Signed interior piece

[wwheeler]

I post this here because I think it is relevant to all Mercedes built in the 60s. I have having my leather interior recovered piece by piece and there are a lot of pieces. One such piece is the top cap of the front door panels. When the upholsterer removed this piece of leather from the cap, he found this. See attached.

1) The first is not so unusual and is the body number for the car. Each piece was assigned to this car and stamped before it was assembled. My body number is 068. BUT....
2) The second is what I would assume is the persons name who assembled it. I have seen signatures before, but nothing like this. I am not familiar with German names and curious if that is what it is? It is clearly original because it has the stamp for the body number under the leather and hasn't been disturbed for 52 years.

[Pawel66]

I think this would mean your car was assembled by King Emperor Elector Count. 

I think you have uncovered a documented discussion of workers? An explanation of titles? A manifesto? Quite interesting, actually...

[wwheeler]

A friend who speaks German enlightened me on this and said basically what you said. I guess they had a sense of humor back then as well. I bet the Konig was just waiting for some person to "unearth" this and have a big laugh.   

[66andBlue]

Wallace,
if Germany hadn't outlawed child labor in 1904 I would have guessed that your leather piece was worked on by a youngster because this is (almost) the start of a child's counting or nursery rhyme:
Kaiser, König, Kurfürst, Graf, Edelmann, Bettelmann, Bauer, Soldat. Translated: Emperor, King, Elector (Prince), Count, Nobelman, Beggarman, Peasant, Soldier.

Whoever wrote it was either bored or wanted to be a child again. 

[wwheeler]

Ha! Very funny. I am so glad I posted this!

[Pawel66]

Alfred, yes!!! I think I recall there was something like that!

Wallace - thank you for posting this! I find it quite fascinating, actually...

Konig Kaiser Kurfurst Graf
Schuster, Schneider, Leineweber,
Bäcker, Kaufmann, Totengräber

or

Kaiser König Kurfürst Graf Edelmann Bettelmann Bauer Soldat ...
und
Wir kommen aus dem Morgenland, die Sonne
hat uns schwarz gebrannt, wir sehen aus wie Mohren und haben schwarze Ohren - Meister
gib uns Arbeit an!

I can almost see workers putting it together, talking about something, writing it in.

They were making fun of work? What were they talking about? Shift leader gave them hell for something? Told them to hurry? Or it was "any other topic"?

This is absolutely cool.

Is there anything else on other pieces of upholstery?

More reading here (for Google translate) it is quite significant, actually, historical topic:
http://www.guenter-ofner.at/images/Importtexte/Kaiser_König_Edelmann.pdf

[wwheeler]

I will be getting all of the old leather pieces in a couple weeks and will look then. This one stuck out for obvious reasons and took it home. I will let you know. I would assume the “King” would have done other pieces and maybe this is some kind of puzzle I need to piece together.

[sandcrab59]

Good find Wallace.
Non of that in my car.
Tom M

[Leester]

That is really way cool. 

My great grandfather emigrated to America from Germany but most things German were, as they say, ver boten in my house when I was growing up after WWII.  My grandfather, who married a brit (my grandmother), died when my mother was very young so knowledge of the German side of my family is wanting. The restoration of my 280SL is a tribute to my grandfather who I never knew and his ancestry.

That makes everyday things like that piece of upholstery bring your car to life.  Way, way cool. I wonder what the German equivalent of way, way cool is?

Lee

[66andBlue]

That is really way cool. 
.... Way, way cool. I wonder what the German equivalent of way, way cool is?

Easy! The equivalent is of course "way, way cool". 
Just like American fashion trends, slang is also faithfully transplanted and used, otherwise you are not "hip".

[Shvegel]

I found initials and other markings under the vinyl on my soft top cover which I preserved but that is much cooler.

[wwheeler]

What would be way cooler is if the guy who wrote that saw it on this site and responded. I suppose that would be possible given the car is 52 years old. I would guess that people working in the leather trim area would be more experienced and therefore not 20 years old though. So here is hoping!

[MikeSimon]

It is the beginning of a nursery rhyme, although the first two are switched. It gives names/titles in order of importance (or wealth)
It originally goes
Kaiser König Kurfürst Rat
Edelmann Bettelmann
Bauer Soldat

The last one in the first line is not "Graf" (Duke) but "Rat" (Councilman or Government Rank) it rhymes with "Soldat"

As kids we used it to count out playing orders or turns.
And the German version of way, way cool used to be
"Absolut Spitze" during my time
then it became
'Voll Geil"

No idea what it is now.

[wwheeler]

Bummer. I finally went through all of the leather pieces and didn't find anything else other than the stamped body number. The door panel cards did have a signature on them, but that is pretty common. Oh well, once in a life time find I suppose.

[Pawel66]

A great find!

[wwheeler]

The other odd thing I noticed about this is that this person writes in decreasing letters - Large to small. Looking up handwriting analysis it says this about that trait:

"It is observed in prudent individuals, with a critical analysis of situations, ability for reflection and observation, distrust. They need to get to the bottom of situations. With empathy to convince and persuade."

So at least I know more about the person who helped build my car.

[Pawel66]

Do you think it was Daimler factory worker or some upholstery subcontractor? I do not know if Roser was just leather provider or they assembled the upholstery elements.

[wwheeler]

Not sure when the leather was applied to the cars. Most of the interior parts like this were assigned to the car in advance by body number. Then it was hand assembled to fit the car precisely. And I mean precisely. If you use too thick of a leather, nothing will fit. The wood on the dash was the same process and hand fitted. 

[Pawel66]

I am aware of this process.

Who glued the leather to the panels? Upholstery factory or the Daimler plant, you think?

[wwheeler]

I think Mercedes had an in house leather shop and did that work there. Not sure, but just a guess.