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  #1  
Old 10-18-2006, 12:47 AM
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Cool 140 and W140

Can anyone explain to me what is the differince between 140 and W140?

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  #2  
Old 10-18-2006, 01:35 AM
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Around here 140 is a shortcut for W140.

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  #3  
Old 10-18-2006, 02:38 AM
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Hi Sixto
Thanks Eli
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  #4  
Old 10-18-2006, 08:02 AM
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W means sedan
R means roadster
V means extended wheelbase
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  #5  
Old 10-18-2006, 10:20 AM
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. . . . and C = coupe . . . as in C140
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  #6  
Old 10-21-2006, 08:32 PM
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Actually, it is a little more complicated than that:

W stands for [I]wagen[I] or automobile.

All chassis numbers in M.B. cars up to recently started with teh prefix "WDB" = Wagen Daimler-Benz, for example:

WDB 140051 1A 350612

The first three digits are the model series (140)
The next three digits are the type (051 = S500)
The 1 stands for Right Hand Drive
The A for Automatic
And the last six digits are the vehicle I.D. production series number.

This is the standard German and Worlwide chassis identification. Only in the U.S. it varies with the VIN number.

In-factory, the W is usually attached to the standard sedan model (i.e. W124), then the following variations are known to the chassis I.D. numbers (not model designation plates):

A: cabriolet
C: coupe
R: Roadster
S: station wagon (yes S, not "T", hence S124 was inside used for a 124 wagon) A slight out of factory variation was W124T
V: longwheelbase (used ONLY in the U.S.), the rest of the world referred to these models as W140L.
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Old 10-21-2006, 08:50 PM
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Actually the "W" is the country code, in this case W=West Germany. A bit of a throw-back, it is still retained as the identifier for German-built cars, you will see the W for others that are actually built in Germany such as Audi, Porsche, German-built VW, etc. Most US built cars (actually built in the US will start with a "1". ML's are different, I guess because of the amount of foriegn components or the fact it is a foreign-owned company, ML's start with a "4". I know that GM cars built in Canada start with a "2", Japanese cars built in Japan are a "J", Korean cars built in Korea are a "K". If I am not mistaken SAABs built in Sweden are a "Y".
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Old 10-21-2006, 08:53 PM
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I think MLs and new Gs start with a number because they're assembled in the US. Were 463s assembled in Germany or Austria?

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  #10  
Old 10-21-2006, 08:57 PM
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I don't think there's a number distinction for cars assembled in the US, Canada or Mexico. For example all Caravans in the late 90s had 2 prefixes whether assembled in Canada or Mexico. Would be nice to tell by looking.

Earlier this year there was a run on J VIN RX330s before production shifted to Canada (4 VIN). The assumption was only RX400h's would be assembled in Japan. I don't know if that's actually the case.

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  #11  
Old 10-21-2006, 09:03 PM
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The site I linked to states the US cars are either 1 or 4. Not sure what the difference would be, did they run out of possible #1 numbers? Hmmmm. Well I do see some discrepancies anyways.
Gilly
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  #12  
Old 10-21-2006, 09:15 PM
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Here is some pretty good VIN info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Manufacturer_Identifier#World_Manufacturer_Identifier
This all makes sense to me too, I knew there was something in the VIN about the restraint system, which no one has mentioned:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Manufacturer_Identifier#World_Manufacturer_Identifier
Here's a link to "W" codes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Manufacturer_Identifier#World_Manufacturer_Identifier
Gilly
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  #13  
Old 10-21-2006, 09:33 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gilly View Post
Actually the "W" is the country code, in this case W=West Germany. A bit of a throw-back, it is still retained as the identifier for German-built cars, you will see the W for others that are actually built in Germany such as Audi, Porsche, German-built VW, etc. Gilly

OOPPS... I guess you are right, I got my facts mixed with the issue of the model series designation. In the chassis numbers the W stands for West Germany as you say.

But, for model series IDs, I still think the W stands for wagen (W124, W140, W220, W221... .... ...) and the aformentioned variations such as A for cabriolet, S for wagon, C for coupe still apply.
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  #14  
Old 10-21-2006, 09:58 PM
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The last link I put up seems to agree with you on the meaning of "W". It just seems like eventually most MB enthusiasts begin to drop the "W" when discussing chassis numbers with others, just using the numbers and dropping the formally correct letter from the beginning.
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  #15  
Old 10-21-2006, 10:24 PM
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Its just slang, enthusiasts know what 126, 140, 220, 123, 124 ect means.

Hang around enough and you pic it up and start to use it.

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