azbobk,

your vin# is unusual in that there are 2004 coupes numbered to at least 25,xxx. somewhere in that range the 10th character in the vin switched from 4 to 5 (i.e. from 2004 to 2005 model year). what's the 10th character in your vin? i bet they pulled a group of cars off the assembly line to make the first 05 roadsters which could explain why the numbers aren't exactly sequential. or maybe they designated a range of vin#s for the roadster and it is built on an entirely different line. i believe the production of the new slk was moved to a different area of the karmann plant which likely freed up an assembly line.