number"), but there is some debate about gaps in numbers here, perhaps MB can help us on this one!!

US VIN numbers had a different system for some reason, so the above only applies to the rest of the world.

As far as the missing batches of "build numbers" go, I know that MB Germany allocated batches of numbers to MB South Africa because they were building cars too.

Greg
   

[oscar]

What about other factories.  I asume all US models were German built but apart from South Africa, were there other MB factories?  Don't know why but I thought there was a South American factory too amongst others.  I also thought some models were "made in Germany" but assembled in other countries.  Actually I believed some mercs, not necessarily 116's, were assembled in Australia after being shipped in crates?

[gregdeklerk]

There was a factory in South America, but I am not sure where or if it still operates. It is true that cars are shipped in "crates". You get two different types SKD (Semi Knock Down), where the car is generally complete and they just complete the build with a few parts and CKD (Complete Knock Down), where all the parts are supplied, but the car has to be assembled.