Unbelievable, but true. Twenty questions too. I think that is awesome, chatted with him for about 15 minutes and we are getting together next week for lunch. I almost laughed when he said ''hows my car?'' Any of you guys ever have this happen?




Jim

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Jim Messina

1983 300 SD
2006 Silverado Z71

I have never heard back from any PO but for that matter I have never contacted any new owner either.

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

He is probably hoping you will tell him all the things he imagined were about to break and blow up, indeed have, thereby justifying him unloading it when he did....

Make his suffer. Tell him all the things magically fixed themselves... and it now gets 40 mpg... and goes 0-60 in 12 seconds.

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1983 300D-Turbo - Deep Blue w Palomino MB Tex (total loss in fire 1/5/09 RIP)
1995 E320 W124 Polar White/Grey Mushroom MB Tex
2005 F150 Supercrew - Arizona Beige - Lear topper
1985 Piaggio Vespa T5 - Black and Chrome

www.cphilip.com

Aha! Great idea! I am gonna look up the po and have a chat! I actually thought about it, years ago, just to ask some questions about work they had done when I just bought it. They sold it totaled, so I had mercy on them and left them alone; though I now wonder if they have any interest in how long she has lived....

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Think Alternative Energy!
300CD '80 (now gone but not forgotten...)

The PO called back today (I called and left a message). Told me all about it.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

I chatted a couple of times with the PO of the CD, forget the gist of the conversation, but it's a very nice car still.

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83 SD

84 CD

I chatted the previous owner up a bunch about Elegant Madame. Granted, we had to wait for a replacement title. And, I was trying to build history on the car. I never did get "Big Jim's last name" though, but it doesn't matter now. Of course, the PO did owe me since I did her a little favor

I still miss Elegant Madame, but Coda is growing on me. Now if Candy would just find a NEW home......anyone want a "sweet" car??

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daw_two
Germantown, TN

Links:
Sold last car --- 05/2012 1984 300D Light Ivory, Red interior
Cluster Needles Paint
New Old Stock (NOS) parts

Past:
3/2008 1986 300SDL "Coda"
04/2010 1965 190D(c) "Ben"
& many more

i've had the PO call about the car, he wanted to make sure it was ok and he sounded like he hoped he could buy it back or somthing, then again i might to if i had to drive a volvo wagon instead of a benz.
although if he calls again maybe ill ask why the vacuum locks are disabled

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-1978 300D

The PO of the 78 called me to see how things were about 3 months after I bought the car. He was pleased to hear that it was well and I loved it.

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Ginny in Denver-ish
78 300SD, 265K (mine)

Heard from buyer of one of my 240D's by email ONE YEAR LATER..... sayin he's never owned a more trouble-free car. This happened just over a month ago. I wrote back sayin am glad it went to very good home.

When buyin an old MB is when I like to get ownership history of the vehicle, trips its taken, personality and character of previous owners etc. Thats when I'd be tempted to call up earlier owners tellin em the car's still on the road and doing well.

I have been in touch with my PO (of the '96 E300D) by email a few times and have contacted both owners previous to him, just to say hello and to ask a couple of questions. Everyone seemed happy that "their" car was still going strong.

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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

I know nothing of the original owner of my car except his name (on the signature sticker in the door jam of the car).....I do know that he traded it in to a Lexus dealer for a new Lexus....the dealer then put the car to auction.....a smaller used car dealer outfit bought it and put it on ebay, I won the bid, traveled sight unseen all the way to PA from Michigan....and picked it up. Drove it all the way home no problem, and the rest is history!

So technically I am the second owner of my car.....pretty cool!

My dad is like the 4th or 5th owner of his SD....it was originally a Canada car....but came over from Windsor to Detroit in 1989....where it then had a few owners here in the USA....including a traveling salesman who apparantly owned it for like 4-5 years....but in that time put over 120k on it! .....he also redid the climate system and the interior was kept immaculate....so its a good car.

