Decal/label questions

[john.mancini]

I have some questions regarding two different decals or labels:
1. Rear axle oil change label:  Was that a dealer installed label? What years was it applicable? Exact location...I have seen different location on original cars.
2. Oil change label: I know it is located to the left of the tire pressure label in the trunk. Was it found on all W113's, if not what years or models is it applicable?

[neelyrc]

John,

Rear axle oil change label:

The answer to your question could be a possible "yes".  As my car was factory delivered it did not pass through a dealer.  It doesn't have this decal.

Oil Change label:
 
My car doesn't have this label either. 

January,1969 build; chassis 007749

[john.mancini]

Thanks Ralph. My 69, #11208, August build, has the same original trunk tire pressure decal, centered as yours. There's no evidence of an oil change decal at all. I am also missing the rear axle oil change decal on the door jamb. I had read that it was dealer installed. That surprised me. A friend is restoring a 230SL and wanted to locate all of the labels and decals. I was not sure on these two.

[Pawel66]

A lot has been said, reviewed and concluded on the decals and their placements on this forum. I think brilliant job was done here and Bob (God bless his soul!) was driving the efforts.

On the other hand some topics did not find their conclusion or I was not able to find it. I was looking through it a few years ago, when I was placing my stickers. I did that again last night searching decals, stickers, tags, engineering tags, engine bay, trunk, trunk lid etc., etc. - I feel dizzy now when I think about it. I think there is a lot of knowledge there, but some firm conclusions are missing, but maybe they are not possible to be reached. I feel too inexperienced to suggest them or maybe I wanted to sleep too long to find them  .

What I am not sure about:
1. The axle oil change reminder sticker in question in this post. I think generally this forum thinks it is a dealer thing. The most likely place is A-pillar, between hinges (a couple of other places mentioned too). The open question was: is it the US specific item, or they placed it in Europe too?

2. The oil level sticker in question in this post. I saw two schools on the forum:
- one schools opted for this to be a dealer thing (seen tyre pressure sticker in center and off center - hard to judge from its location if the space was left for oil level sticker or not)
- the other schools opts for this to be the US specific (lots of pictures of Euro original cars without this sticker)
- there may a mix of these schools - a US dealer thing

I am not sure what to think.

3. The trunk back wall sticker colour and location. Left of latch or right of latch? If left then close to latch before the light switch and further when light switch was applied? When did the colour change from red to purple?

I am not sure what to think here.

4. Was there or there was not any sticker on 280SL valve cover in Europe? A yellow one probably on early cars. What about late cars?

5. Where (if at all) was the valve clearances/spark gaps sticker applied on Euro cars? And US cars - valve cover as well?

The above come to my mind as uncertain points. Maybe I missed something.

I was afraid to start a topic on this as someone may say "There is a search button there, Pawel". But then as someone started, I thought "what the hell'!   

[john.mancini]

I worked with Bob G on a couple of engine compartment decals. I have searched the sight, (maybe not as thoroughly as I should), but I can't find specifics about these two decals. The 69 that I own, is the car that Bob used for some of the decals he reproduced. It only had 39K miles on it and was basically untouched. It has 46K miles on it now and is still unrestored. I know there was never either a rear axle or oil change decal on this car. I'm only the second owner and the original owner never did a thing to the car. It sat for years in a heated garage. Like I had mentioned, I never would have brought this up but a friend, who is restoring a 230Sl,  asked about decal locations. I had no answer that I was confident about.

[Pawel66]

John, and yours is the US car or Euro car? Went through a regular dealer's network or came in some other way?

I am happy you asked these questions as I was afraid to! 

[john.mancini]

Hi Pawel,

My 69 is a U.S. spec car. It went through a dealer. It's a late 69 so there are some unique things about it, like AN headlights and side markers with no screw holes. So my thinking was that the decals were possibly not part of this car's build. Then I read that the rear axle door pillar decal was dealer installed and thought that maybe the oil change decal was dealer installed too. If so, it explains why some cars have them and some don't. Some dealers were much more thorough about their dealer prep than others.

Having restored many Corvettes, Mustangs and Shelby's, you can still buy copies of the original factory build sheets and assembly manuals, which show exactly where every decal and label is located, with measurements! Wish we had that for these SL's.

John

[waltklatt]

Correct me if I'm wrong.
Is the gear change oil sticker placed on the door jamb and from the service book?
I'm not sure on these as it has been a long time.
Walter

[Pawel66]

Walter, indeed, during my search last night I found information that these stickers were in the service booklets. I cannot be sure though....

[Pawel66]

John, thank you. Your case seems to be supporting the case of these stickers being dealer applied. Could be the same was for Europe, but cannot be sure. It looks like not having them, as they might not have been factory applied, is ok.

Besides, I do not think I have ever seen those decals in a language other than English (maybe I did not look enough). If similar stickers were to be applied e.g. in Germany, they would supposedly be in German...

[neelyrc]

Walter, indeed, during my search last night I found information that these stickers were in the service booklets. I cannot be sure though....

I have my original service manual and yes, it contains stickers, or "tags" as they are called on Page 176 of the booklet, the last printed page.  However, the tags in the service manual are for use by the owner or his service agency to provide a reminder for the next mechanical or lubrication service required.  They are not permanent decals as such.  My book contained a page of stickers in "km" and a page in "miles". Unfortunately the "miles" page I no longer have.  The "km" page is shown below.  I seriously doubt that there were any permanent type decals provided in the service booklet as these would surely have been mentioned as were the tags. 

[Pawel66]

Ralph, thank you! So these are not the stickers we talked about - the oil level (trunk) and axle oil change (pillar).

[john.mancini]

My guess is that the Oil Change decal/label in the trunk was installed at the factory. On many Pagodas, the Tire Pressure decal is off to the right of center. In my opinion, to make room for the Oil Change decal. Unless you are doing a concours restoration, this does not seem like a topic that stirs much interest, so we'll put it to rest.

[Pawel66]

Yes, could be. I saw them too. On the other hand I saw them in the center as well. My car had underside of trunk lid not touched and just the tyre pressure sticker in the middle. That led me to think maybe it was the US specs thing. But I have no organized findings to back it up.

Maybe someone somtime will add something.

[Shvegel]

I have spent countless hours obsessing about tiny details like this and after 11 years now I realize that There are variances in manufacture that are sometimes allow for differences between one model year and the next and even one car to the next.  We recently had a discussion about wether the screws on the hood latch were painted or not and came up with several differences without any sort of pattern.  I believe there are a couple of MBCA judges here on this forum.  perhaps if you titled your questions as "Judging questions" you might attract their attention. 

[Pawel66]

Indeed!

More and more often I come across conclusion that, although there were production schedules and parts lists, there were also a lot of exceptions.

I wrote a couple of times on the forum my carpet story. Recently there was discussion on cover on the venturi shaft in manual cars. Stickers. Lots of examples.

It is a great piece of advice! New topic: Judging Questions: Stickers.

John, you write or I write? 

[john.mancini]

Pawel, I elect you!

[Pawel66]

yeah...