Another mystery button

[floyd111]

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/scheunenfund-mercedes-450se-w116-oldtimer-historie-2-besitz/764574976-216-7336

Not seen this type of console button before. Any ideas?
Interesting car, I think. Who buys a 450 with a sunroof -in Germany, but manual window lifters and no (further visible) options?
Like the interior..

[karmann_20v]

Car has hydro suspension too.

Interior is not cloth, it's velour. As for the velour vs leather, I would prefer velour. Not sure if these materials were similarly priced options options (or standard in some markets) on the 450SE/SEL 116, but on the 126 coupes they seemed to be the buyer's choice none of them adding extra cost. Now on the lower models, such as the 280s and 380s where cloth was standard, velour and leather were both available as adders.

[UTn_boy]

I didn't see any strange console buttons.  All I see is a seat heater switch for the passenger seat, a fader potentiometer for the radio system, and a stick on temperature gauge that has cloudy plastic over it.  What were you referring to, Stan? 

[tcj]

Car has hydro suspension too.

no hydro suspension but self levelling rear axle.

[floyd111]

white, square, next to the SOS button

[tcj]

its an aftermarket temperature gauge, not specific to cars, just glued in place.

[adamb]

This model is a good example of poverty spec'ing. Odd selection of options but it just reminds us that almost any model could have been had with as many or as few extras as you were prepared to pay for. Even the 6.9 - mine came with a single wing mirror and a friend's 6.9 has no sunroof.

[UTn_boy]

white, square, next to the SOS button

As TJC and I both stated, it's a stick on temperature gauge to read in car temperatures.  It's simply stuck on with double sided sticky tape.  Mercedes dealerships sold these 3rd party, and many of these temperature gauges had a Mercedes star in/on them somewhere.  However, they were not a Mercedes item.  Only a third party aftermarket item.  Much like a key chain of the era.  Mercedes star on them, but not anything ever offered by Mercedes Proper. 

[floyd111]

I guess that depends on what you call aftermarket.
These are built for MB, and given to good clients by MB dealers

[floyd111]

These are the only 2 I know of, pre-1979

[UTn_boy]

Stan, you're not understanding what I said.  Again, just because there is a Mercedes star on them doesn't mean they were offered by Mercedes.  These were sold/given ONLY by dealerships who sourced them from third party companies.  Past the fact that these were meant to be on the inside of a Mercedes, they were not made specifically for Mercedes.  There were many companies that made these, and because of that there are many styles/looks........certainly more than two.  In a concourse judging, points are taken off for items such as these simply because they're not a Mercedes item.  They may be period correct, but they're still not something that was offered by Mercedes Proper. 

[floyd111]

Naturally, there were loads of copycats, made by who-knows, with MB stars all over.
Nobody wants those.

The fact that MB sources items from third parties is no reason for dismissal. Remember the mid console outside temp story?
Pure aftermarket VDO, not even an MB number on them. Installed by MB, no option code.
MB-Give-away nail sets and sewing sets, made by Goldpfeil, the same company that does their suitcases..
What they have in common is that they are stamped "MB-Goldpfeil."
Hella alarm lamp, not available with MB star during the W116 era, but received a star during W126.
I can make this list a lot longer.

The 2 meters I showed here are absolutely genuine Mercedes-Benz products, section "Give-away items."
Quite sure that not everyone's aware in detail how MB -dealer gifts progressed from the early 1910 items, all the way up to the last generation in the very early 80's. It is not rocket science, though.

For one, MB issues the same gifts for dealers around the world. It's not a local thing. What may vary at times is ceramics-producers, when it's about coffee/tea sets or glass items. They would still be the same model and same packing, though.
One has to exclude all the MB dealer-produced give-away items. In the USA, for every 1 MB-issue gift item there are an easy 1000 dealer-productions handed out. Telling one from the other could end up real difficult, by lack of genuine examples.
In Europe, it has been a very different scenario historically. Maybe they are all fanatical about Genuine MB, or dealer productions are simply a lot more costly to produce over there..
Whatever the reason, Genuine MB gifts have always been the standard, and until recently, many of those items were still available online, on and off.
From that angle, telling Genuine from dealer-produced has always been super easy.

