akbro93704

This is an off the wall,weird,trivial question, but I noticed that the sticker(daimler signature) on the windshield of my mom's 2000 E320 says "a Mercedes-Benz product", but my dad's 2003 ML55 says "a Daimler-Benz" product. I figured that it was because my dad's was manufactured almost three years after my mom's, and they just changed the sticker, but on my grandpa's '04 E320 ,the design of the sticker is different, but it says "a Mercedes-Benz product" also. I know Mercedes Benz and Daimler Benz are both the same companies, but I thought it was kind of weird...
PS-sorry for using "mom", "dad", and "grandpa"..I know some people would prefer if we talked about our own car's, but I dont have one yet :p

MB AMG

Good question.

Childish///AMG

Ah, how "Refreshing" honesty is

amb9800

Interesting. I say that because no ML had the "Mercedes-Benz product" decal on it from the factory due to the fact that it's made in the US and so is technically produced by MBUSI (Mercedes-Benz US International), rather than Mercedes-Benz corporate in Germany or Austria...

But if the ML had a sticker, it would say "Mercedes-Benz," not "Daimler-Benz." MB made the switch from the Daimler decal to the Mercedes one some time in the late '80's. (our '91 300E's decal said Mercedes-Benz)

So it looks like someone went out and got a decal to put on your ML (you didn't buy it new, right?) and accidentally got the Daimler-Benz one instead of the Mercedes-Benz one.

You can pick one up on eBay for almost nothing (<$2.00 shipped) - we got one for our ML last year. Here are some links for both styles:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...&category=6755

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...&category=6755

Below is a pic of one installed on an ML (if I recall, this was JimB's, but I may be wrong).

Anyway, hope this helps Oh also, I think the signature says G. (for Gottlieb) Daimler, though it does definitely look like a Y...

akbro93704

thanks for the info.! actually, the car was new, but it was driven for about 3,000 miles by the owner of the dealership(one of my relatives) so I guess you could call it an "executive demo". It wasn't considered a pre-owned car. Ya, I guess the dealer must have put the sticker on it, although it seems kind of odd that they would.....but I think I'm just going to keep the sticker I have....I attached a pic just to show you.... again, thanks for your info. and taking the time to look them up on ebay!
PS-ya, it is a 'g' now that you mentioned it!does look like a 'y'

pilot20

I have a different theory about this. The MBs I had prior to the Chrysler merger said "a Daimler Benz product". After the merger they became "Daimler Chrysler" but who wants the Chrysler name on an 80 K car? SO they changed it to "a Mercedes Benz product". Now several years later I noticed that that my S just says "Mercedes". Don't understand what prompted this most recent change.

In any case the sticker on the ML may have been changed (replaced windshield?).

The "Daimler Benz" name had a certain elegance to it that current iterations lack (IMO).

revstriker

Just a guess but....

Could the fact that the ML is an AMG tuned vehicle have anything to do with it? Does anyone know if the AMG MLs are also assembled in the USA?

I do agree with pilot20 theory though. The company "Daimler-Benz" doesn't exist anymore, so it would make sense if they stopped using that name and replaced it with the line/product name of "Mercedes-Benz".

amb9800

They didn't, though. As I said above, the switch from the "Daimler-Benz" decal to the "Mercedes-Benz" decal was made some time in the '80's, I presume the late '80's. Our 190E (if I recall, it was a 1985 or 1986 model) had the Daimler-Benz decal, while our '91 300E had the Mercedes-Benz decal. Similarly, you'll see that all Mercedes models from the '90's have the Mercedes-Benz, not Daimler-Benz, decal, while older models have the latter.

As I have said above, not a single ML came out of the Tuscaloosa, Alabama factory wearing any such decal, so the one in akbro's ML55 was clearly added on afterwards -- and it happens to be that the older-style decal was applied.

It'd be interesting to see if the Austrian-made ML's had them (RHD, European, and Diesel models were made by Magna-Steyr in Austria for a while -- until '02 I believe), but I know for a fact (you can consult other sources as well) that no US-made ML's had a windshield decal.

Yes, the ML55's were (discontinued after MY2003) produced by MBUSI in the same factory as the non-AMG models.

pilot20

That's weird. I had a '94 C class with the "Daimler-Benz" decal.

raymond g-

Any of these 'odd' decals can simply be explained through installation of NOS windshields?

mick1

my 2005 C320wz got this sticker:

amb9800

Yeah that's the newest style sticker - saw it on an E320 CDI and an SLK350.