Third Brake light on 450 SL

[Mike T]

Thinking about putting a third brake light on my 77 450 SL. I don't really like the larger brake light as on the 86-87 560s but I do like the location. I'm thinking about getting the smaller one (88-89) and placing it on the trunk lid where the bigger ones went. Any comments or ideas, has someone done this before??? I just think that the smaller ones look better as they seem to go more within the "lines" of the car?!?!?!
Mike

I haven't done it (yet), but the "ideal" place IMHO would be to remove the Mercedes star from the trunk, find a round tail light just a little smaller in diameter, mount it flush, then reinstall the MB star over that!

It would look best on a red car, of course, since it would totally blend in until the brakes are used. On a white car, a white lens (e.g., a backup light lens) could be used with red LED's inside. To illustrate the concept, it'd look something like this with a red lens on a white car:

[cbdo]

IMveryHO, neither of the 560 solutions exactly complements the lines of the car, which was designed long before it was required or even considered. I've got an '89 560SL, and one of the deciding factors vs. a similar '86 I found was the less-obtrusive third stoplight; when I was still looking at 450's I excluded any with the light added. Purely a personal bias, of course, but to me it's a bit like converting from the small bumpers to the US-spec "battering rams"; why do it to a car that was able to escape it to begin with?