rfaunce Posted January 30, 2014 Report Share Posted January 30, 2014 I bought a 2013 C-Max SEL off lease. I noticed that while the factory window sticker and the title show it to be an SEL, the model indicator on the hatch says "SL" and it looks to be original to the car. The car has a very early production date (6/12 - three months before they went on sale) and the VIN sequence # is 500413, which I think also shows it to be an early production car. I love the car but I am curious about the model code. Did Ford plan to have three C-Max models and then pared them down to the SE and SEL early in production? I have Googled the topic to death and haven't found a thing one way or the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaPieR Posted January 30, 2014 Report Share Posted January 30, 2014 Ford usually had an "S", "SE", and "SEL" model codes. For the Escape, I think they dropped the "S" and just kept the "SE" and "SEL" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotomoto Posted January 31, 2014 Report Share Posted January 31, 2014 As the saying goes, :needphotos: It would really help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wab Posted January 31, 2014 Report Share Posted January 31, 2014 Interesting, anybody have a cmax older than rfaunce. Wonder if the original SEL fell off(we are developing a reputation for being rear ended)and was replaced with a SL badge from a Nissan, Mercedes etc? hybridbear 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtb9153 Posted January 31, 2014 Report Share Posted January 31, 2014 Sounds very weird to me. Mine was built in September of 2012, but it clearly says SEL on the tailgate. This would be interesting research work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfaunce Posted January 31, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2014 Here's a picture of the "SL" on my C-Max. fotomoto 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtb9153 Posted January 31, 2014 Report Share Posted January 31, 2014 Here's a picture of the "SL" on my C-Max. C-Max.JPGLooks like a factory install but why I just don't know since to my knowledge an "SL" model was not a regular production model. You might have a very rare pre-production model which usually is not sold to the public? I don't know I'm at a loss. I wonder if any of the Ford peeps who frequently visit the site could shed any light? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plus 3 golfer Posted January 31, 2014 Report Share Posted January 31, 2014 Looks like someone removed the Hybrid badge that should be below the SEL badge, the "E" in SEL, and moved the "L" to the "E" location. hybridbear 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtb9153 Posted January 31, 2014 Report Share Posted January 31, 2014 (edited) Looks like someone removed the Hybrid badge that should be below the SEL badge, the "E" in SEL, and moved the "L" to the "E" location. Edited January 31, 2014 by mtb9153 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtb9153 Posted January 31, 2014 Report Share Posted January 31, 2014 Sure would be nice to get to the bottom of this, curiosity is killing me what you have there???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-MaxSea Posted January 31, 2014 Report Share Posted January 31, 2014 (edited) Been crunched & poorly reassembled? Oopsy, forgot the E. Edited January 31, 2014 by C-MaxSea mtb9153 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaPieR Posted February 1, 2014 Report Share Posted February 1, 2014 Been crunched & poorly reassembled? Oopsy, forgot the E. LOL, that's a possibility that it was a defective badge. It would have made more sense if it was an "ST" badge since they build C-MAXes with all the Focus types in the same plant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScubaDadMiami Posted February 1, 2014 Report Share Posted February 1, 2014 Look very closely at the lettering. Is it possible that the L was actually an E that has either been trimmed or broken off, and the L broke off, too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfaunce Posted February 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2014 No, it is clearly stock and there was never any damage to the car. I am hoping a Ford employee might add something to this. My best guess at this point is that either Ford had planned three models and dropped the SL or the top of the line was to be an SL and it was changed very early in production to SEL. Since the car was produced three months before the C-Maxes went on sale, there would have been enough time to title it as an SEL. This is no big deal but it is interesting and it would be nice to figure out what happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScubaDadMiami Posted February 2, 2014 Report Share Posted February 2, 2014 It is a curious mystery, for sure! Are there any strange options on yours, or are there any missing from the package that should be there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan McEachern Posted February 2, 2014 Report Share Posted February 2, 2014 I wonder if the european C-max comes with an "SL" trim option and in the beginning they thought to call it that here too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtb9153 Posted February 2, 2014 Report Share Posted February 2, 2014 Well what ever the truth maybe, you can most likely count on that you have an extremely rare CMax, maybe something that wasn't even suppose to be sold publicly. Like a show CMax at car shows or a study in design of the final Production CMax? I sure hope someone from Ford can chime into this thread and add some interesting insight? When I had my GMC Syclone there was only a little more than a thousand ever built over one production year. Our club was able to research a GMC registry with VIN #'s to see what each truck built came originally with and when it was built. I wonder if such a registry might be available from Ford. