Thank you Hans for such a great illustration. Yoiu sure have a sharp eye to detect this from the rear angle in the picture. Also thanks to 49er for posting all of the pictures of the same car. The paint job on that car appears to be outstanding. Too bad the interior is in need of some work. Regardless of the discrepancies, it is still a nice looking car. I will have to check it out next time I am in Germany, as I have not yet visited the M-B museum.
Since my car was missing these rear fender pieces, (thanks to Achim for pointing this out), I ordered a pair from Classic Car in Poland, and am waiting on their arrival. Without this picture, it might be fairly easy to get them installed incorrectly. We are waiting on the installation of the rear bumper, as it will make it easier to align. Your picture is really very helpful and greatly appreciated
Continuing to look at the Tunis Beige 280SL in the museum, I just noticed one more thing. The metal roof does not match the car, and appears to be Silver in color.
My car is all 180 Silver (body and removable top) . The top has already been painted (twice as we didn't like the first version). It is now being sanded and buffed and should be ready to install later this week.
Like many women, my wife likes the hard top so her hair won't get messed up. When I was younger I always thought the girls liked convertibles, but after owning a few, found out that having a bad hair day was a problem when riding in a convertible with the top down. Rumble seats were even worse in that regard. I guess that was one of the reasons that hard tops with the convertible look became so popular.
I have seen other Mercedes cars with a Black top, and there may be other possible combinations. The combination of the museum car is unusual with Tunis Beige paint, Silver roof and Blue interior.
So my question is this: What color combinations were possible from Mercedes when the cars were new? Were these dealer options? I don't plan on changing my combination, but this might be helpful knowledge for others.
Again thanks to all for such an interesting discussion and for being so thorough and helpful.
Fritz
