My MUTT, then and now

[toptiger]

I wonder why you used the putty knife {?}. Weren't Moose's 2 suggestions clear enough?????
1. "The AMG body tag on the trans hump is VERY thin, extra coats of paint could easily hide it. if you do find one there, don't sand it to remove the paint or you'll remove the numbers too. use a little paint stripper to clean the tag."
2. "Looking at your pics again i can see the AMG body tag hiding behind the fuel line right ahead of the clamp. if you use a little paint stripper (do not sand) you'll be able to read the number"
I could also see the outline of the tag and was going to warn you that those tags were fragile, thin foil and by using ONLY use paint remover they could be read, but Moose's comments seemed simple enough to follow, so I didn't add the additional warning.
WTF it is yours to do as you please, I suppose, but if it was present you obliterated any chance of accurately reading it and there by dating your vehicle with the knife attack.
It looks like some of the solder is still there from the tags but I think you probably removed it. Too bad.

[platoonboss]

Top Tiger: You posted this photo on 7 Sept 2010 showing a substantial steel plate welded to the frame, certainly not foil and would not be damaged by light scraping


This image was posted 2 days later by gpready and shows the same type of substantial steel plate that actually has deep pitting that does not pass through the metal. Neither are foil nor would they be damaged in any way by easy scraping, so which is it?

[moose53]

even though the tag is gone, the solder marks are still there, and the outline of the tag was there, so there is little doubt about it being an AMG mutt.

Jim

[platoonboss]

Jim,
I agree that there probably was a tag there at some point, but it was certainly not removed by me. It was definitely not within the small smudges of dissolved paint that I wiped off of the putty knife blade. We probably should put this topic to bed.
Thanks again,
Bob.

[moose53]

out of curiosity, what does the dash dataplate say as far as reg#, make etc?

Jim

[platoonboss]

No good. I bought the plate on eBay!

[rickf]

This has come up in the past about the foil tags and I have dealt with them myself. Paint stripper is good to a point but some will dissolve the foil tag. As seen in the pictures some of the tags are more substantial than foil. The ones I saw were VERY thin foil. I do not have a recommendation for what type of stripper to use but I do have a recommendation for removing the stripper. Use only plastic scrapers. This goes for stripper on the main body also. I use an applicator that is used for body plastic. By using the plastic you do not scrape and gouge the metal. The plastic will also conform to the body better.
I have been known to use brake fluid for stripper before.

Rick

[rickf]

Where on the frame rail was that picture taken? That is not the same area as in the first picture. I see a square hole to the right of the stripped area that is not in the picture where Moose pointed out the tag. I also do not see the hole for the line clamp or the grommet for the line. This does not appear to be the same spot.

Rick

[moose53]

Where on the frame rail was that picture taken? That is not the same area as in the first picture. I see a square hole to the right of the stripped area that is not in the picture where Moose pointed out the tag. I also do not see the hole for the line clamp or the grommet for the line. This does not appear to be the same spot.

Rick

The first pic was the firewall Rick, where the budd plate would be, the second pic was the t-hump, where the fruehauf/amg tag would be. it does show the circular marks where the tag would have been soldered on.

Jim

[rickf]

I see the spot welds but that could be anything, That is not the same spot as the first picture that was why I was curious. The square hole is throwing me. I recognized the cowl shot.

Rick

[platoonboss]

I am positive that the tag was already gone before I removed the paint and here's why. Today I took another photo of the area where the tag had been using a real camera rather than my crappy cellphone. In this shot you can clearly see that the spot welds (soldered areas are not round.) still have paint on them. This indicates that the area was painted over AFTER the tag was removed, otherwise there would be traces of the tag remaining. It also indicates that the tag was not made of foil. Ever try to spot-weld foil?

Does anyone have a photo of one of these "foil" tags. If so, what year of MUTT is it on? The two that I re-posted were much more substantial than foil. Also, I suspect that a foil tag would be applied with some sort of adhesive rather than spot welding or soldering. I also suspect that foil tags would have been used later than steel tags as is the trend in production in the United States.

[platoonboss]

Oh, I see what you mean. That's the gas line bracket in shadow. Sorry about that. I took that photo at night, sort of like on the Moon! It's not shown in the photo that I took today.

[rickf]

NOW I see! It is amazing what a shadow will do to a picture. I agree, that tag was metal and gone for a while. I don't have any pictures of the foil one, I am sure someone will post one, But yes they were put on with adhesive. VERY fragile. It is kind of impossible to save one during a restoration, Just take pictures of it and move on. IF you can manage to clean it off without damage then you can put a couple layers of tape over it and soda blast that area around it.

Rick

[rickf]

It's funny, I went back and looked at the old picture again and this time, knowing about the bracket shadow, I could clearly see the bracket.

Rick

[platoonboss]

Trick photography I suppose. Thanks for helping me put this issue to rest.