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@zachmac - I'm not correct in my observation of the instrument binnacle covering. I went back and looked through most of the SL65's on BAT and there are a few that are trimmed on the top in leather and not alcantara. The one you referenced to me is indeed just like mine and not alcantara on top, but a contrasting leather. I thought it might be option code related or MY related, but I cannot identify what drives it. I've seen leather on a few early ones as well as later ones. Here's a picture of mine and it's leather, but contrasting to the dash.
Mine has this contrasting leather instead of alcantara.
My MY08 has leather on the binnacle but yes, I've also seen some in Alcantra. Not sure what determines it? Designo cars do in general have more leather everywhere.
I agree, seems more Designo. If the Black Edition has leather too, which they do, it must come with that kind of upgrade. OR...the German lady that sews these things up just randomly throws leather out there every now and then...haha.
KyKen: BTW, when you say your car was produced in December of 07 do you mean manufactured or delivered? Is it one of the following serial numbers: 141475, 141497, 141518, 141542, 141590 or 141636? If so it was very close to the last MY08 produced. Only one was delivered in January of 08 after these were all delivered in December of 07. Then they switched to MY 09 cars. Delivered BTW means to the distributor (dealer). They can of course sell much later.
@KyKen and @zachmac To introduce another complication, I believe that the counts used by the factory (and the Brian Long book) are at the point of conception, the start date when the ‘gender’ of the car is determined (model, colors, options, destination market, etc) and sequential serial number is assigned. Clearly, consecutively numbered cars don’t come off the production line consecutively and those dates can vary by days, weeks or even months. Datacards available through MBepc and Lastvin show the Release Date and Delivery Date, but not the start date, when the sequential serial number was assigned and the car was ‘conceived’. From my own work with the SL55s, I have been able to come very close to the total number of MY2007s and 2008s (model 72), but there is still a variation in counts between the years.
You deserve a medal for all this research on the SL65. I feel certain that one day your hard work will prove an invaluable resource, especially as MB moves to all electric. I also always enjoy your participation on BAT (I'm W140). I think you may already have me cataloged, but my VIN is WDBSK79FX6F113199. Your ability to discern color distribution among the fleet is especially enlightening.
KyKen: BTW, when you say your car was produced in December of 07 do you mean manufactured or delivered? Is it one of the following serial numbers: 141475, 141497, 141518, 141542, 141590 or 141636? If so it was very close to the last MY08 produced. Only one was delivered in January of 08 after these were all delivered in December of 07. Then they switched to MY 09 cars. Delivered BTW means to the distributor (dealer). They can of course sell much later.
the CR label attached to the vehicle stated the vehicle manufacture month/year. It’s required for all cars sold in the USA and likely other countries as well.
Last edited by KyKen; Jul 29, 2021 at 01:05 PM.
Reason: Typo
the CR label attached to the vehicle stated the vehicle manufacture month/year. It’s required for all cars sold in the USA and likely other countries as well.
KyKen I had forgotten the build month and year were on the door sticker. That of course doesn't do me much good as I am trying to catalog all of the SL65s made using searches of the various sites that provide FIN or VIN searches and provide data cards. I haven't found one that provides the Month /Year of manufacture. Could you please undertake the task of finding all 3055 of them and sending me a photo of the door sticker.
BTW, while I may find a few more once I start searching for the MY09s, if you car was manufactured in December of 07 it is one of the last eight MY08s produced (again that I've found so far). I'm still working backwards right now and I'm about halfway through the MY06s. But only 8 MY08 SL65s were delivered in December and January of 07 / 08 so you car would have to be one of those. Are you willing to share the last 6 digits of your VIN?
KyKen so you got me curious about how the date on the door sticker might compare to the date listed as "Delivered Date" on the factory MB data card. To my surprise in my case the data card "Delivered Date" is 8/21/07 and the door sticker says 09/07 (September of 2007, it doesn't list a day, just month and year). So that made me wonder what does the "Delivered Date" actually mean? I went to the source and called MB. After lots of time on hold they told me the Delivered Date is the date (month, year and day) that the factory finished building the car, i.e. the actual completion of build date or the date the factory "delivered" the finished car for distribution. So at least in my case the NA door sticker is off by a month. MB could not tell me when and how the door stickers are applied and how that month is determined but the date each car actually came off the assembly line is the data card delivered date.
Here is mine:
2007 Sl65 WDBSK79F67F128154
041 DESIGNO GRAPHITE PAINT
X49 DESIGNO CORTECCHIA LEATHER
Y83 DESIGNO ALCANTARA ANTHRACITE ROOF INTERIOR TRIM
Very nice combo, captured in my data as a Pano with Parktronic and Distronic. BTW, while listed in the option codes, Y83, the Alcantra headliner is standard on SL65s. The color differs but I think they are all Alcantra.
