Chrome Plinth under Number Plate

[jaymanek]

At the Euro event, I noticed most cars had this chrome plinth under the rear licence plate.

Mine has never had this and I cannot find it on the Mercedes Parts Catalogue. SLS list it but wondered if this was a standard item?

Cannot believe I never noticed this before!?

[Jkalplus1]

Euro cars with the thin license plate had this piece of chrome trim. It won't work  with our bigger north american plates.
J

[jaymanek]

Must have gone missing when my car was taken to USA from Italy.

Must have one!

[tel76]

You can get it from your local MB dealer

[Jkalplus1]

My car does not have it either.  And the mounting holes were filled at some point (during the restoration maybe?).  My car also has the emergency flasher (with late-type knob) next to the lights in the dash.  I am thinking these may have been modifications made when importing our cars to North America to make them conform to our regulations.  I thought of purchasing this chrome moulding and attach it magnetically where it should be when I show the car, and remove it for normal driving as it interferes with our wide license plates.

[Paul & Dolly]

Hi

I think it was a "delete" option on European cars.

The SLS one (Art.Nr.:269040) is fine @ 64 Euro, the clips you will not need, are 35 Euro !
It can easily be permanently fixed on with Number Plate Double Sided sticky fixers.

This trim is aluminium, and hollow, so you could easily fit some magnets inside if it need to be removable..

Paul & Dolly

[Tomnistuff]

I suspect that it was country specific.  The Italian rear plates were huge in the 1960s - almost square.  They may still be - I don't know.

My Italian version 230SL has never had that piece.

Tom Kizer

[RobSirg]

My UK delivered car has it and my Aust delivered one doesn't.

Rob

[Stefano Ruggeri]

This has been discussed somewhere before, but Italian 113's were never fitted with the the chrome strip under the numberplate seeing as it would have been covered up. To give you an idea, here's a picture of my car (still on Rome plates) when I first bought it back in '83 .

[mbzse]

... Italian 113's were never fitted with the the chrome strip under the numberplate..../...

Stefano,
My Italian delivery early 280SL does not have the rear chrome strip.
I noted your car has non-Mercedes rear view mirrors, just as my car. Can you comment on these, shown in my picture?
How many dealers would there have been for Mercedes in Italy in the late sixties, would you know?
/Hans in Sweden

.

[Tomnistuff]

My Italian version also has that ugly black left side rear view mirror.  Unfortunately the bolt spacing is too wide to permit retrofit of the Mercedes mirror.  But if it is "correct" for an Italian car, maybe I'll keep it.  Does anyone know?
Tom Kizer

[Stefano Ruggeri]

Oh how I hated that mirror...I knew that sooner or later someone would pick up on it. I think it was made by Vitaloni, a well know producer of aftermarket parts during the '70s - '80's and during that period it seemed to be quite a fashionable fitment. I seem to recall that something similar cropped up as standard on plastic ducktail Alfa spiders and 2nd series Alfettas and I'm glad to say that they looked just as awful on those cars as they did on mine. As you can well imagine it was the first thing that went in the bin when I got the chance. It's been a long time now but I seem to recall the original holes still being there under several layers of paint, and the extra holes for the black monstrosity were simply covered with filler - a bodge that I'm glad to say has held up remarkably well for the past 30 odd years (can it really be that long ago?) My poor 280SL currently sits accusingly, awaiting a proper restoration, and the holes will be welded properly and the last vestiges of the mirror from hell will be finally gone for good.
The only reason I can think of to explain the rash of odd mirrors on Italian SL's may be because in 1976 a new law was introduced stating that all wing mirrors had to have a homologation number on them. It was obviously a racket, just like the majority of Italian law, but a lot of people fell for it at the time, and it could well be an explanation.
Stefano