NSW Historic Plate Adapter

It was just announced that the NSW 60 day logbook ‘trial’ has been made permanent.   This is great news as its a really good system.  The two minor drawbacks – the amount of paperwork and the size of the plates.   The plates are tiny and really ugly.  They are so small that they don’t line up with the mounting holes of nearly any car.   The neatest way of mounting them is to use an adaptor.

On the 250SE and Traction Avant, I made adapter plates out of sheet aluminium.   I’ve never been 100% happy with them.  On the 450SLC, I bought a blank novelty plate in black.    I think the novelty plate company was a bit surprised to sell one blank.   It made a great NSW Historic Plate Adapter.

Recently, I noticed that a friend from the Mercedes Club had bought a blank German number plate to make his adapter.  It looked good on his C123.    The EU style plates are wide, so he also attached a grille badge.   I thought I would try something similar for the 560SEC.  I also didn’t think  black would look all that good with the Nautical Blue W126.   As it happens, I had accumulated a couple of grille badges over the years I could use.

The blank European plates available on eBay come with the little stickers for the city the car is registered.   I asked for something near the factory so they sent me Esslingen.  The factory is in Unterturkheim.   It is about half way between Esslingen and Stuttgart.    For the rear, I had a European Delivery Program badge.    This car isn’t really European delivery car, but it is a private import from the UK.

For the front, I used an older Mercedes-Benz Club NSW badge.   I have mounted the plate on the original adapter.   The original adapter has provision for the exterior sensor probe.   It makes the plate stick out a bit – I may find another way to mount the temperature probe to my plate and then I can remove the original adapter.

These blank German plates make a great NSW historic plate adapter.  I’m happy with the end result.   The cost is only a little more than the other solution, although if I did it again I would have to buy the grille badges as I have no more lying around.    For comparison, a picture of the SLC solution is below.   I think the smaller plate in black looks better on the C107.

Last time I did this job, I used a hand drill.   I now own a drill press which makes it so much easier.   A drill press makes lining up the holes properly much easier.

Update: 7/10/19:  I ended up removing the factory backing plate and attaching the temperature probe to the new plate.   Looks much better.