Hello fellow R107ers!

[Guest]

So, a year ago I was tempted away, after 2 decades from Stags and bought myself into (expected) likely 2 years of restoration on an 83 380SL. Even for all its faults I love it, don't regret bringing it home and looking forward to returning it to its former glory and glam looks. Sorted mechanicals and it runs like a dream. Strange thing; I thought only Stags had a super-light power steering but seemingly not! Still got some issues, parasitic power drain, rot and rust on sill and particularly floor plan and very bad on o/s scuttle. Blessing is plenum chamber is solid. Started addressing all that today, dash/seats part way out, windscreen coming out and then off to a family fab shop for a bit of bead blasting to uncover hidden (and not so) back to metal. A big dose of pre fab (SL Shop) off-shelf and a fair amount of other metalwork, then paint touch-up. Luckily, most of body panels are already in fine fettle.
One thing I'm currently struggling with and would appreciate any help out there is defining the factory interior trim colour. It looks like the seats and door cards may have been changed during its life, along with some dash and console trim. Its currently posing as a lighter shade of cream leather but I think it was originally something like Bamboo. The code (4th line of data panel) says 00 414 470. I understand from research that the 414 digits should define the interior trim colour but I can't match that (or 470) to any of the interior fabric/vinyl/leather trim swatches available. Can anyone help or direct me to a comprehensive source of 1983 factory trim codes?

 

[Blobcat]

Hello and welcome

Pictures always welcome

 

[sonic]

Welcome not a SL man but there are plenty on here with advice. My next door but 2 has a Stag, just a summer car. He has just bought a Porsche 944 on a E plate.

 

[00slk]

Hello and welcome, I have always been an SL man right back from 1992 when I bought a 107 of 1971 vintage, even back then it had rust in the boot floor which was quickly dealt with. Can't help with the colour combos for the interior, though I have seen a few 380's with the light Tartan cloth option, very Triumph TR7 though
In 1992 we called into a dealer showroom and saw a Triumph Stag, Mercedes 350SL, Porsche 911 SC and an Aston Martin DB V8 convertible thing. I went straight to the 350 SL, while the Missus went to the Stag. The Aston was way out of our price range, the Porsche wasn't my cup of tea (unless it had been a Carrera RS Turbo, then it would have been out of our price range anyway) the Stag ( I worked for a Triumph garage in the past) so that didn't do it for me either. It had to be the Mercedes

 

[Srdl]

Hello and welcome. I always liked the Stag when it was a “modern” car but never had one.
.

 

[A.J.]

Hi and welcome to the forum

 

[Guest]

Stag always did have a reputation as a "hairdressers or ladies" motor but, having had a few I can honestly say, they're a cracking, very usable motor. The old Chestnut about overheating was mainly down to drivers neglecting to change the anti-freeze, causing alloy head port/channel blockages. I never had any overheat after strip and re-build of my 76. Funny, the morning of the day I bought the 380SL was spent looking at Stags for sale. - all poor examples. I knew the Merc was a bit of a botched job, not so well hidden filler, poor touch-ups and a marriage of various colour interiors. The engine sounded great, good oil pressure smooth drive, but that even that went caput within hours of ownership - long story involving catastrophic failure of chain tensioner and very damaging head injury (car not mine) :-(
ironic really; the intent always was to get it home, strip the old lady down - engine first and then move to a rolling resto and make it a 'keeper'. Luck had it, I managed to get a very cheap 380 Slc (also 83) with a very good sub 95k mile engine. A barn find. I had the well-known Merc magician, Mick Gudgeon of Kirkby Lonsdale do the power unit exchange with a full out o car service/chain renewal. Runs as smooth as silk now. The SL pays it first visit to body shop this week. I'm expecting worst in terms of floor pans and sills. I managed to get a pair of original wings that were in very good condition. They've been subjected to bead blast strip, some light Tig work around one light box (seems to be a common rotting fault on all pre-galvanised wing leading edges - why don't Merc sell these light boxes separately???), etched and ready to go onto car for paint matching after floors and other tin bits have been replaced.
As for interior; more became clear yesterday. I noticed colour has been applied to the interior door pulls. Light beige to match the leather (recovered seats and dash) I wasn't sure whether door pulls were an addition or lots of other beige had been previously installed. Hats-off and many thanks to South Lakeland Mercedes in Cumbria. Duncan, a very helpful chap tried to locate the cars original data from the MB database. When they used the VIN no trace could be found (you can imagine the horror when he rang and told me that). Anyway, he said both he and a colleague would keep trying and hey-presto, within 10 minutes he'd called back to report that they had traced all the data using the Reg number. The data confirmed the VIN number was the same but for some reason the Vin search wasn't returning a hit in this case. Colour of car was, as is presently: Champagne metallic (Gold) 473. Interior Equipment 054A Cloth Light Brown - some discrepancy there then. It currently sits with light cream leather seats cards and same colour (part dyed/painted?) cockpit. The plot thickens, but I'll get to the bottom of it all as the interior is taken apart for the floor, sill and scuttle welding.
Many thanks for the welcomes and Stag comments. Photos will arrive soon.
Just a footnote, My 18y/o son who's tidied-up a nice little 98 BMW Z3 looked at the shade of light brown on the door handle after I'd exposed through the light cream paint. He said it's similar to the tan/brown found in some Z3's, the same he replaced for black and blue leather in his Z. "They call it hearing aid brown" he said. Luckily, he's too you to know the real thing, but it did leave me somewhat deflated. Remaining on-topic, I pretended I couldn't hear him!

 

[John Laidlaw]

Welcome....