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Production Statistics, Exports and US Model Year

This material is part of a chapter on Data Cards.

• Production Months
• Exports
• US Model Year

In Germany, the term Model Year does not exist, only the Registration Year. The year of the car is determined by the date (month/year) on which the first owner registered it and received a title (“Erstzulassung”). If a car was produced towards the end of the year and first registered in the next year, it was therefore a next year Registration Year. The Registration Year can always be identified in the German title document, which stays with the car through its lifetime.

In this Chapter we want to clarify the difference between the Production Year and the “Registration Year” resp. “Model Year” of the vehicles registered in the United States (in the early years, the term "Model Year" and the term "Registration Year" were used synonymous in the US, nowadays most people speak of "Model Year").

Production Months

Fahrgestell-Endnummer des zuletzt gefertigten Fahrzeuges in den jeweils aufgefuehrten Monaten.

Last 6 digits of serial number of the last W113 vehicle produced in the month listed

These are the months when the vehicles were produced in Sindelfingen. These are NOT months of sale or first registration! These are NOT model years but calender years!

Source: Daimler-Benz AG, Dept. ZPST-Statistik, 1971

Exports

By Calender Year (not Model Year), the split between total production, total exports and US exports (part of total exports) was as follows (as can be seen, the export sometimes only commenced in the following year):

Source: Engelen (62)

During the course of W113 production, the share of US-version vehicles rose from 9.5% in 1963 to nearly 63% in the seventies, i.e., towards the end of the production run nearly two cars out of every three built were made for the US.

US Model Year

Before 1967, the Model Year for Mercedes-Benz vehicles in the US was usually the date of the first registration, independent of the serial number (VIN). Motor Vehicle Agencies in individual states may have registered them with a different Model Year after July 1 or after September 1, mostly since this was the practice for American cars with annual sheetmetal changes.

To make the Registration & Licensing of these cars easier and consistent, several states in the US required since 1966, first time for Model Year 1967, that the manufacturers send them an annual letter officially informing them of the serial number cutoff for the next Model Year.

Accordingly, since 1966 Mercedes-Benz of North America, Inc. (MBNA) informs the Motor Vehicle Agencies in the 50 states of the US annually in writing about the startup VINs for the next Model Year and the date when these vehicles are available for sale at the dealerships.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB, respectively its predecessor agency) introduced the first exhaust emission regulations in the late sixties, requiring the manufacturers to certify their vehicles at the CARB Laboratory in Los Angeles. This certification is an annual process. This introduced the first annual hardware or calibration changes for US models, and had an impact on when cars could be designated the next model year.

The W113 serial numbers as listed in MBNA's letters were as follows (49):

• 1967 Model Year began with registration date September 1, 1966 plus serial number higher than 113042-..-015165 (230SL), and all 250SL up to 113043-..-002981. (This letter contained VIN 113042-..-015165. This VIN was produced in January of 1966, and may have been sold before September 1, as a Model Year 1966.)
• 1968 Model Year began with registration date September 1, 1967 plus serial number 113043-..-002982 (250SL), and all 280SL up to 113044-..-003700.
• 1969 Model Year began with registration date September 1, 1968 plus serial number 113044-..-003701
• 1970 Model Year began with registration date of October 1, 1969 plus serial number 113044-..-011948
• 1971 Model Year began with registration date of October 1, 1970 plus serial number 113044-..-018506

Again, these dates and numbers are only applicable within the United States.

To show compliance with the US Federal and California exhaust emission regulations, as of MY 1970 - i.e. as of 113044-..-011948 - the US-version vehicles had to be equipped with the following emissions plate:

MY 1970

MY 1971

Reproductions of these labels are available (61). These labels were riveted to the driver-side B-pillar.
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