Thanks James.
This won't solve anything, but for reference, I used James Taylor's "Factory - Original Mercedes SL the originality guide to Mercedes-Benz SL & SLC models, 1963 - 2003" published in 2012.
The problem is on page 24 they show a picture of a 230 SL with the horizontal spare and the decal (red) on the left side of the latch. Then on page 45 they show a 280 SL with the decal (red) on the right side of the latch.
What is correct? I'm sure I don't know but the right side makes more sense because my trunk light activation button is on the left side and leaves a "dent" on the decal. You can see the mark left on the picture I posted earlier. Then of course there is blue vs. red which is anybody's guess which is correct for which model, year, destination, etc.
To muddy the water even more, the picture that Bob Geco provided for reference when I purchased the label has the blue label on the left side, but when I looked closer, the verticle spare, on what must have been an early 230, was on the right side. That leads me to believe the picture was somehow reversed since I am not aware of the vertical spare ever being on the right side.
In the end, whichever is correct I can still sleep at night!
But I am sure any support you can provide will be appreciated by all.
Norm