How to tell one from the other? That is the trick.
Packing material patterns appear and disappear every so many years. These are simply part of  a part of a corporate re-vamping and these changes happen instantly, globally at the push of a button in Bavaria in all their official houses around the world.
The MB give-away items follow that change, together with the packing materials of fe. Mercedes-issued calender's, the MB Museum  folders and booklets, but more clearly, the annual Mercedes-Benz Gesellschaffts Corporate Annals book cover (up to 1965)

Bought a nearly blind lot of some MB calendars from a private auction site a month ago for 55 euros. Was shocked when they billed me for 135 euros in total with shipping included. Turns out these were 7 high gloss, oversize calendars from 1965 to 1977. Not only were they MB-issued, but they were still each in their original wafer-thin protected wrapping. Those massive wrappers were printed in the corporate style of the annum. It allowed a detailed look into the changes in corporate imaging, year by year, and allowed to properly match up MB's give-away present from back when.

Back to the boxes..
2 weeks ago, a give-away packing box became available on ebay. Just a small cardboard box, from the same generation as those 2 meters I showed here. The box USED to contain 9 little Wiking-MB cars, but no more. The box itself was nearly brand new condition.
It was a bidding massacre, ending at 476 euro -for an empty box.

Mercedes, ever since 1951 or so, has always kept the German Wiking company as their primary partner to do sets of model cars.
They had a short cooperation with Tekno in Denmark as well, but for single models-per-box.
Again. the international corporate packaging matches up here as well.
There are no other cooperating brands

When you start digging for Wiking data in Germany, you will find so much exact data going back to the beginning of time, it's make your head spin. Not only are there millions and millions of club members, but there are forums, and chat rooms and online catalogs Wiking auction sites, almanacs, historical pay sites and much more.
I went through much of it and again found unmistakable confirmation about the MB issued box sets -and their insane value-, vs. the Wiking-issued MB car sets. Sometimes identical era, sometimes older, but never in the same corporate box as MB-issued items

Indeed, if any car add-on not an official car option, that could be a valid point for a concourse judge to take off points.
But, if such a negative score were to happen because that judge can't tell an aftermarket gadget from and MB-issued, era-correct gadget, that would surely be a mistake.

What would be the situation for an item like the Hella Alarm lamp in the boot, I wonder?

[UTn_boy]

No, Stan.  Again, you're not accepting the facts.  The two meters are not genuine Mercedes items.  They were accessories sold by dealerships that were sourced from aftermarket companies that had Mercedes's permission to use the star on them....I don't know how else to explain these facts any further.  Believe as you wish, but what you're saying is not correct at all.  Using the VDO temperature gauge is a poor comparison, as they were offered by Mercedes from the factory (on special request) and there was a three digit option code.  However, the option code wasn't used until 1976-1977.  Models before that time weren't available with the VDO gauge. 

Another point you're wrong on is the accessories being the same world wide.  First of all, Mercedes did not send items such as the stick on temperature gauges to dealerships.  Dealerships sourced these locally by manufacturers that had all of the permissions to make them.  Each manufacturer made different style gauges, and ones made in Europe weren't shipped to the U.S. or vice versa.  Each region had a somewhat local manufacturer of these temperature gauges.  Mercedes supplied a list of manufacturers that made these gauges to dealerships, and it was up to the dealerships to place orders.  Mercedes did not send them out to dealerships. Consequently, not all of them were the same.  In fact, west coast and east coast cars in the U.S. always have very different style accessories made by manufacturers on both sides of the country.   

Things like calendars and model cars were always issued by Mercedes at some point, and the boot stored Hella emergency light would be acceptable in judging.  All of these items were issued/offered by Mercedes proper, and all had a part number issued by Mercedes proper.  The in car temperature gauges you're harping about do not fall into this category.  They were in a display case or gifted to customers as mere accessories not in any way affiliated with Mercedes proper past the trademark logo. 

[floyd111]

Just a note, before proceeding. My claim is restricted to the era before the mid 70's, 1979 at best.
It is possible that the 79's Mercedes-Cursor model collection was still part of that old era, but I am yet to get confirmation on whether that was the case or not. That collection was the last series items that bore the corporate colors on products actually made for MB made by third parties. Come 1980 it was over for sure. No more color differentiation between dealer-produced, dealer-ordered, MB ordered items.

