Difference between 72 and 73 280 se 4.5
 

I know 72 was a special year

My w108 is supposedly a 1973. Not much special about it I see. I think 1972 was the last year of production, but maybe they were model year 1973 for the US cars.

Oh... two piece oil pan instead of one piece. The earlier 4.5 were single piece pans.


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You need to refer to the engine/chassis serial numbers to determine variances between MY's. Mother Benz is fairly well known for making mid year production changes on the same chassis.

You'll notice the denotation of "up to chassis/serial number" on quite a few models.

The only way a W108/W109 became a "1973" model was by not being sold by the end of 1972. ALL production of the W108/W109 series cars stopped in November, 1972.

Difference between 72 and 73 280 de 4.5
 

The model year switch for my old 1973 450sl 10704412007016 was August 1, 1972 I believe. For many years the switch was September. I believe I asked Tom Hanson whether my car was actually a 1972, not 1973 because it was built in August. My data card displayed 350sl (not 450sl as a 1973 would also). I don’t know when the switch was for w108 cars, but I am pretty confident it was before November. Also, it is possible to purchase the next model year late in the previous year. The date of purchase does not dictate the model year of a vehicle. This may all appear nonsense and semantics, but I believe this is the case for all cars sold in America. Just the way it is, and has been for a long time now it seems. There may be no 1973 w108’s anywhere else in the world, but we call them 1973 280se 4.5 cars here in the US it seems.

An entry in Wikipedia indicates that production of the sixes and the 3.5 ended in September 1972, and the 4.5 in November. W116s went on sale in September.

Do you know when? I know my Oct 71 car (PA Titled 1972) had a 2 piece pan.

I’m not sure, but it’s in the EPC. I got a car with a one piece pan and was thinking it was a 107 motor but then checked the EPC and found it was a correct one piece pan for the earlier 4.5 in the w108. Maybe it was just the first couple hundred cars.

107 and 108/111 pans are different. On the 107 pan the sump is offset to one side and the 108/111 pan is symmetrical. Also it seems the 1 piece aluminum finned pan was used on all 4.5 107's but only on early 3.5's and 4.5 108/111's. My 111 was mfr in 12/70 and it has a 1 piece pan but I have seen 3.5's with the 2 piece pan. Maybe it was supply issues.

the 1973 models, as already stated were built as '72s but unsold.
The Feds mandated upgrades to the seatbelt system and a few other tidbits before dealers could sell them in 73.

-CTH

In October 1972 a customer who was in love with W108 came into the Memphis dealer and ordered a 280 SE 4.5 because he wanted leather seats. When the dealer placed the order on behalf of the customer MB reported that W108 production was ending and that only a W116 450 SE could be ordered with leather seats. Fearing that the customer would cancel the order the dealer decided to surprise the customer when the W116 arrived.

According to the customer whom I got to know ten years later, he was hopping mad when he was presented with the 450 SE. The customer was a product designer and knew of Paul Braq and that was the only reason he ordered the W108. The customer knew very little about cars in general and nothing about the safety and engineering of MB automobiles. While the customer was waiting for the car to be moved outside where he agreed to test drive the car, he called his attorney and made an appointment so he could file a lawsuit against the dealer. Once the car was outside and he closed the door after getting in the drivers seat he got his first inkling that the W116 was a special car. After ten minutes of driving the car and returning to the dealer the customer agreed to follow through and buy the car. He canceled the attorney appointment and quickly got over his disappointment at not getting a W108.
When I met the customer at the dealer ten years later he shared the story of how he came to buy one of the first W116s built for US production. I asked him how happy he was with the car and he said that not only was he very happy with the car, he had fallen in love with the MB brand and said he often wondered if he would still be driving the W108 had he gotten one of those. The customer had over 200,000 miles on the car and he maintained it drove just like it did when it had 20,000 miles on the odometer. The car was anthracite grey with natural color leather. The clear coat had deteriorated but he was happy with the patina and he kept it waxed and clean. The leather was so supple with some visible wear but no cracks. The customer never skimped on maintenance and Haywood Newman, the best MB mechanic I've ever met, kept everything tight. Haywood told me that after working on every model since 1960 that the W115 220D and the early W116 450 SEs were his favorites. (His least favorite were the W111 and W112) Haywood observed that the last W108/9s has inconsistent build quality relative to the early W116 models and the customer was very lucky to have gotten the 450 SE because knowing the customer as Haywood knew him, he believed the customer would have been unhappy with the 280 SE 4.5.

Bracurrie:
I had a low mileage 1976 Euro W116 450SEL 6.9 for several years. Before that, a 1969 W109 300SEL 2.8. Both top of the line models. While the 6.9 drove very well indeed, the interior appointments had been diminished with skimpier wood accents and vinyl door cards where the 300 used more wood and its high grade Roser leather on every surface. I couldn't believe the "bean counters" had gotten their way on Mercedes' top model. I sold the 6.9 and replaced it with a 1972 300SEL 4.5 which I've had for 14 years and plan to keep until they take my keys away.

I had a 72 220 D. I will concur that the quality on it was very high. It was a stick with no power steering.

I am never a fan of the bean counters, but they did allow for growing the production figures by an order of magnitude. If they didn't we wouldn't have an overload of more recent models to remind us of how much we love these veterans.

-CTH