[R129 SL] R129 Radios [was: Dual Exhaust?]

[Rob Vonderhaar]

Victor,
I never found a way to order the "real" MB mats, but that was almost ten
years ago.  The world of ecommerce has changed many things since then,
so there may be a way to do it today.  It's funny - I had the MB part
number for the key battery cover wtih the hook, and my local dealer was
able to pull it up and order it.  The part didn't show up in any of the
diagrams and he swore it didn't exist, but when he manually keyed in the
part number it popped right up.  But when I tried the same thing with
the mats, they weren't there.  Too bad, because I'd kinda like a new
pair and I'm spoiled.  After living with these, I wouldn't be as happy
with the ones sold by the U.S. MB stealerships.
    Rob

________________________________

From: r129list-bounces at mbcoupes.com
[mailto:r129list-bounces at mbcoupes.com] On Behalf Of Victor R. Lopez
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 10:54 AM
To: SL Mailing List
Subject: Re: [R129 SL] R129 Radios [was: Dual Exhaust?]


Rob 
Your explanation of the subjects is right on the money. I'll check the
contents in the truck. Also Is there any way to order the floor mats you
speak of from a dealer in Europe? 
Thank you very much for your time. 
Victor 

Rob Vonderhaar <rob at robvonder.com> wrote:

	Frank,
	They meant to say "Becker" or "Alpine".  As Peter noted, the
'original' radio varies by country and option selected. At least in the
U.S., all of our R129's had Becker radios through 1994; after that MB
went to Alpine (branded with the Mercedes logo).  Thus, I was amazed
when I walked into the MB dealership in Darmstadt (near Frankfurt) to
see the choice of different radios available as options in Germany. 
	 
	Unrelated: I was also surprised at the parts and accessories
available in Germany that we never saw in the U.S.  Little things - for
example, the battery covers on the RF remote keys in Germany had loops
to put them on a keychain; here they didn't (doesn't sound like a big
deal, but try to avoid losing your key without it!).  An even more
exciting find was that the floor mats sold in Germany for the R129 were
designed with a carpet flap that nicely covers the left footrest (the
spot that always gets the dirtiest) as well as snaps that mate with the
built-in snaps in the carpet so the mats won't slide around.  I never
understood why U.S. dealers didn't offer either of these goodies, but
needless to say my luggage contained two sets of mats and several
battery covers when I came home!  (One dealer here said that our keys
didn't have the loops because Americans carry too many keys, and our
heavy keychains were breaking ignition locks.  So rather than fix the
design of the lock, MB just eliminated the keychain loop!)
	 
	Back to the topic: Most 1995+ models here were equipped with the
Bose system, which used an Alpine radio/cassette head unit feeding Bose
speakers: two in each door plus two small mid/high-range speakers on the
sides just above the rear package shelf, since we don't get the rear
seats on this side of the pond.  Bose also takes over the storage bin
just behind the driver's seat, which is stuffed with a separate Bose amp
and what's supposed to pass for a subwoofer (they call it a 'bass
module' because 'sub' is really pushing it).  A trunk-mounted 6-disk
Alpine CD changer was optional, as was a now-outmoded integrated analog
phone (my '95 SL500 has both).
	 
	Victor, re your problem with the intermittent error message:
Mine does the same thing - I think the message just says something like
"NO CD E-01".  I've found that this always means that something in the
trunk has slightly banged into the sliding cover over the CD cartridge.
Simply sliding the cover open and then firmly shut again usually clears
the problem, but occasionally I have to eject and reinsert the CD
cartridge to clear the error.  (Kind of a dumb design, because the cover
is right where anything in the trunk will hit it when stuff shifts
around back there.)
	 
	    Rob

________________________________

	From: r129list-bounces at mbcoupes.com
[mailto:r129list-bounces at mbcoupes.com] On Behalf Of Frank GLASCOTT
	Sent: Monday, April 02, 2007 3:23 AM
	To: SL Mailing List
	Subject: Re: [R129 SL] Dual Exhaust?
	
	
	Hi Eva. I'm also trying to locate an original radio for my 1992
300SL24 which is otherwise unchanged (and immaculate). I suspect it was
a radio/cassette as the console has the tape storage facility. On a
recent UK visit the helpful people at the new Mercedes World at
Brooklands told me it would most likely have been either a Vecker or an
Alpen unit. Neither means anything to me so if anyone can shed more
light I'd be grateful. Good luck with your search.
	Frank Glascott    France
	The MB Coupes Website!
	R129 SL Mailing List


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