Another point you're wrong on is the accessories being the same world wide.  First of all, Mercedes did not send items such as the stick on temperature gauges to dealerships.  Dealerships sourced these locally by manufacturers that had all of the permissions to make them.  Each manufacturer made different style gauges, and ones made in Europe weren't shipped to the U.S. or vice versa.  Each region had a somewhat local manufacturer of these temperature gauges.  Mercedes supplied a list of manufacturers that made these gauges to dealerships, and it was up to the dealerships to place orders.  Mercedes did not send them out to dealerships. Consequently, not all of them were the same.  In fact, west coast and east coast cars in the U.S. always have very different style accessories made by manufacturers on both sides of the country.   

You have just perfectly described what I already described as the USA reality of dealer-produced give-away gifts. However, none of those dealer-ordered productions came in the ever changing Bavaria-controlled corporate colors.
I have never in all these years seen a single example of an american made item in a corporate box, and I think I have one of the biggest collections anywhere. But, not a single USA item. If your theory would be right, these products would exist. If Bavaria even had cared a little about what US dealers want to produce and give away, they would at least have made the corporate box prints available to them. That also never happened, and on that note, compare that with this next group:

The biggest section of MB gift items are lighters. We have Robson in France, we have KAAWEE, Rowenta and IBELO in Germany, and I own one of each model they produced for corporate MB gifts over the last 65 or so years. All of them share the same corporate boxes, depending on their era. These lighters were not ordered by dealers at Kaawee or Robson, depending on your country. They came from HQ. All of Europe was getting Robson one year, and Kaawee the next. The corporate prints were kept under full control by Bavaria. Lighters came with little manuals in multi-language.

So, where are the corporate Zippo's?
Sure, there are thousands of them in all shapes and colors and ages but, where are the Zippo's in Bavaria's corporate box?
They don't exist.

Aaron, you are taking the US reality, and you're projecting it globally. You are a highly knowledgeable and meticulous man, but here you are in error, I am afraid.

I might have made a similar mistake, in mirror form here.  I presumed global as well, based on Europe's reality. The absolute scarcity of these corporate items in the USA makes it possible that they were never were sent to the USA.  I know they were all over European countries and I can still find them there. One pops up somewhere in Europe every month. The handful of corporate boxes that I found in the USA nearly 3 years ago were quickly bought and there has been not a single new item pop up for ages. But, why would MB decide to exclude US dealers from this program? Fully tax-deductible for everyone.
No corporate gifts from Germany for Gullwing buyers in the States? Weird, but maybe.
I been told that it may be because of the materialistic throw-away culture in America (your goods are always super cheap vs Europe) people simply tossed their gifts by the thousands, and In Europe, people cherished them more. I dunno.
Also been told that Benz Automobilia isn't that hot a thing in the States. I also dunno.
In all cases I can't simply presume all of this stuff was sent out globally.
In conclusion:

Thousands of third party items bearing the star with permission, but none ever to bear the corporate colors of the year. Not the same category.

Never a single USA-made product in a corporate box. The closest thing to an exception is a Parker pen in 1979, and Parker had its factory in the UK. We have Robson in France, having been asked to supply 1 lighter, we have Tekno in Danmark, for a 1-off classy model collection. We also have a Dupont pen from France. Besides those 4 exceptions, all of the numerous corporate give-away presents were made by companies in West-Germany before 1979.

Therefore this was not part of some local sourcing suppliers-for-dealers system, for if MB was linking dealers to third parties, that group was dealing with a different range of products and denied the corporate packing. Not the same product line.
There are also no examples or cases to be made or found in Europe that would subscribe to the existence or logic of such a system.

That brings us full circle to these 2 thermometers again. Bavaria-ordered, handed out by dealers to clients, and the only 2 meters ever to appear in a corporate box. . You can google these for years to come. You will not find a third version in a corporate box. A concourse judge should allow them in an era correct car, me thinks. Question remains maybe whether it should be an Euro-spec Benz, maybe.