Trying to identify an option code

[MOliverMc]

Hi Everyone,

I have a lovely '64 which I recently acquired from a great friend.  I have a "version 1" data card, wherein there is a set of four boxes labelled "wenig gewuenscht".  These apparently were for rarely ordered options, and often the code for the color of the soft top would be listed here.  The first of these boxes contains code 317.  My data card includes option 415 (hardtop with no soft top) so code 317 is probably not a soft top color, and I could not find it on the soft top color list.  I could not find it in the list of option codes either.  There are missing codes between 315 and 319...

Does anyone know where I can find the meaning of option code 317?  I apologize if the answer is right in front of me somewhere!  I have searched the forum and came up empty handed.

Thanks to everyone - this site is an amazing resource...

[BobH]

Hello, the only code 317 that i can find relevant to the date of your car is 50 litres of fuel, others may know something different?

[Pawel66]

Enclosed is what I found in one of the lists one of the Members here kindly shared.

If she were for driver's school in Portugal - well, this is super rare and intriguing!

[MOliverMc]

Thank you BobH - I haven't seen that one.  Where did you find it?  50 litres would be 13.2 US gallons. I will find out if that happens to be the case.  Thank you so much!

[MOliverMc]

Thank you Pawel66 - I saw that one too, but the car is a '64 and that code was noted to begin in '67.  I have records going back to the original owner and I can say with confidence that it did not see duty at a Portuguese driving school!  (although I agree that would be quite interesting if it did!)

[MOliverMc]

The 317 code certainly could refer to a 50 liter fuel tank.  I see the normal specs are for a 65 liter tank (17.2 gal).  I have only had the car for a few months, but I don't think I have ever been able to put more than 13 gallons in it, although I have not tried to run it dry.  Thank you guys again and I will look into it further.

Very Best - 

[BobH]

The tank would be 65 litre capacity, the code refers to 50 litres of fuel  ordered with the car, one would think that a new car would come with a full tank of fuel, but even as of today i think cars only come with enough fuel to get off of the forecourt

The option code list in the tech manual relates to codes applicable to the W113, as it should, but there is a much more comprehensive list published, of which Pawel attached an extract, which includes all models, up to date.  It's not always clear which codes apply to which models, so it's good that you've proved 317 seems to apply to early 230's

If you look at the codes in the tech manual code 663 is also for 50 litres of fuel, so what's the difference, why two different codes?

[Pawel66]

The time it is used perhaps.

[neelyrc]

My car was delivered at the factory (February 1969) and the data card has the 663 code to indicate they had me leave the factory with 50 liters of fuel. Pawel’s list indicates this code was also in use in 1964.  If your car was not factory delivered I don’t think you would have 663 or any other code related to fuel.

The 317 is a mystery.  If I turn up the code in any of the other lists floating around, I will report back.

[MOliverMc]

Thanks everyone - I am having a great time with this little mystery. 

Here are some new things I have learned:  The first entry in the service booklet was recorded by a Mercedes service shop in Paris at 500 miles.  I also know the identity of the first owner.  He was an interesting guy who served with Air Force Intelligence overseas during the invasion of Normandy.  He was awarded the American Legion of Merit and the French Croix de Guerre.  So I can picture a request for European delivery in 1964, and his enjoyment of spending the first 500 miles in France. 

I would like to find out if the 317 option code is related to that possibility. 

Neelyrc - Thanks for the helpful factory delivery info.  I do not have the 663 code though..

BobH - Where did you find that 317 referenced 50 liters of fuel? 

Again, thanks everyone!

[neelyrc]

The link below is to an option code list on the benzworld.org site.  It includes the 317 code referring to 50 liters of fuel.  Have you established that your car was delivered to the original owner at the factory?  If so was the delivery date in the first 6 months of 1964.  What about date of production? Would it fit in this period?

https://www.benzworld.org/attachments/mercedes-benz-option-codes-pdf.2627503/

[MOliverMc]

Perfect, thank you Neelyrc.  I must have missed that before.

My data card indicates that the car was ordered in 1963 and is stamped "18 Juni 1964" in the lower left corner.  Therefore I think the 317 code for 50 litres of fuel would apply to this car, since the dates for that code run from 12/1/1962 to 6/30/1964. 

I have no evidence that the car was delivered at the factory or anywhere else in Europe, other than the first entry in the Service Booklet showing service in Paris at 504 miles.  Shortly thereafter it was back in NY and the CT where it has been ever since. 

The data card and service booklet pages are attached in case anyone can educate me further.. 

