Tweny year-old Questions

[DavidAPease]

Hi, all,

I was recently cleaning up some files from an old computer when I came across the draft of my first post to Rodd Masteller's original Yahoo Group (the forerunner and inspiration to this club).  It was in March of 2001, and I introduced myself and my car, including some  information that I later found to be incorrect.     I was a real newbie to Pagodas, and there were not as many online resources as there are today.

In that post, I attached two photos, and asked for answers/guesses as to what the purpose of the items in the photos was.  I should say that my 1966 230SL was originally delivered in Paris, and spent it first 3 decades in France and Monaco; it came with yellow headlight bulbs and amber reverse lenses.  I believe that the two items are related to the fact that the car is French.

There were guesses, but no definitive answers.  We now have a much larger and more international groups, and I'm curious as to whether I might get definitive answers to those two questions 20 years later.   

The photo below shows a cylindrical plastic object near the battery that (IIRC) was connect inline with the battery ground, with a sort of knob on top; turning the knob did not appear to do anything.  (My mechanic long ago disconnected it, so I can't be sure how it was connected.)  It has some French printing embossed on top that I believe I have deciphered to the point where I know what it is for, but am not certain.  I recently saw a photo of Pawell's battery that looked like it might have a similar device near it (though it was very different looking); this piqued my curiosity anew.

The second photo showed a clearly factor-installed knob (that matches the other dash knobs) just below the left side of the dash, above the hood release lever.  This knob pulls out and pushes in, but again appears to do nothing.  There was a guess as to what it did, but nothing definite.  (There was a post recently from someone (in the Netherlands?) who'd just gotten a French car; I believe that I saw the same knob in his photos.)

If we don't get definitive answers this time around, I'll share our best guesses.

      Thanks for any thoughts!
       
              -David

[66andBlue]

Hi David,
can't help with the parts in your photo but the switch you mentioned in that previous second photo (can you post it again?) could have been a hazard flasher switch similar to Achim's:
https://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=28309

[neelyrc]

.......In that post, I attached two photos, and asked for answers/guesses as to what the purpose of the items in the photos was.  I should say that my 1966 230SL was originally delivered in Paris, and spent it first 3 decades in France and Monaco; it came with yellow headlight bulbs and amber reverse lenses.  I believe that the two items are related to the fact that the car is French......

When I moved to Paris in 1981, I brought with me an Italian spec 3 series BMW which I had just bought a year earlier. Among the things I had to do to register it in France was switch to the yellow headlights which were still required for new French cars at the time.  I think you can be fairly sure that the bulbs and lenses found on your car were there because it was a French delivery. 

Might you have a code 610 on your data card??

[Pawel66]

The device DavidAPease is referring to in my car is just a main ground cut-off switch and it looks the way it looks because I was looking for the least plastic one. I am trying to figure out what that plastic device from the photo can be. If it was connected to ground, in-line, between battery and chassis, well it might have acted as some kind of switch or regulator...

What is the writing you managed to decode on it?

[DavidAPease]

Hi, Alfred and Pawel,

I'm sorry to have let this thread go dormant for so long -- I was away from the car and couldn't get the information I needed to respond.

Alfred: a new photo of the switch is below -- I'm sure it is not an emergency flasher.  However, I am considering mounting mine (when I get it done) there.

Pawel: The printing on the outside area of the top of the plastic device, which is white-on-white and hard to read, appears to say (capitalization is copied from the device):

   SECURITE FEU ACCIDENT POUR REARMER TOURNER LE BOUTON D'UN TOUR COMPLET  Fab. SAMA

The red cap seems to say:

   SFAL --> B''SGDG -->
   
(the '' in the above line may be some very small superscript letters, but I can't tell)

I think the writing pretty much tells us what it is, but I wondered if anyone else had ever seen such a thing?

          Thanks

                -David

[GM]

Translating the French (thanks, Google) -
SECURITE FEU ACCIDENT POUR REARMER TOURNER LE BOUTON D'UN TOUR COMPLET  Fab. SAMA:
ACCIDENT FIRE SAFETY TO RESET TURN THE KNOB ONE FULL TURN  Fab. SAMA
From the "Fab." I would guess that SAMA is the company that made it

[FGN59]

Nothing wrong to this translation, but it's not clear to me, either from the original French or from the translation, what this device is supposed to do, how, why and when...

For the curious amongst you, SGDG stands for "SANS GARANTIE DU GOUVERNEMENT", and the B probably stands for "BREVETÉ" (PATENTED). I don't know if it was an old custom or a legal requirement to add this mention after the word ´patented ' but I guess it shows the French state, which ran the patent office (and probably still does), didn't feel very comfortable with technology or with its own work, as il means "WITHOUT ANY GUARANTEE FROM THE GOVERNMENT". It isn't done anymore (I supppose that's globalization working for you, if you are French at least).

I guess we were more comfortable issuing cooking recipes (still not guaranteed)...

[Tyler S]

Some sort of early inertia switch. Triumph, Citroen, Jaguar, etc all had inertia switches installed for the French market back in the day. Though they cut the fuel pump instead of the entire electrical system.
Because of the Pagodas mechanical injection system, possibly not knowing there was still an electric fuel pump, this was installed to satisfy some sort of territorial requirement.