Headlight type

[tedskeff@icloud.com]

Can anyone give me a definitive answer on my headlight?  Euro or American?  My headlight and body around it seem to be different than any others I've seen.  Top of fender seems to be more rectangular than others I've seen and not as rounded.  Please advise.

[WRe]

Hi,
your headlights look like a /8-US (W114/115) headlight conversion.
...WRe

[cfm65@me.com]

Hi Ted,
Your headlights seems much squarer( if there is such a word) and I agree with WRe, it looks like a 114/115 setup.
I suppose a previous owner had difficulty finding the correct ones.
Regards
Chris

[TheEngineer]

I have such a headlight for sale

[Vander]

What would someone have had to do to modify a W113 fender to fit a W114 headlight?

Can we get more pictures of your car with those headlights? For perspective.

[Norm]

Does this look familiar?

Norm

[MikeSimon]

Wow, Norm! This one has a "Mainz" front plate. I used to live there for a few years.

[Norm]

I am not sure if Ted S owned the car when I took this picture in 2012.  It was at one of my Pagoda Gatherings when I lived in the Houston area.  I remembered the headlights.  I also remember thinking it looked like someone had done a good job of shaping the front fenders to fit the lights and that the owner told me it was like that when he got the car. 

Norm

[114015]

Oh darn...,   
Oh your poor one, Ted....! 

Clearly this is not original, our W113s never had W114 headlights, even not as a prototype.

Surely that body workman shop did a good job - but certainly with lots of filler. 
You'll will recognize that if you take off the headlight (for maintenance) or feel the curving inside the fender where the headlight housing is.

Surprisingly, it doesn't look too odd, surely not worse than on the 114/115s sedan.

Nevertheless, a huge drawback regarding originality...; if I were you, Ted, I'll be starting saving money to getting this converted back to the original shape one day.


Just IMHO...,

Achim

[Benz Dr.]

Oh darn...,   
Oh your poor one, Ted....! 

Clearly this is not original, our W113s never had W114 headlights, even not as a prototype.

Surely that body workman shop did a good job - but certainly with lots of filler. 
You'll will recognize that if you take off the headlight (for maintenance) or feel the curving inside the fender where the headlight housing is.

Surprisingly, it doesn't look too odd, surely not worse than on the 114/115s sedan.

Nevertheless, a huge drawback regarding originality...; if I were you, Ted, I'll be starting saving money to getting this converted back to the original shape one day.


Just IMHO...,

Achim

Uh. Yeah........

[scoot]

if I were you, Ted, I'll be starting saving money to getting this converted back to the original shape one day.

Your car looks too nice to fix.  If it doesn't bug you live with it. 

[JamesL]

It likely didn’t bug him until now

[tedskeff@icloud.com]

Yes, that's me.

[tedskeff@icloud.com]

I was the owner and was at that event.  Still own and drive it regularly today.  Mostly drive between Seabrook and Galveston.

[MikeSimon]

So, Ted, where di you get the MZ - Mainz front plate from?

[mdsalemi]

So, Ted, where di you get the MZ - Mainz front plate from?

There's a number of places on line that will make all kinds of world plates for you.

https://www.customeuropeanplates.com

That's just one...

[MikeSimon]

I am aware of various sources to get "fake" plates. Actually the plate stamping places in Germany now make you any plate configuration you want. I got a few for friends of mine for their German cars, showing personal letters and numbers.
This "Mainz" plate, however, is authentic. It is not a custom made plate and was issued to an original Mainz district car.
In addition, it is from the late 70s,early 80s before they put the blue field with the "D" on the German plates.

[mdsalemi]

I am aware of various sources to get "fake" plates. Actually the plate stamping places in Germany now make you any plate configuration you want. I got a few for friends of mine for their German cars, showing personal letters and numbers.
This "Mainz" plate, however, is authentic. It is not a custom made plate and was issued to an original Mainz district car.
In addition, it is from the late 70s,early 80s before they put the blue field with the "D" on the German plates.

Maybe you should travel to Germany and source something authentic at a junkyard? Or, maybe scour the dark web, or eBay.de for same? Surely there is some market for old plates in Germany, even if not precisely legal. There are a few vintage authentic German plates for sale now on eBay in the USA. None apparently from Mainz, but keep looking. Maybe on eBay.de?

If you look carefully at that plate in the photo, and then again, at that one vendor's selections, you can see that they'll make that plate for you, yes, without the blue field and D. They have old, new, registration labels, etc. Is it authentic? No. Is it authentic looking? Most would say yes. I had some Germans looking very carefully at my plate and commenting on how exacting it was made. I just wanted mine to answer the two questions I always received about the car when taking it anywhere: what year is it, and what model is it? So my ersatz German plate says 1969 280SL.

[MikeSimon]

I am not looking for a plate. I have the original plates that were issued to the car in 1982 still on them. I was just curious where he got the MZ plate as I lived there for a while.