Two cars. One a Saloon, one a Cabriolet were sold to South America. However, to two locations very far away from each other. Still their chassis numbers are consecutive. The two numbers #410203 and #410203 somehow have melted together in the car depicted above. But how? Or should we say why?
Malcolm Forest from Brasil is asking your carsleuth assistance and let's help him after the very painfull experience against Germany a few hours ago...: "I bought this Mercedes-Benz in Rio de Janeiro in 1993. It was in the south of Brazil, the city of Crisciuma with the license plate number 6-38-46. The owner was a young man named João Carlos de Camargo e Castro, in 1968. Papers that came with the car show it was previously owned by a Mr. João Paz de Medeiros. In 1969 it was bought by a James Neil Scott Chalmers who took it to Rio de Janeiro. What car is it? Or better, which coachbuilder made this convertible body? I have consulted many friends plus the Mercedes-Benz archives in Stuttgart and the information I got is that the car is a model 230, Spezial Cabriolet A. The year being 1938. The number stamped on the car chassis, reads 410203. On the car registration, however, the VIN chassis number is 410204 (?). The factory records have this to say about each of these numbers:
#410203: a Four Door Limousine sold to Lima, Peru on November 1, 1938. Bill of sale number 261 310
#410204: a Cabriolet A with a Mercedes-Benz body by Sindelfingen sold to the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil on November 4, 1938. Bill of sale number 270 097.
So the description that more closely matches the real car is that on the registration (#410204) and not the one actually stamped on the chassis (#410203). Now, Lima and Porto Alegre are far apart and the Chilean Andean mountain range sits between the country of Peru and Brazil! So it is very unlikely that the body of one of these two chassis was put on the other chassis later in life… Could it have been a mistake on the Mercedes-Benz factory records? (Editor: we very much doubt that) But the big question is: “Which coachwork is this?” Not the Cabriolet A delivered with chassis #410204. Some friends in Brazil and Europe have ventured “Castagna”, "Erdmann & Rossi”, “Labourdette” and ”Duval”.
Editor: we can think up all kinds of forgery to make the story plausible. But in that case why choosing this closest number?