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hybridbear Posted February 2, 2014 Report Share Posted February 2, 2014 (edited) No, it is clearly stock and there was never any damage to the car. I am hoping a Ford employee might add something to this. My best guess at this point is that either Ford had planned three models and dropped the SL or the top of the line was to be an SL and it was changed very early in production to SEL. Since the car was produced three months before the C-Maxes went on sale, there would have been enough time to title it as an SEL. This is no big deal but it is interesting and it would be nice to figure out what happened. What does your window sticker say? What does Etis show? If you are comfortable sharing your VIN, then we could look up your window sticker and see your car in Etis. Those two sources should help shed light on this. Edited February 2, 2014 by hybridbear obob 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfaunce Posted February 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2014 My window sticker says it is an SEL and it has all the regular SEL equipment with nothing unusual. The European C-Maxes use different designations. My best guess is that the model was originally intended to be an SL but Ford decided to use SEL as it does for other cars and made the change when it did the paperwork prior to shipping it to the dealer. Since it apparently was one of the first off the production line, the change was probably no big deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan McEachern Posted February 3, 2014 Report Share Posted February 3, 2014 Very cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtb9153 Posted February 3, 2014 Report Share Posted February 3, 2014 If you say it has all the usual US market SEL equipment and documentation except for the SL designation on the rear door. It is my understanding that the European market CMax has different front fascia. The grille openings are different than ours. plus I don't think the Euro cars are Hybrids only gas powered. Another thing is the rear doors pull open and slide down the rear fender like most US mini vans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FordService Posted February 3, 2014 Report Share Posted February 3, 2014 Hi everyone, This is really interesting, indeed. I checked with a couple people and we've never built an SL C-Max of any kind. I'm not sure how the badge ended up there. rfaunce, have you asked your dealer about this? You may be able to trace the car back to a previous owner and figure out where the "SL" came from. Ashley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelM Posted February 3, 2014 Report Share Posted February 3, 2014 (edited) The Car is definitely a U.S. Michigan made C-Max. It could have been a call made at the factory on an early production car to use an on hand badge when the correct one was not available.I can't imagine that call being made, but it's also missing the HYBRID badge that should be right below the SEL. The first few 'For Sale to Public' vehicles are usually gone over by the greatest number of eyes and not much makes it through that is not correct. Not sure why, But your VIN shows as an incorrect VIN through CarFax website. Mine shows with a report and my production date is 7/24/2012 just one month after yours and only 491 between them. I tried your VIN a couple of times at CarFax with the same result. I see that you bought the car off lease there may be info from the dealer or that @FordService can find that will clear this up. As @Brother Mike and @C-MaxSea suggested, could there have been an accident from the lease owner or at the dealer involving the hatch door? If so you should be made aware of it. rfaunce, if you can pm me with email add. Edited February 3, 2014 by MichaelM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfaunce Posted February 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2014 Hi - I appreciate everyone chiming in on this little puzzle. I don't recall if i provided this before but the VIN is 1FADP5BU8DL500413. I tried to post the window sticker itself but the site won't let me. I hope this helps a bit. I would be very surprised if the car had been in an accident because it should have been dosclosed by the Ford dealer I purchased it from. I noticed on my paperwork when I bought it that the car was previously owned by Ford Motor Credit. I assume that this is typical for a lease vehicle but when I ran a vehicle history report, it indicated that the car had never been titled before i purchased it (it also indicated no accident history). Is this SOP? Shouldn't the lessor have had a title for the car in order for it to be registered? Could this indicate that it was a Ford Company car and not leased to the general public? I am pretty sure it came from Michigan. Does any of this help track the SL history at all? If anyone wants to email me directly they can do so at rfaunce@megalink.net. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG ROCCO Posted February 6, 2014 Report Share Posted February 6, 2014 Cool thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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