[W126 Coupe] SEC Production Numbers

[Gerry Van Zandt]

On Nov 27, 2011, at 9:34 AM, mbcoupes-request at mbcoupes.com wrote:


> 

> Those production numbers are surprising to me, as are the estimated survivors (I would have figured many more survivors, but fewer built to begin with). What blows me away is scarcity then of other Mercedes I own (like my '59 220S Cabriolet - about 3000 coupes and cabs built over 4 years of production - 700+ in '59). Wonder how many of those are left?

> 

> Dan

> 



It's really hard to say with regard to US cars that are left as our privacy laws (not to mention lack of coordination between state DMVs) don't really allow us to get any sort of real take on how many vehicles of a certain type are left.

With regard to German numbers on the Pontons, here is what I can provide (courtesy of MBIG) for the 220S, at least in Germany:

BTW this is for the 220a & 220S -- of all types. I don't have a breakdown of coupes, cabs and sedans.

Sold from 1954-1960
total production: 84,645
38,725 produced for the German market

7/1/1956:  17,351
7/1/1960:  33,628
7/1/1963:  28,409
7/1/1969:  11.926
7/1/1974:  2,556
7/1/1979:  1,114
7/1/1983:  798
7/1/1988:  582
7/1/1994:  493
7/1/1999:  427
1/1/2002:  444
1/1/2003:  447
1/1/2004:  453
1/1/2005:  455
1/1/2006:  456
1/1/2007:  460
1/1/2008:  406
1/1/2009:  421
1/1/2010:  435





> 

> In this whole discussion I am missing one thing. How many where exported from the U.S.?At least one U.S.1986 560 SEC was exported to The Netherlands.(It's in my garage)I do not have figures but I am sure there must be many more. Once in a while I see one on the road here and there are quite some U.S. SEC's for sale here.It is not the place here but for the U.S. R107 type Mercedes the export to Europe is massive. That must be in the thousands.Coen Gonsalves ?(The Netherlands)



Historically, I doubt if very many cars have been exported FROM the US. However, in the past 10 years I'll bet these numbers may have ticked up a bit, for a couple of reasons:

1) the number of rust-free, unmolested cars here in the US is much higher than in Europe
2) the strength of the Euro (as compared to the weak dollar) has made it much more attractive to import cars from the US to Europe

I can't see more than a few dozen SECs being exported from the US over the past decade, though.

For more collectable older cars, such as the Pagodas, 300SEL 6.3s, 450SEL 6.9s, Grand 600s, and R107s, I can very definitely tell you they have gone back to Europe in droves over the past 10 years.  I have personally known of examples of all of these cars that have gone back to Europe within the past 5 years (including my former 6.3 and 6.9, both of which are now overseas).  A good friend of mine in Munich imported a 300SEL 6.3 back to Germany about 15 years ago and fully restored it -- he converted it back to Euro spec.  I would say that many hundreds of Pagodas and R107s have likely been exported to Europe in the past 10 years, correct.

I don't think there's yet the market for SECs in Europe that there has been for some of these older cars, though I do expect that market will develop in the coming years.

Cheers,
Gerry

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