"D" badge or "D" schild

[lexon]

Hello!
I would like to install "D" badge on the back of my 280SL. As I know, it was an option for all Pagodas (the price was 3 DM:)).
So the question is: what kind of this badge was originaly on the back and where exactly it was installed by dealer or at the factory?

[MikeSimon]

The original sales brochure that came with my car's documents (late 1970) shows a picture of a 280SL with the D sign on the right corner of the rear trunk lid.
This, of course, is a decal type sign, vinyl self-adhesive, I have a hard time believing they would sell a metal sign for 3 DM. There are some that are metal and they have a plexi cover. Don't know if they were OE.

[kampala]

This 230 shows it hanging below rear license plate. 



http://oudemercedesbrochures.nl/W113_Vorstellung_AllerWelt63.html

This brochure site is run by a member of this forum. 

[Pawel66]

I have recently been trying to find the place for our badge in the rear with euro plate - not easy...

For metal D plate - this hanging one is one of the few locations...

[Shvegel]

The car from the brochure is a show car.  Notice the “show detailed” engine and lack of firewall pad.  It would be more reliable to have a production picture.  I imagine if that car left Mercedes’s hand and someone found it today.  “This thing is a mess.  Someone painted the valve cover and it’s all wrong under the hood.”

[Mike Hughes]

Rather than a brochure, I think that this was the Geneva Auto Show reveal article in the magazine that D-B sent to all Mercedes owners back in the day.  One white car was parked outside on the terrace, while another white car was the press reveal car inside the Restaurant du Parc des Eaux-Vives the morning prior to the opening of show.  One or both of them may have subsequently been was pressed into service as press demonstration cars, getting a good workout on road and track during the show.  One can also see the a silver one in the background in one of the exterior shots.  Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I think the red one on the show hall floor was the Pagoda that shortly afterwards went back to the factory and was massaged into the rally car that Eugen Böhringer took on his epic run in the Spa-Sofia-Liège rally just a few months later.  In any case just about every one of these very, very early cars differ from what we now accept as standard production units while the factory made spec modifications and adjustments to the production process.  While they bear the earliest production serial numbers, they are essentially pre-production prototypes.

[mbzse]

.../...more reliable to have a production picture../...

Example of "D" sign at rear center. This is per the factory mounting instruction, with two sheet metal screws into lower rear valance. As an alternative, factory instructions name it to be in the form of a "D" sticker on right side of trunk lid

[MikeSimon]

I wouldn't doubt, that the factory option "D" sign changed its type and location from early 230SL to late 280SL.
Again, if it was a 3DM option it was a cheap a... thing that Untertürkheim slapped on.

[MikeSimon]

I found several photos in my records of contemporary 230SL test reports. They had the D sign mounted in the center below the license plate. the sign has two bolts as shown in the second picture of the OP. The same is true for a 1967 250SL

[Tx246]

If, as a factory optioned Item, what is the correct style for the “D”?

[MikeSimon]

If, as a factory optioned Item, what is the correct style for the “D”?

What is your exact question? Is it about the shape of the "D"?

[rwmastel]

Font??

[Peter van Es]

International vehicle codes

and

Fonts on licence plates, specifically the German Din 1451 font.

[Tx246]

I guess my rap question is how do I find a plate similar (repro would be fine) to what would have come with the car seeing as it was a factory option.

I find it irrelevant and interesting at the same time.

[georgem]

Funny.............I thought that European cars had to display a sign such as the "D" to indicate their country of registration ie several years back I bought a XK150 Jaguar that was imported second hand from England. It had chrome "GB" (Great Britain) letters in chrome screwed to the boot (trunk) . I very much doubt that they were a MB factory fitted option..

So....any exported cars- most of ours -  would not have had any letters at all. I would imagine if the car was sold in a European country the dealer or owner would attach them. -

[Peter van Es]

I guess my rap question is how do I find a plate similar (repro would be fine) to what would have come with the car seeing as it was a factory option.

I find it irrelevant and interesting at the same time.

Technoclassica in Essen is your best bet. Find a member who goes there to buy one for you and ship it...

Or general sites like this one: https://oldtimer-ersatzteile24.de/D-Schild-aus-Alu but currently out of stock.

[rwmastel]

Funny.............I thought that European cars had to display a sign such as the "D" to indicate their country of registration ie several years back I bought a XK150 Jaguar that was imported second hand from England. It had chrome "GB" (Great Britain) letters in chrome screwed to the boot (trunk) . I very much doubt that they were a MB factory fitted option..

So....any exported cars- most of ours -  would not have had any letters at all. I would imagine if the car was sold in a European country the dealer or owner would attach them. -

By that logic, all the Euro delivered cars would have screw holes from these badges.  Or, do I misunderstand your point?

[georgem]

My point is that no cars would have holes - only when they were getting ready for delivery to the owner by the dealer would the "D" or "GB or whatever country where it is being sold would a plate or sticker  be attached - after the new owner requested it

[rwmastel]

My point is that no cars would have holes - only when they were getting ready for delivery to the owner by the dealer would the "D" or "GB or whatever country where it is being sold would a plate or sticker  be attached - after the new owner requested it

Oh!  You mean no cars would have holes when they left the factory.  OK.  I can buy that.

