Was the car from Berlin? Berlin (and Germany itself) were partitioned into four quadrants that were assigned to the USA, Britain, France, and Russia. Perhaps NW refers to a quadrant.

Kurt

Silly to replace superior H4 lamps with inferior sealed beams.....

Hmmmm...all I know is they were stationed at Wiesbaden :confused:

These days, antique registration here has eliminated the annual inspection requirement for older cars. though it also somewhat restricts vehicle usage.
Even without antique registration, the prevalence of 'Euro-style' headlamps on modern cars has blurred the distinction, and the factory Hella headlamps that came on my '84 Euro TD would probably have passed inspection if they hadn't been broken.
So I installed what I had readily availible - a spare set of US sealed-beam headlamp-units from a 240D. I do have a pair of 7" H4 lights I may drop-in to upgrade those.

Ironically, the 'Euro-style' headlamps on cars sold in the US are often much worse than the old sealed-beams. Either from poor design or, as the plastic lenses age, they yellow and cloud-over.

Happy Motoring, Mark

the Euro beam pattern is completely different than the DOT pattern. I have a set of euro cibies in my jeep and the pattern is very distinctive cutoff. it is flat across the front of the car then kicks up on the right side to see signs and other roadside obsticals. right hand drive euros are opposite. DOT spec suck all the way across

I've got an "SB" (SHAPE Belgium) plate from our Audi, ca 1985; they were red. LOTSA memories with those plates!

Supposedly one of the reasons the DOT doesn't like the EU pattern is they feel it doesn't direct enough light upwards to illuminate overhead signs. Ironically this is also a great strength of the EU pattern, since that light directed upward is a source of glare for oncoming drivers.

Personally I find the DOT sealed beams are acceptable if you get enough voltage to them. Auxiliary high beams help a lot, too. My VW Cabriolet has a pair of H3 auxiliary high beams in the grille, from the factory. They didn't do much until I put relays in the headlight circuit to get them some voltage, but now they're amazing.

On a note more related to the original posting here, I still have two pairs of ESPANA CD plates, issued in 1960 and 1962, to my Dad when he was a US Air-Force officer assigned to the American embassy in Madrid, Spain. They came off Dads first Mercedes, a black '60 220S Fintail.
My folks were going to toss the plates when they moved from Alexandria to Virginia Beach in the late '70s, but I rescued them. They're a heavy cast aluminum, with raised aluminum letters/numbers on a red background.

Happy Motoring, Mark

Photos????