My dad is the 3rd owner of the 300D.....it was originally purchased and owned for most of its life by an older female University of Michigan professor.....who then sold it cheap after it got slightly rear-ended (not major) to a weird forest-man in the Eastern part of Michigan (in the thumb! )....we got it on craigslist from him....he complained it was hard to start in the cold (we got it in January...).....low and behold, once we had it....I verified it had ORIGINAL glow plugs. It now starts instantly with a new glow plug kit.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

My sd is on the third owner. I bought it from a local mercedes mechanic (engine was taken from it, and the tranny was toast) (the engine is now in sirnik's car) that had it for 8 years and 80k. H It was his parts runner/beater car, but he took good care of it mechanicaly. The suspension and steering is spot on (354k and it tracks straighter than any car ive ever driven). The car has never been hit either, according to him. I bought the car from him (actually sirnick sold it to me but it was legaly the mechanics) for 150 dollars . Heres the sad part though. i was flipping through the owners manual and a dmv proof of reg. card fell out from 1997, with the original owners name and address on it. In my town, about three miles away. So i went to the house. They had moved, but the new owners had known the people. Apparently the man who owned it died, and his wife sold the house and the sd and moved away.

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1981 300SD 512k OM603

I'm still in touch with the previous and first owners of my car - my grandparents

When I drove the car to their place in Ridgecrest last summer, they knew they gave it to the right person and were glad they did so. I gave my grandmother a final ride in it before we headed home after 3 days. She said she missed that feeling but that it felt much firmer and rolled less (new seat pads and sway bar end links did it ).

As for the wagon, I called them last year to ask about the records, which he said were at the shop they brought it to. True enough I went there and asked for it, they gave me receipts dating back to 2006. The rest was irrelevant so I didn't bother, they had it anyway so I can always go back

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http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/7...144c3fc1dc.jpg

Oh yes, I have done this as a buyer and a seller, many times, because I think ANY later owners would be glad to know the prior history of a car they just got.

I bought the Mercedes 560SEC from a LA Mercedes Benz dealer and it had the stamped books and records in it, as a 5 year old car..

A month later, I flew to Los Angeles, rented a car, and set out to track its history. Best investment I ever made.

From an old registration card I found, I was led to the 2nd owner, the man who owned the Beverly Hills Hotel!!!!

He agreed to meet me in his office, without an appointment, and when there he spoke freely ab out the car, told me he sold it because he wife thought it was too flashy for Beverly Hills and wanted a BMW, and he gave me a whole sheaf of paperwork, for the car, including all the warranty and repair orders from Beverly Hills Ltd, the Mercedes dealer he had used for the car.

I went in person to the other places that stamped the Maintenancde book for the car and talked to the mechanics who worked on the car and they told me about the owners, and gave me copies of the repair orders. It was fascinating, like a detective story.

I went home with a HUGE stack of records and completely having reconstructed the history of the car back to April 1992 - not bad for a 1991 car, several years later.

My files on the car are totally complete from then on, saved in plastic page protectors in a binder that is much, much larger than a San Francisco telephone book.

Some day I should add up all the money that was spent on the car from 1992-2008. I bet it was a fortune, as the car looks and runs perfect today, needs absolutely nothing.

The history on it is very, very complete and documented for a 17 year old car. Copy of the window sticker, factory build sheet from Mercedes Historical archives, the VMI, notes from phone calls with Previous owners, everything I could possibly try to get, I have it.

Just missing the name and records for the first owner from the original selling dealer in Glendale California.
I am pretty sure it was a high mileage (24k) company car from a company in Glendale that traded it in after one year.

I highly recommend doing this. When I bought a car I always tried to contact the PO.

Once I got an address, a VERY polite letter and a $20 bill for "Photocopying the records" worked EVERY single time for me.

With the Subaru Outback, Volvo wagon, Crown Victoria, and other cars I can't remember.

Never failed.

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)