Saturday, March 23, 2013

More manufacturing : Reproducing Marelli S125 BX Tags

The devil is in the details and one of these is the ID tag that is riveted to the distributor. On the Dino it is a prominent feature that is clearly visible when the engine bonnet is opened. On most cars the original print is fully worn away. There are reproductions available but none are done to a high standard nor do they have the correct text which is applies to 206 and early L and M series Dino's.

Wanting to get things right we embarked on the project to perfectly reproduce the tags as original. While we were at it the decision was taken to make both the earlier and later versions as these are the ones that are not available anywhere. As always artwork took many hours and we want to offer a special thanks to our Marelli expert Adrian who assisted greatly along the way. In addition we worked with a specialist printer who used an ultra durable epoxy to achieve the most weather resistant print that we could.

So you own an early Dino and want to know which is correct for my car? Well that answer is not easy as there is no clear data to support which tag is correct for which car. As a generalization all L series Dino's and very early M series cars would have the tag that is mainly red. Chassis # 01150 from the sales brochure has the red tag and represents the latest car we have hard data on.

The silver tag should carry through the M series production through to the E series in late 1971. That said we have period images showing silver tags with the S125 BX print going as late as June 1974. The earliest car we have on record with a silver tag would be 01240. Our car 01464 had the silver label for sure as confirmed by Adrian.

These tags are available for sale at the Dino246.com store





7 comments:

  1. Ok, so I ordered the proper silver background tag. Now the question is what is supposed to go in that blank field on the tag? My original tag, which is just a piece of aluminum, appears to have a couple of stamped things on it, but not in that field.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for the order Ron. The blank field has totally different stampings from one distributor to another. Ours had '9D' in the blank field and I have only ever seen stampings in the blank field area. Note that when installed the tag has the arrow pointing towards the BACK of the car. If you think your stampings are in the wrong place you may be looking at the tag upside down.

      Delete
  2. Thanks for clarification...mine has 1A stamped in that area, which was unintelligible when viewed upside down (since I didn't realize correct orientation of label)...;-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Compendium states (pg 226) that the S125 BX-15 distributor was replaced as early as Oct 1971 with the readily available S125 C distributor depending on destination. That being said, my purchase of your tag is replacing the S125 C tag I had recently acquired, but not yet installed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The key term here is 'depending on destination' as the S125C distributor went to markets where pollution control items were being mandated on the cars. Your 1971 Euro GT M series would have a silver label. Also the S125C labels that are available out there are not nearly made to the same detail as the ones we produced. A LOT of time was spent to get the Magneti Marelli and the Made In Italy just right.

      Delete
  4. Arrived today...I can see the differences with the Kilimanjaro Designs effort. But theirs came with replacement rivets. Something you might want to consider adding.

    ReplyDelete