Body Panels

[Marc]

Hi Everyone,
It's been a while since I've been on here.
I think they are the same but I thought I would ask.
I have an 83' 500SL euro. A woman crunched it, ran into
me headon while I was at a stop sign. I'm just getting around
to starting to repair it. Are the hood and front fenders the same
from a 73 SLC. I thought the body panels were the same from
72-89 but since its and SLC I thought I should verify before I purchase a parts car.

As Always, all help is appreciated

thanks

[rowdie]

Originally Posted by Marc

Hi Everyone,
It's been a while since I've been on here.
I think they are the same but I thought I would ask.
I have an 83' 500SL euro. A woman crunched it, ran into
me headon while I was at a stop sign. I'm just getting around
to starting to repair it. Are the hood and front fenders the same
from a 73 SLC. I thought the body panels were the same from
72-89 but since its and SLC I thought I should verify before I purchase a parts car.

As Always, all help is appreciated

thanks

There are slight differences. If yours has the original headlights the vacuum pods will not clear the sides of the area without some minor hammer work. The hood on the '73 was steel. Yours is aluminum alloy.

[Marc]

thanks,
I thought all of the hoods and trunk lids were aluminum.
I appreciate the post.

[rowdie]

Pretty sure the change to aluminum hood was 1981. The only model with aluminum trunk lid was 107.026 450SLC5.0 and 500SLC. The one on your 500SL is steel.

Front fenders had the minor change in 1978 when the vacuum adjustable headlights were introduced.

Edit: Remembered a discussion on R107 trunk lids. One person stated his first year 500SL had an aluminum trunk lid. I don't think anyone was ever able to confirm it.

[pwogaman]

My 1980 280SL has an aluminum hood. I am pretty sure it is original.