Well, I've found a 300D that interests me. Of course, it's not local. I am setting up the PPI stuff, but for now, I am very concerned about the VIN. I want to make sure everything is on the square before I move forward.

The Russian Vin site and the EPC Net both reject the VIN. It's a 1982 300D, in what appears to be China Blue from the photos.

I went to this site as well--very informative. The only problem is that they say that pre-83 cars only have fourteen digits, which seems false. I used their "1983 and newer" model information to attempt to decode this vin.

Here it is, VIN: WDBAB33A8CB002106.


(First three letters) WDB: World manufacturer identifier
(Fourth letter) A: Model or series
(Fifth letter) B: Chassis Type
(Sixth and seventh digit) 33: Model within the series
(Eighth digit) A: (C would be seat belt + emergency pretensioners. No listing for the letter A.)
(Ninth digit) 8: Check digit? Not sure what this means.
(Tenth digit) C: Model year.
(Eleventh digit) B: Production plant: Sindelfingen
(Last six digits) 002106: Chassis number


In comparing this to the VIN of my totaled 300D, it seems to me that it's the eighth digit that's off. There is no listing at all for the letter "A" in this position. I tried the other letters, but no joy.

I do not have pictures of the door pillar tag. The Carfax looks excellent. It actually has regularly posted mileage reporting through the years--which is rare. (Lots of good that will do me if it's not the same car!)

I don't know enough to tell what else might be off in the VIN, so I thought I'd post it here.

How concerned should I be about this? I will have everything checked for matching numbers during the PPI, but I don't want to pay for a PPI if something is fishy with the VIN.

Thanks, as always!

__________________
Current car:
1982 300D A New Hope! Three-plus tons of China blue steel, rubber, and magic.

Past cars:
1985 300D, Glorious anthracite on black. Gracie. (R.I.P.)
The rest were crappy--including a 1970 Orange Gremlin.

If it were me, I would communicate the concern to the seller and suggest they take pics of the door plate and pillar plate to clarify the situation.

The Russian site is not always 100%.

__________________
daw_two
Germantown, TN

Links:
Sold last car --- 05/2012 1984 300D Light Ivory, Red interior
Cluster Needles Paint
New Old Stock (NOS) parts

Past:
3/2008 1986 300SDL "Coda"
04/2010 1965 190D(c) "Ben"
& many more

It appears someone else was looking at this car back in 2005 per a google search.

http://www.mail-archive.com/mercedes@okiebenz.com/msg01258.html




.

__________________
1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

Yes, DeliveryValve, I found that, too! A car with this VIN was sold in Texas that year according to Carfax. The guy still has Texas inspection stickers on it in the photos.

Still, it makes me nervous that the VIN isn't showing up normally elsewhere.

__________________
Current car:
1982 300D A New Hope! Three-plus tons of China blue steel, rubber, and magic.

Past cars:
1985 300D, Glorious anthracite on black. Gracie. (R.I.P.)
The rest were crappy--including a 1970 Orange Gremlin.

I seem to recall that there was a discussion regarding VIN accuracy and that the consensus was that earlier than 83 there were problems. I believe the russian site only works for ones later than that anyway. Cheers Dan

__________________
It's always something simple
91 300D 603.960 (from japan) 194K
92 Toyota Diesel Landcruiser HDJ81-t 116K
02 Golf TDI new head courtesy of PO
87 300D
97 BMW 525 TDS Wagon 5spd
bunch of Onan and other diesel generators

Thanks guys. I e-mailed Tom at the MB Classics Center and he said it checks out! One step closer to my new old car!

__________________
Current car:
1982 300D A New Hope! Three-plus tons of China blue steel, rubber, and magic.

Past cars:
1985 300D, Glorious anthracite on black. Gracie. (R.I.P.)
The rest were crappy--including a 1970 Orange Gremlin.