So still slogging backwards through possible VINs for SL65s. Up to 1133 cars identified. I beleive I have all the MY08, MY07 and a good number of MY06s with some MY09s (enough to confirm I have all the MY08s). In any case the color distribution for the 1133 cars is:Ex Code Ex Color # %
Nice chatting with you on BAT earlier today. Joined here with the same name years back but never posted. You raised my interest in finding out more about my car and the options it has. For your records here is my VIN WDBSK79F05F096279 it is a 2005 model year and the door sticker states 10/04 Delivery date states 02/11/04 I am curious on how many similar ones exist if any. I also believe i read somewhere earlier that the Designo package gives you full leather door panels, leather wrapped cluster and some other things. I believe it was a $9000 option here in Canada for it.
2005 SL65
Designo Mystic White
Two tone Black and Silver Leather
Aluminum Trim
Nice chatting with you on BAT earlier today. Joined here with the same name years back but never posted. You raised my interest in finding out more about my car and the options it has. For your records here is my VIN WDBSK79F05F096279 it is a 2005 model year and the door sticker states 10/04 Delivery date states 02/11/04 I am curious on how many similar ones exist if any. I also believe i read somewhere earlier that the Designo package gives you full leather door panels, leather wrapped cluster and some other things. I believe it was a $9000 option here in Canada for it.
2005 SL65 Designo Mystic White Two tone Black and Silver Leather Aluminum Trim
Silver63 Hello! That is indeed a very rare and attractive combo. As I mentioned I haven't completed trying to catalog all the 3055 R230 SL65s but I am starting to get into the MY05s now. I suspect we will indeed find you car is unique in the world as I have no other such combo yet in the MY09, MY08, MY07 and MY 06 ranges I've collected. I haven't worked through all the 09 and up yet but I think I have all the 07 and 08s and most all the 06s in my data. I'll keep you posted.
As you can see from the color distribution I posted above there are a number of "one off" combos out there but they are very rare.
Nice looking SL65 and unique. I would love to see photos of some of those colors that were only applied to a few cars or less. I thought my Designo Graphite was rarish, but there are so many other colors that were even more limited.
I am curious if anyone has seen these aluminum trim pieces before? I have only seen the wood inlays or the carbon fiber either original or aftermarket.
2003 E55, 2003 SL55, 2014 CLS63, 2018 q50 Redsport, 1968 Camaro SS, 1999 Trans am Firehawk
Originally Posted by silver63
I am curious if anyone has seen these aluminum trim pieces before? I have only seen the wood inlays or the carbon fiber either original or aftermarket.
my 03 sl55 has the aluminum. It was fairly common prior to carbon fiber becoming available as an option.
2003 E55, 2003 SL55, 2014 CLS63, 2018 q50 Redsport, 1968 Camaro SS, 1999 Trans am Firehawk
That trim was standard on sl350, no cost on sl500 and not available on the AMG cars according to the 2005 US brochure. Someone must have swapped it in at some point. You are correct what you have is different than the earlier sand cast silver trim.
I have always been curious on exact numbers of each color SL65 for a given year, etc. VRV000 on this forum took on the task of trying to catalog all the SL55s with a P30 package so based on his work I've started the same process for the SL65s. I began in the 08s as that is what I own. It is a very labor intensive project in that you basically have to search every possible serial number twice in a range to find all the SL65s, once for LHD and once for RHD. In any case I've done about 10000 searches so far and purposely worked beyond the 08 range to find many 09s and back until I was firmly in 07s. I am continuing the finding the 07s now. But, I am fairly confident I have all the 08s.
Keep in mind I am talking Model Year. Mercedes decides each year what date to swap over to producing the "next year's" car. Their is a option code that indicates it. 808 for MY 08, 807 for 07, etc.
The conventional wisdom and most sites I have seen with a number cite 120 NA 08 SL65s and 273 produced worldwide. Keep in mind the worldwide number is most likely calendar year production. In any case I have NOT found those numbers to be accurate. I may have missed car or two but I don't think so; I'm stepping through all possible serial numbers in sequences a few hundred at a time.
Based on this I've found the MY 08 number to be:
164 total world production
122 shipped to NA
118 shipped to US (the difference between this and NA is 3 to Canada and 1 to Mexico)
I'll continue to post updates as I collect a given year but it takes longer and longer as you go as the early years had more cars and spanned a greater range of serial numbers. I am capturing FIN and VIN #s, date delivered, where delivered, exterior and interior color and Pano yes / no for now
Here's the Vin for a RHD SL65 WDB2304792F155027 found in mauritius. Any idea on how many RHD SL65's were made?
That question had me thinking why we all say, left hand drive or right hand drive, instead of the more correct, left side drive or right side drive. Our left or right hands have nothing to do with what side of the car they mounted the steering wheel on.
That question had me thinking why we all say, left hand drive or right hand drive, instead of the more correct, left side drive or right side drive. Our left or right hands have nothing to do with what side of the car they mounted the steering wheel on.
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
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