Question about Automatic badge...

[jasonrooney]

This is my 68 250SL Auto.

I'm wondering if anyone knows why some models had the "automatic" badge on the back and some automatics didn't?  Just curious...

Jason

[hkollan]

Hello,

My general understanding is that the automatic cars for the european markets had the automatic badge and that the US cars did not.But it could be more complex  than that. At least from my observations, all euro cars had the badge and the US cars did not. Not sure about Canada, Australia and other parts of the world though. Some suggest that the fact that US cars in those days frequently came with auto trans made it less
relevant to "bragg" about that fact by putting a badge on the trunk lid. In Europe very few cars in the sixties had an au transmission, so it was a considered a bigger deal and therefore warranted the extra badge on the trunk.

Hans

[RobMarks]

Automatic on Australian Cars aswell I believe

rob

[Norm]

My car was ordered with option code 254 Elimination of lettering 'Automatic'

Norm

[Jordan]

The AUTOMATIC badge was added to automatics around 23 October, 1964, from chassis 007205.  It doesn't say if it was restricted to certain markets.  As Hans suggests it makes sense they were added to all but US and perhaps Canadian cars since automatics were already so prevalent in the US at the time.

[49er]

Hello Jason,
 I noticed your car has California "Black Plates". The low number indicates they were issued in 1963 when the plates were first came out. If you have to change plates to register in NV, hang onto the plates as they seem to be getting more valuable all the time.

John

[jasonrooney]

John,

Not sure about the history of those plates as I've come to find out that the car was in CA for only a short time...maybe a few years.  Before that it was here in NV for quite a few years.  Of course I kept the plate, though.

[Benz Dr.]

The Canadian and US car market is quite similar. There are differences in car models and some cars that were once made here also had different names than in the US.

As for imported cars, they're basically the same for both countries and most cars that conform to US specs also conform to Canada as well.
There are a few vehicals that can't be imported into Canada. I'm not sure what they would be but I do remember a certain truck from about 10 - 15 years ago with monster HP that was banned from our market.
You should always do your homeworkl before trying to import any odd ball vehical. If you can't make it conform, you're on the hook to get it out of the country. I know of a streached limo that ended up going to the crusher because it was done so poorly and the cost to repair it properly would have been very high.

 One interesting thing to note is that halogen or Euro style headlights have always been legal here but not so in the States. We were also using day time running lights a few years before the US.
So most things are the same or very similar but not everything.