quote:
Originally posted by mdsalemi
Living on a soldier's salary in a foreign country, would you spend your Sunday washing your car or visiting the sights?
Michael Salemi
Mike, I was referring to officer's, civilians, diplomatic, and intelligence corp personell. My high school had a dorm for the multitude of civilian dependandants from other locations in Germany and Europe from the civilian, diplomatic, and intelligence services... it was a very large community, especially in Germany. And fwiw, the German working day was longer than any GI's at the time... besides, very few GI's owned a car at all. They generally bumpmed rides from the very few that did (and those that did had more or less junkers --- call dirt cheap because they wouldn't pass the German TUV...and they didn't have to pass the German TUV if US Military Plates were on them... and the GI's would sell their junker to another GI when they rotated back to the US), or used their "Fraulein's" wheels. All the civilians, officers, diplomatic and intelligence service personell owned one or most often 2 cars... only some were American cars as they bought a European vehicle on or shortly after arrival.... as my parents did. We owned 3 cars when I became of driving age, and my parents owned 3 cars for the duration of their residence in Europe... at least 2 of which were my father's 190SL and 250SL's... and on occasion 4 cars... the extra one for my brother, sister (when they got older and of driving age), or for resident guests (friends from US visiting Europe for an extended period... 6 mo. to a year).
The local US communities living area's were divided into Officer and above rank and enlisted men (non-coms) ranks. They were generally widely sepearated from one another. Officer and above communities were in very nice apt buildings or even single houses (rare in Germany at the time), and many lived on the so-called "economy"... which meant in and within the civilian German area's... we were in that catagory most of the time.
I only bring this up because you seemed to be countering my statement about the German's being agast at how the american's treated their cars... believing perhaps that most were GI's who had no inclination to take care of their cars (the few that owned them). Quite the contrary.
My point in the 1st place was only that the post-war automobile culture in Germany at that time were highly motivated for heirarchy reasons to baby their cars and for those that had the more expensive variety they expected sumptuousness in them. As MB's dependence (for the SL's) shifted to export's dominant revenues, the were able pay less attention to the accoutrement favored by the Germans.
There were only about 4k more 280SL's produced than 230's, yet 40% of the 230SL market was German, while only 20% of the 280SL's were German (non-export models). In relative terms, there were only 20% more 280SL's produced than 230SL's, (and if I count the 250SL's then there were actually more of the 230SL's & 250SL's combined than 280SL's). In absolute numbers 8105 230SL's were sold in Germany, while only 5204 280SL's were sold in Germany, despite the 4k more in 280SL production totals.
So, as you can see, the German buyer's declined in 280SL purchases relative to the 230SL's by both proportions and absolute cars sold. The German market purchased 35%
fewer 280SL's than it had purchased 230SL's, even though there were 20%
more 280SL's produced than 230SL's.
Part of the reason for the relative and absolute decline in German purchases of the 280SL relative to the 280SL may have been due to the greater proportion of W113's produced period... i.e. they became more "common" than earlier years... less of a hierarchical distinction perhaps. The German economy was exploding at the seams...importing large amounts of labor from Italy, then Spain over those years... increasing internal wealth.... so a drop in the economy doesn't account for the change in German preferences.
I also cannot recall any equivalent alternatives that came on the market during those years in Germany that would have caused a major shift away from the W113's during the 280SL production period.
German purchases accounted for
24% of 280SL's in '68 (6930 produced = 1660 German)
22% of 280SL's in '69 (8047 produced = 1770 German)
18% of 280SL's in '70 (7935 produced = 1460 German)
32% of 280SL's in '71 (only 830 produced, so numbers too low to reflect the trend.
In contrast, Germans purchased
27% of 250SL's in '67 (5177 produced = 1384 German)
and
53% of 230SL's in '63 (1465 produced = 772 German)
52% of 230SL's in '64 (6911 produced = 3585 German)
42% of 230SL's in '65 (6325 produced = 2662 German)
26% of 230SL's in '66 (4945 produced = 1270 German)
Note that in '64 & '65 230SL sales (in both absolute and relative terms) in Germany were over double those of the best years of German sales for the 280SL's. The dramatic reduction of 230SL sales in '66 (both in German sales and in absolute total production) dropped because of the anticipation of the 250SL coming out in '67 which was leaked early in '66 despite every effort taken by MB to prevent it.
The German's were not that impressed with the changes however, so recovery to the earlier 230SL's German sales rate never recovered and continued to decline even with the 280SL's introduction in '68.
Recall that ~ halfway thru the 250SL production year the safety "improvements" and several of the interior features of the 280SL were introduced into the 250SL. The tamer interior accoutrement were not held dearly by the German population.... and the US market probably didn't know or pay much if any attention to the differences --- as is evident on the discussion even by those that have more knowledge than most....certainly far more knowledge about the differences than the average joe purchaser in the US during the years these cars were original purchases.
I don't know the actual reasons for the dramatic decline in German interest in the SL's with the advent of the 250SL and 280SL relative to the 230SL during it's peak years... but I do know that the Germans I knew were very keen on subtle differences, especially if it appeared to be a cheaper version of a former feature. From a business perspective (which is how MB makes decisions), the increasing importance of the export market and the US in particular to sales volumes meant clearly (economically speaking) that MB had to adopt the US DOT required changes for the '68 model year... and many of those requirements dictated that the non-export models would have to incorporate them also... whether the German market approved or not.... with far lesser dependance on the German market for sales MB was able to economically benefit by many of the DOT required changes --- reduced reflective items and one-piece wheel covers among them... the one piece wheel covers had been standard on the sedans for several years already. MB just eliminated the 2 piece wheel covers to cut costs ---- since the one piece wheel covers were considered for the 230SL and rejected early on to further distinguish the new SL from the sedans. The reason for it's being able to cost cut by using the one piece wheel covers is simply based volume pricing, lower mfg'ing cost for the one piece covers (one stamping instead of two), along with eliminating the lower volume premium for the two piece wheel covers, and lower inventory carrying costs.
Longtooth
67 250SL US #113-043-10-002163
The 6% Club - Best of the Best
'02 SL500 Sport