[Pawel66]

The link below is to an option code list on the benzworld.org site.  It includes the 317 code referring to 50 liters of fuel.  Have you established that your car was delivered to the original owner at the factory?  If so was the delivery date in the first 6 months of 1964.  What about date of production? Would it fit in this period?

https://www.benzworld.org/attachments/mercedes-benz-option-codes-pdf.2627503/

That is reflected in the attachment in my reply #3, so it is confirmed from another source - pretty certain. After that it changed to 663, during 1964.

I think factory delivery might have been another code or description, e.g. special wishes, several Members described it here. Maybe some search would tell it.

[MOliverMc]

Thank you Pawel66!

That makes perfect sense.  My painfully slow education continues... 

I would love to hear if anyone knows how factory deliveries were designated.  My suspicion is that my car was ordered in New York to be delivered at the factory, or possibly in Paris - where the owner spent some happy days before shipping the car home.  I am not sure if I will be able to confirm that, but it has been enjoyable to explore the matter. 

[Pawel66]

Thank you Pawel66!

That makes perfect sense.  My painfully slow education continues... 

I would love to hear if anyone knows how factory deliveries were designated.  My suspicion is that my car was ordered in New York to be delivered at the factory, or possibly in Paris - where the owner spent some happy days before shipping the car home.  I am not sure if I will be able to confirm that, but it has been enjoyable to explore the matter.

Check out this one: https://www.sl113.org/wiki/DataCard/DealerandCountryCodes

Look at the America delivery codes. You have factory delivery code there that should be reflected on your Paint Code Plate. Interesting: in 1964 there was a high percentage of cars ordered with factory pick up.

Do you have 707 on Paint Code Plate?

If not, what country code do you have?

[BobH]

The order number, shows an order date of 1963 and was a US order, 713, only used for a few years

However, the date of delivery box, showing June 64, according to the data card information in the tech manual was only generally used when ordered in Germany, if i'm reading it correctly, so to me it's contradictory, something seems slightly different from the norm with this delivery

[MOliverMc]

Pawel66 - Thank you for making me aware of paint code plates!  Mine has the correct numbers for paint colors, body number, etc.  It includes the number 7 at the end of the second line, which I understand is the country code for America.

BobH - I wonder if the stamped date of delivery (if only done for German orders) is an indication that the car was delivered at the factory, even though it was ordered from the US in '63.  I will go explore the tech manual's information on that.. 

Thank you both very much!

[MOliverMc]

That box in the lower left of the version 1 data card, labelled "Ubernahmetag" is described in the tech manual as Date of Delivery - only used in a few markets, e.g., Germany.

Google translates Ubernahmetag to mean "Takeover Day."  This makes me think that the data cards were stamped when the owner took delivery at the factory.  This would support the idea that the first owner made a vacation out of the affair before shipping the car home to New York. 

Does this seem like a reasonable interpretation?

Many thanks again!

[Pawel66]

It means handover, but not necessarily in the factory. I have this date, delivery Dortmund, not factory.

However:
1. if the order number suggests the US as per what Bob wrote
2. You have 7 (only 7?) where the country code is
3. You have the date, which suggests Germany delivery

Chances are that the car was (just my fantasy!):
1. Ordered as part of bulk order to the US dealership network (kind of order to book production, not specific cars yet, just designated to the US), realized over several months.
2. The first owner ordered a car from this pool with a plan to collect it in Europe and go for a trip.

And so he did.

But we do not know if it was a factory delivery. You would have to have it documented. The trouble also is that on todays roads there is 620km from Stuttgart to Paris... not 500km.

[MikeSimon]

Two things that I can contribute:
On my comprehensive list of option codes, 317 also says 50L of fuel (from Dec 1, 1962 to June 30, 1964) The amount of fuel is not tied to the tank size. It was 50L, not a full tank.
Übernahmetag in German does indeed translate to "Hand/Take-over day. My car is not a factory delivered car and on the data card it is December 16, 1970 and it is the same date as the original title was issued to the original owner.

[MOliverMc]

You are a genius to check the distance between Stuttgart and Paris!  I like your theory also. My paint code plate is attached below.  Just a 7.

Perhaps the car was delivered within Germany, but not at the factory. 

I also so this in the tech manual: 

"As an interesting observation on the side, in the W113 years many Mercedes vehicles were "European delivery", i.e. their owners picked them up at the factory in Sindelfingen. In calendar year 1964, European delivery peaked at 38% of all 11,296 MB vehicles sold in that year - more than 1 out of 3 vehicles!"

[Pawel66]

Keep thinking about it...

