Original dealership key chain

[rwmastel]

Here's a picture of the dealership window sticker in my hardtop with the key chain I just got from Italy via eBay.  Nava dealership in Bergamo.  Best key chain ever!

[mclewis]

That is very cool!

[rwmastel]

The stylized NAVA is the same on the sticker and key chain, so they must be somewhat contemporary.  I believe NAVA was consumed by a large dealer network a couple decades ago.

[Jack the Knife]

That's pretty nifty. We should have a keychain thread...

[rwmastel]

I bet very few people know the origional selling dealership for their Pagoda.  I'm lucky this window sticker survived.

A dedicated key chain thread might be fun, specially if people have some neat ones from the '60s.

[MikeSimon]

I bet very few people know the origional selling dealership for their Pagoda.  I'm lucky this window sticker survived.

I do. I have the original German title showing ALL owners before me and the selling dealership was the "Niederlassung Frankfurt". The Daimler Benz subsidiary, back when they were still around doing retail.

[mdsalemi]

I bet very few people know the origional selling dealership for their Pagoda.  I'm lucky this window sticker survived.

A dedicated key chain thread might be fun, specially if people have some neat ones from the '60s.

The window sticker is very cool. Checking google earth, doesn't look like any car dealer is there at that location today.

[zoegrlh]

As Mike stated, I too have original German title brief (Kraftfahrzeugbrief) showing original delivery town and all ownership. Now as for the key chain, I have the original selling dealer key chain, retired it to the NOS MB floppy. This floppy might still be available thru MB Classic Center.

[zoegrlh]

Original dealer key chain.

[zoegrlh]

MB Floppy, was given by US dealers to their customers.

[mdsalemi]

Original dealer key chain.

At the time your car was new, the US Military had a massive presence in West Germany as part of the NATO forces protecting the west from the Cold War foes to the east. As such, there were certain dealers in places like Heidelberg (a big center of US Military activity) where local car dealers specialized in ordering cars for US military personnel with USA specifications. I suspect that the dealer that gave that keychain as part of the transaction was one of those dealers.

My late Aunt Rose went over as a civilian working for the State Department and then the US Army as a housing specialist during the Marshall Plan, always thinking it was a temporary gig. She always ordered her cars to USA specs, always thinking she was "coming home" to the USA. Well, many decades later at the age of 86 she finally retired in 2003. Not one of her cars save for the last one (A 300D) ever made it back to the USA!

[zoegrlh]

Michael, no, there were no “dealer” selling MBs with US specs. Only MB. The cars they were selling were Euro versions that would be converted to US specs upon arrival in US. These were called Grey Market Dealers.    I worked for USAREUR in Heidelberg during the 1980s and the grey market was furious. But then DOT put an end to that. During the grey market era MB (Daimler) was only source to purchase  new factory installed US specs Benz.  There were no independent MB dealers. All MB shops/showrooms/stores were factory outlets, not independent outlets. My Pagoda was imported to US by one of the grey market dealers. Also those dealers did not have to have the car in their possession, they only brokered them for German owners. Germans could make more money having their car brokered to an American to import to US.

[MikeSimon]

Being German, born and raised over there, I dare to say that Michael is correct. The cars that were ordered by the U.S. military were US spec cars and had US military license plates. At one time, the color of the plate changed every year. When Germany had an issue with the RAF terrorists, the US military plates were changed to white with black letters in order to blend in with the regular German plates and not provide so much of a visual target for attacks against US military personnel.

[zoegrlh]

Mike, yes you are correct, but a lot of the military ownerships of the German cars used while serving in Germany, were European specs used cars, from the market that had the US Military Europe license plates. Most of the MBs US Specs cars were ordered from Daimler to export to US when the soldiers would rotate out of the European theater. If a soldier did not ship an auto to Germany, he/she would purchase a used car off the market (these were the independent dealers/brokers).  You know I always thought I was a target for terrorist with the American looking license plates. Plates did change to look more in line with German plates.

[mdsalemi]

Being German, born and raised over there, I dare to say that Michael is correct. The cars that were ordered by the U.S. military were US spec cars and had US military license plates. At one time, the color of the plate changed every year. When Germany had an issue with the RAF terrorists, the US military plates were changed to white with black letters in order to blend in with the regular German plates and not provide so much of a visual target for attacks against US military personnel.

Absolutely. My Aunt's cars always had US Military plates, always had a USA sticker in the back. In 1985, I took a trip with her to Hungary, at that time a communist country behind "the iron curtain". She left her red "Official Passport" in her purse, pulled out her green "normal" passport, we dropped her car at the airport in Vienna and picked up an Austrian rental car to drive into Hungary. The US Military plates not allowed or welcome in Hungary at that time.

[mdsalemi]

Michael, no, there were no “dealer” selling MBs with US specs. Only MB.

Um, sorry no. My aunt also worked for USAREUR and she most definitely purchased cars with US specs. They were not "converted" cars but regular cars with US specifications. That obviously limited her choice set as many of the most interesting European cars were never made for the US Market.

The very last car she purchased--knowing full well that retirement was coming at some point soon--was a Mercedes 300D Turbo. Of all the cars she bought over the years (she was there continually from the early 1950s) while stationed in Italy, Germany and the Netherlands, this was the ONLY car to ever come back with her.  What was interesting about this purchase (she never had purchased a Mercedes prior) was that this model--the 300D Turbo--was the only Mercedes available at that time in US spec under the military purchase program. Diesel was not her first choice, as she knew it wasn't as popular in the USA due to price of fuel and irregularity of supply. But since she wanted her retirement car to be a Mercedes, this was her only option.

[MikeSimon]

Both scenarios are correct. As a U.S. military member you had the option to buy a new car with U.S. specs or German specs (it did not have to have U.S. specs to be registered by the U.S. forces) or you could buy a used car on the open market. I actually sold a used car to a U.S. soldier. The car had to go through a technical inspection by a U.S. inspector before the buyer could register it.
At one time, EPA issued a rule that non-complying foreign cars could be imported into the country. This was done so the US military personnel could bring a car with non US specs they bought overseas into the U.S. That rule could be used once only per person.

[rwmastel]

Original dealer key chain.

That's a neat one!  I've not seen many classic key chains, is this pocket style common or uncommon?