Numbers Stamped on Hard Tops

[Jordan]

Inka2002's post about a hard top for sale got me thinking about my hard top.  My car did not originally come with a hard top, yet it has one now so a previous owner no doubt purchased or sourced one.  So where did these extra hard tops come from?  Were they strictly sourced from cars that were wrecked or destroyed for some reason, or maybe someone sold their car and forgot to include the hard top (since many never actually use the hard top and it gets put somewhere at the back of the garage and forgotten) and sold it later.  Did MB make extra's?

My hard top has a number stamped into it and I am wondering if it maybe belongs to someone else's car?  How many people have actually checked to see if their hard top is original to their car?  Maybe we should start a registry of hard top numbers that don't belong to the cars they are with so perhaps some hard tops can be reunited with their original cars?  Anyway, just a thought.  I am away at the moment so I can't post the number on my hard top.  Just curious to hear from members that do NOT have the correct hard top for their car or maybe have a hard top when the car didn't originally come with one, like mine.

[wjsvb ✝︎]

In 1971, I bought a 69 280SL with only a soft top; no idea of its history, just how it came.  My friend, who had a wrecking yard, got in a wrecked '71 with a red hardtop in perfect condition, so...; the fact that my car was beige with a dark brown tex interior meant that the match wasn't great but that mattered little in the nasty PA winters!  In those days, a hardtop would bring $4-600 and there was a ready market.  Keep in mind that these cars have been around for 50 years or so and that many have been wrecked and/or parted out, cars and hardtops have been stolen and in some cases, just sold without the hardtop for whatever reason.  The idea of a hardtop "registry" is a good one IMHO for reuniting them with cars and for identifying ones that may have been stolen.

[Shvegel]

I think all of what you say is true.  Some cars rusted away and some cars just had their hard tops sold.  Honestly, I never us it and if the car wasn't so valuable I would consider freeing up the space and selling mine.

[inka2002tii]

Well, the red hard top belongs to a very rusty red 280sl I still have but will get to it maybe in 20 years.....I'm not sure and I don't want to sell it but I do want to get rid if the hard top.

[RCS Coupe]

 I believe that a number was only stamped on the underside of the hardtop if it was factory mounted. The end number on line 2 of the body plate addresses the hard and soft top configurations (see body plate in the technical section of this web).

A part number was assigned to a complete hardtop (113 790 10 40 "Hardtop, range of delivery, complete") just like a soft top. (ref., Special Annex Catalog, 1-SA55630)

Go to your local M-B dealer and order one!

Rc