There has been much discussion of this subject this week here in San Diego. The consensus so far is that Alpina has done a fantastic job reproducing the ENTIRE set (1-5 of data cards that was generated for our cars.
However, 114015 is correct that the car buyer didn't receive all all 5 cards. Most likely the 3 cards as he states.
Card 1 - full card for owners files
Card 2 - card with key codes blanked to be kept with car for ordering parts at dealer.
Card 5?- pink card (non rounded edge card) which is that old style carbon copy card stock). Also note that the pink cards are not double sided. They also didn't have extra printing on edges and star logo.
The other cards in theory were suppose to go to MB for recording keeping or internal purposes.
Other members here also believe that the above MB system was not always followed correctly by dealship personel and that's why that some of us received extra or different numbered cards.
And yes. There are many versions of the card. Even font changes. I have seen two original 230 cards that have an earlier font style as well as the later font style used on 280 cards.
Well... That's the theory so far anyway 🤣
I want to add a few comments. As I indicated in reply 10 above I did receive 5 data cards with my car. My car was a European Tourist delivery, code 707. That being the case, the number of cards that I received may not be the same as for cars delivered through a dealer. There were however a significant number of Tourist deliveries. A note in our Technical Manual indicates that in 1964 about 38% of sales or over 4000 cars were Tourist deliveries. This was apparently the highest year.
In addition to cards 1 and 2, I also received a card 3. Card 3 is printed on the same beige Hummel card stock as card 1 and 2. It does not include the large embossed MB star. Also, the box in the lower right hand corner is empty. The back of this card is completely blank.
The other two cards I received were pink. They do not have rounded corners, the box in the lower right hand corner is empty and the back of the cards are blank. These cards do not have the vertical printing in the left margin but there is some printing below the border near the left margin. The characters are only partially visible as if chopped off. The printing on the card is of a lesser quality than that on the beige cards.
I also have a copy of a card 4 which I obtained from the Classic Center by email a few years ago. It appears to be the same as card 3 except it is imprinted with the number 4. It contains vertical printing in the left margin and printing below the border near the left margin.
The vertical printing on the left end of the cards and the printing at the bottom of the cards below the border varies from card to card.
I intended to attach images of all these cards here however I was unable to find card 2 in my files today. If I turn it up I will post later. The others are included here.