The first owner was a good planner and a thorough person. He asked for pick up in a dealership ca 500km from Paris, as he had to do the first oil change after 500km and he was going to Paris.

It could not be full US delivery code as the car was not delivered to any dealer in the US. It could not be 707 as it was not factory pick up so they left US delivery, 7, but the other places left blank. They could not put German delivery code as the car was the US car.

And it all is probably bollocks.

707 should work for all tourists probably...

[MOliverMc]

Pawel66 -

The distance from the factory to Paris is indeed 620km, and I just realized that the odometer shows miles (not kilometers.)  620 km is only 383 miles, so the journey to Paris could have occurred within the 504 miles shown at the time of service!

[MOliverMc]

Mike Simon - Thanks a lot!  Was your delivery date stamped on the data card? 

[MOliverMc]

Again I like your theory Pawel..  It is very curious, isn't it?

[Pawel66]

Pawel66 -

The distance from the factory to Paris is indeed 620km, and I just realized that the odometer shows miles (not kilometers.)  620 km is only 383 miles, so the journey to Paris could have occurred within the 504 miles shown at the time of service!

Well, then it is 806km he made before the first service...

Could have been Stuttgart then.

[neelyrc]

What other paperwork, if any, do you have from the original owner.  As the car was driven in Europe, there would have been a registration document, number (license) plates, insurance documents, shipping documents, etc.  My experience in 1969 was that Mercedes Benz of North America, included the cost of all these items in the selling price.  It was also my understanding that they only sold cars for factory delivery, not with options to take delivery in other European locations.

If you go to the Technical Manual on this site and look in the Pagoda Notes Section, you will find in Pagoda Notes, Volume 10 Issue No 3, of September, 2016, copies of some of the above mentioned documentation.

I suppose it is possible that a U.S. person living in Europe could have ordered a car through a local dealer for export rather than through MBNA with factory delivery.  In this case the temporary registration, plates, insurance, etc. would have been from the country where purchased.  This was prior to the existence of the European Community.

[MOliverMc]

Thanks Ralph / Neelyrc - that is very helpful perspective. 

We have great documentation from the 2nd owner through my own ownership, but we have very little from the original owner.  We have a few service records, and all of the original Mercedes-Benz booklets and data cards, but we do not have records of where it was delivered or any foreign registrations or insurance.  (If we did, I would not have so many questions about the possibility of factory delivery!)

I will go learn about the Pagoda notes that you directed me to, thank you!  With the information that we do have about the original owner, I do not think they were living in Europe at the time.  I believe the car was ordered from either New York or Connecticut..

Many Thanks!

[MikeSimon]

Let's think about this for a moment! Why would you order the car from the factory with 50L of fuel, if the car was delivered through a dealership? The dealer, back then, would most likely fill up the tank before the customer picks the car up. At most Mercedes dealerships, that was a common procedure as part of "customer service". If the customer picked up the car in Stuttgart, different story.

[neelyrc]

Mike,

Regarding the 50 liters of fuel. When I ordered my car for factory delivery, fuel was not discussed and it is not shown on the confirmation of order. Apparently for this type of factory delivery it is an “automatic”.  The factory automatically programs this code into the production on the data card, in my case 663.

I am pretty sure the car being discussed here is a factory delivery

[MikeSimon]

Ralph: My argument was trying to support the factory delivery theory also. maybe earlier, with the 230SL, the option code was different than later when you got your car.

[neelyrc]

Yes Mike, I think the 317 code was superseded by 663 and BobH got it right in his reply #1.

I hope that MOliverMc will be able to find other supporting information to satisfy himself that his car was factory delivered.

MOliverMc - You apparently have detailed knowledge about the date your friend took ownership of your Pagoda from the original purchaser, so you have a much clearer picture of your car’s history than many here have been able to establish. I hope you have gone back to your friend to ask if there might have been other documentation from the original purchaser stashed away somewhere.  Wishing you continuing enjoyment from your Pagoda ownership.  …….and, by the way, we look forward to seeing some pictures of your car!

[MOliverMc]

Thanks Gentlemen,

I believe you are both correct.  The garage that serviced the car for the original owner was also used by the following 2 owners, who are good friends of mine.  They told me that the garage owner had told them years ago that the car was a factory delivery.  I’ve only had the car for a few months and this has been my first excursion into data cards, and paint codes, etc.  It has been very enjoyable to fill in little gaps in the cars history which is pretty well documented otherwise. 

I had posted photos earlier and removed that post because I was dissatisfied with the photos I took.  I will get some better pictures that do the car justice and post them as soon as I can,

Thanks again - I really appreciate everyone’s feedback.