[John Betsch - "SADIE"]

Could anyone help with the approximate sizing of the metal D badge (have an idea to try) while I search for one to purchase

JB

[dirkbalter]

Could anyone help with the approximate sizing of the metal D badge (have an idea to try) while I search for one to purchase

JB

Approx.    175 x 115mm

[John Betsch - "SADIE"]

Thank you Dirk for the prompt response; and if anyone knows a US supplier of metal D badges, that would also be terrific

JB

[zoegrlh]

Look on eBay, can find anything there. Also I lived in Germany during the 80s, when you  purchase your car, and get it registered with the German state you are in, it’s up to you to go to a auto store and purchase the “D”, it can be a stick-on decal, or a magnetic metal one, and also the screw-on type. Also several different sizes. I even think, as I recall, they were not mandatory. I think it was a pride thing. I know the Netherlands was NH, Germany D, England GB, France F, Spain E, Poland POL, etc. I would look for the magnetic one, case you don’t want holes in your rear boot lid.

[MikeSimon]

Few corrections: Netherlands was/is NL, Poland PL.
As far as mandatory equipment was concerned back in the day: Only when you crossed the border into another country did you need a country sign. Today, the nation sign is incorporated in the license plate in a blue field on the left side.

[Cees Klumper]

Mikesimon is correct, you only had to put a sign on when you crossed the border. Many cars in the old days never did. From what I recall of the later seventies when I started driving, nobody used screw-on metal plates, everything was sticker by that time.

This is my original country sticker:

[DavidAPease]

Tx246 and John,

Here is a site in Poland (pointed out by SL450 in another link) that is selling the "D" shield (in the correct size, according to Dirk), for the equivalent of about $12 US:

     https://www.panrolnik.pl/towar/1739/tablica-d-deutschland-tloczona.html

              -David

[John Betsch - "SADIE"]

This is my "D" installed and my plate guess from when Sadie was located in Friedrichshafen & Bodenseekreis/Baden-Wurtemberg.  If you look closely, you can see the protruding pins where I mount the NYS plate

jb

[mdsalemi]

If you are looking for any kind of license plate or related, there's one place to go:

www.licenseplates.tv

I got my German plate from them 20 years ago. You can order them by the state in Germany. Bavaria? Baden-Wurtemberg? Your choice.
Do you have an antique/classic registration in the USA? Many states allow an older license plate to be used. I could easily buy this 1969 Pagoda Plate if I wanted. Fully legal for me to use, as long as I keep the real plate in the car.

The oval country plates or schilds are available. Yes, I guess I always wanted to be the Pagoda in Fiji.

Unlike many things for our cars that are made of unobtanium or priced like gold, these are readily available and not that bad in cost considering they are really quite authentic. I've had some Germans really examine my plate closely and say it's perfect. My German front plate says 1969 280 SL to answer the most frequent questions.

[MikeSimon]

The use of "year plates" vary from State to State. In many cases you have to get a "historic" plate first and then you can apply for the "year plate". You have to supply a picture of the plate you intend to use to the BMV and then they issue a permit to use that plate. The plate has to be an original year plate - sticker plates do not work - and you will have to carry the originally assigned historic plate with you.
In Germany, there are places where they make license plates, usually right next to the registrar office. You can go there and have a plate made after your specifications. Anything that fits on it. I had several plates made over the years for myself and friends every time I went there. last time I went I did not check for a metal "D" plate. But I would guess they do not carry these anymore.

[neelyrc]

The use of "year plates" vary from State to State.

We have very user friendly rules in Alabama for “year plates” for cars over thirty years old. Find an “original” plate from any year that you want to use and take it to the registration office.  They run the number through their computer system and if the number is not in use, they approve it for use immediately with the same rules that apply to the normal antique vehicle plates. An antique vehicle sticker is provided for application to the plate in the upper right hand corner.  If you already have an antique plate you must turn it in at the same time.  The cost is less than $10 and it is valid indefinitely with no renewals required.  No need to have had an antique plate on the car before applying.

Alabama is a rear plate only state.  You are free to use whatever you like or nothing on the front.  I had a German plate made similar to Michael’s plate and used it for awhile.  I am currently using my original German customs plate on the front.

[mdsalemi]

North Carolina has arguably the “friendliest” of year-plate rules for antique registrations. Basically, there are no rules! I guess it doesn’t get any friendlier than that. You don’t have to take a plate to the DMV and have them check it out or anything like that at all. Just put any plate you want on your car. Yes that’s right any plate, regardless of origin or authenticity. Just keep the state issued antique plate in your car, and be prepared to show it to anybody who asks. Yes that simple.

I don’t understand it, but I didn’t create this scheme!!

[MikeSimon]

So, there are no traffic cameras in NC, observing drivers sticking to the laws? How about the use of toll roads, like express lanes? When I drive through NC, I see them marked for tolls and there are no booths. How do they control authorized use?

[rwmastel]

When I drive through NC, I see them marked for tolls and there are no booths. How do they control authorized use?

Or automatically send you a toll rod invoice based on license plate?  (I assume you use your genuine plate out of state. )

[MikeSimon]

That's why I am asking. If you can put any plate on your car in NC without having it registered by the authority, how do they know who you are?

[mdsalemi]

So, there are no traffic cameras in NC, observing drivers sticking to the laws? How about the use of toll roads, like express lanes? When I drive through NC, I see them marked for tolls and there are no booths. How do they control authorized use?

I have never seen any traffic cameras around here. That’s not to say they aren’t in other areas, but there are certainly none in my neck of the woods. We do have toll lanes and you need a transponder. If you don’t have one, they will bill you by mail with a surcharge. If you have no plate or an ersatz plate, my guess is somehow they will catch up to you. There are not that many antique plated cars around… so I don’t think it’s enough of an issue to worry about. But that’s just a guess.

[zoegrlh]

In the Triangle area of NC (Cary) there are cameras, I go there every spring to work tennis championships and on my ride back to Virginia, I go thru toll roads, of which I have no transponder in window, so a month later I get a bill in the mail from NC DMV billing me for using the toll roads.

[rwmastel]

Just got my bill for toll roads in Chicago from my trip to/from Pagoda Fest!  $13.50.