So, at our latest little pagoda gathering, Ace Cafe, a query was raised over the length of the ‘arm’ for the rear view mirror.
...could it be the case that if they happened to run out of one design on a production line, they substituted a rear view mirror for another model?
In the era we are currently in with shortages of about anything and everything at inopportune times with little to no relationship to the pandemic, it is entirely possible to believe that in the middle of production if one part was unavailable or in short supply, another was substituted. (shortages are nothing new). You don't shut down a production line for want of a part. You put something there.
This is also the exact kind of situation in the parts world today where more than one part is "consolidated" into one part even if the match isn't exact. Some years back I bought a new passenger side door pull for my 280SL. It was listed as available, and I got it through Mercedes-Benz as an official part. However, what came was NOT the right part; the door pull for a 280SL is symmetric, with both sides identical and the chrome caps identical. What MB sent me was an asymmetrical model, with one of the chrome caps having a curve and cutout on it, to [probably] wrap around an arm rest or something on a sedan. It was NOT the same as a 280SL door pull. Similarly, my attempt to buy an official oil filler dip stick from MB gave me some completely bizarre dipstick for which I have yet to figure out what it's for--certainly not a 280SL. Today, read the thread on battery, where a different battery is being delivered.
On my own car, I have "incorrect" wiper arms that are 1" longer than those initially delivered; I found this matching set at a PUB once from a guy who had dozens of them. Some were clearly too long and wouldn't work, there was only one in the "correct" size, and it was a challenge but I found two of the smallest ones I could get. They work fine...
