John (thelews), Richard is well onto other things now and this is a memory. Working with him on his Jaguar for Concours of America.
Garry, w113savvy (yet another Dan) must be a lawyer. They are the ones that routinely ask questions that they already know the answer to!
Just asking it, I wouldn't say hyperbolizing and I've not heard the term "skiting" before used in American English. Some might say it's a rhetorical question--others might have, shall we say, a somewhat less pleasant description?
If w113savvy is restoring W111s that get the big bucks, maybe HES the one leaving money on the table!
I can tell you this: the data plate that the restorer put on that 280SE high-dollar restoration was pretty lame, and wrong
regardless of where sourced. The correct data plates have a certain amount of static information etched into the data fields, and the ONLY variable data is the last 8 digits of the VIN which is embossed, not engraved. None of the data plates of the era were engraved, despite the fact that some are offered today as such. Thankfully I put Richard in touch with CraigS from Australia who sorted that out prior to sale, and the car was fitted with a proper plate. Craig provided my data plate, too, and I had it embossed--properly--at another location, and fitted with rivets, not screws. It is surely not original--it's a reproduction--but the best looking reproduction one could hope for.
I've attached a couple of W111 data plates, and you can see what I'm talking about. Should be pretty obvious which is original, and which is a reproduction. I never got a photo of the corrected reproduction, but would like to assume it was as nicely done as mine was…or the one I accidentally had made for Alfred...
which he should have in reserve for the next time he needs one.
