No VIN for 1975 R107 SL 450

[Scotto52]

Hey everyone! So I have recently somewhat inherited a 1975 SL. The problem is it was a recovered theft from the early 90's and they removed the common VIN plates. The Mercedes community on social media clued me in on some other areas to look. But I can't find anything. Also, people tend to give you places to look, but they aren't that specific about it. I can't get insurance without it.

So places I've looked include...

- the radiator support, it's missing
- the A pillar tag, it's missing
- the door jam, it's missing
- the shifter surround (?), I'm not exactly sure what to look for. I pulled that up and I don't see anything. There's a r107 number molded into the bottom side, but I assume that's just a part number. I'll google it tomorrow.

- behind the plastic cap of the jack bottom there should be a build sheet, didn't find anything.

- the seat spring (?). Again, not really sure what I'm looking for. I'm guessing the bottom seat cushion of the driver's seat

- someone said the firewall. No specifics on that. I was pulling back the insulation on the wall and I don't see anything. It's also a pain with that rubber insulation glued on, with the heater hoses, cables, linkage etc.

And that's all I got. Someone said if I get the engine serial number, Mercedes Classic can get the VIN that way. I'm not sure if that's true. I did email them over the weekend. Hopefully this is true, because I can kinda read some numbers off the block. I'm going to return tomorrow and try and clean it off better to read.

I read on the firewall on the dash side it should be stamped. But the guy the wrote that, stated he wasn't completely sure of that. Also, where the vehicle is at, I don't have the time and tools to pull a dash.

This was my old boss's car. He owned the garage that I started pumping gas at when I was still in high school. He made me go and get a degree in automotive after I graduated. The family was very good to me growing up. I was always invited to BBQs, graduations and weddings. He passed away in the spring time and the family offered me the car. He never drove it, and when he did, he just put a DEALER tag on it. So he never technically had to get insurance on it.

Anyways, any bit of advice would be helpful to me. I was hoping t get it home and met it's new brother and sister.

Thank you in advance!
~Scotto

[Frank Reiner]

Ask this question in the SL forum:
" Where on the 107 chassis is the VIN stamped in?"

[rumb]

If you have the title with the original VIN, you could have that number stamped into the chassis and verified by the appropriate authority. You may have to get a "builders" title.


My Model A I had the vin stamped on the frame rail as back then they used the engine number as the VIN and I had put in a different engine. There was also a typo on the title that this fixed.

[Idle]

I don't know if this applies to Mercedes, but on VWs of that era and Porsches there was a secret VIN under the rear seat. When you removed the rear seat there was a steel plate tacked down in the middle of the car that when removed would show you the VIN stamped into the chassis of the car.

I only know this because of my experience in attending junk car auctions. There are sometimes theft recover cars and they have had the VINs removed. Except the police knew to take off this plate and find the secret number. These stripped cars always had the plates removed because it was the only VIN left on the car.

Real car thieves knew to cut these out as well as all the other VINs.

The worst that could happen is you would remove the rear seating parcel shelf and see if such a plate is there. Then you could drill a hole in it and see if there are any numbers under there.

[Graham]

I think you have checked all the possible places. Your best bet will be to read the engine number. Hard to get at, but can be read. Tranny is easier to read and another option. Not sure if it can be linked to VIN.

[Idle]

Look under the plastic cover of the shifter surounnd. Some Mercedes have the VIN stamped in this area.

This is a secret VIN that the cops know to look for when all the VINs have been removed. The problem is this is a sometimes thing and it may be there or it may not. It varies from year to year and model to model.