My sig. answers most of the original questions. I emailed MBUSA asking about what my car cost new. They sent me a photocopy of the original dealer invoice, FROM 1980. The car was manufactured in April '80 (from door jam). The car was bought by a dealer in Rockville Center, NY on June 6,1980 for a cost of $26,835. That's dealer cost, retail was $33,473. I gather the car has been an East Ccoast car all this time. The color, per the invoice, is called simply Champagne metallic. I always called it gold. I live in south central NJ. There are only a few W116s running around here, and that's the way I like it.

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1999 MB SL500 (110,000 mi)
2004 Volvo V70 2.5T (220,000 mi)
2014 Tesla Model S 85 (136,000 mi)
MBCA member