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  #1  
Old 06-18-2008, 10:55 PM
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My 300d linked to Enron? Original owner found!

Today I decided to remove the carpets and rear seat of the 300d for some deep cleaning, and found garbage from the past that linked all 3 previous owners.

I've divided them into 3 sections. The original owners were from Houston, the next traveled from Texas to Louisiana, finally winding up in Colorado where it spent a brief time with the third owner.

Texas links: Note the Conrad Masterson business card. Conrad and his wife Elaine are the ORIGINAL OWNERS! I also found a name tag with Elaine's name on it.

Conrad has quite a profile, obviously an important and successful individual. Here's a link: http://www.zoominfo.com/Search/PersonDetail.aspx?PersonID=56167037

I couldn't find who was Robert Hornberger was on the plane ticket.






The Louisiana Link: The second owner was a relative of the Mastersons. Perhaps he was younger entrepreneur trying to start a business?




The Colorado Connection:




And the Random Photos: Note the slip of paper in German and the Arthur Anderson business card.



From Wikipedia:
Arthur Andersen LLP, based in Chicago, was once one of the "Big Five" accounting firms among PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young and KPMG, providing auditing, tax, and consulting services to large corporations. In 2002, the firm voluntarily surrendered its licenses to practice as Certified Public Accountants in the United States after being found guilty of criminal charges relating to the firm's handling of the auditing of Enron, the energy corporation, resulting in the loss of 85,000 jobs. Although the verdict was subsequently overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States, it has not returned as a viable business.
One of the few revenue-generating assets that the Andersen firm still has is The Q Center, a conference and training facility outside of Chicago.


Anybody speak German or can tell me what this is?

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  #2  
Old 06-18-2008, 11:11 PM
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Wow, that's a lot of stuff to find in your car.

That tear-off tag has a VIN number on it ... maybe a service slip?

Those receipts show that someone was quite a smoker, and the heart note paper looks like school courses?
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  #3  
Old 06-18-2008, 11:17 PM
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The paper with the VIN looks like part of the owners' vehicle data card.
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  #4  
Old 06-18-2008, 11:36 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MTI View Post
The paper with the VIN looks like part of the owners' vehicle data card.
every seat has one, it's pretty much the production info and such. If I am not mistaken, it also tells the production number of the car.
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  #5  
Old 06-18-2008, 11:59 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDon View Post
every seat has one, it's pretty much the production info and such. If I am not mistaken, it also tells the production number of the car.
Yep! I left all of mine where I found them.
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  #6  
Old 06-19-2008, 08:41 AM
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Fun isn't it? About two years ago I needed a truck and found a two-year old Denali with 6000 miles on it - looked and smelled brand new. Bought it, then went through it like you did. Turns out it was the Governer of Mexico's truck, and he left it in parking garage for the two years, only driving it when he came to Houston's Medical Center.

I love finding old owners.
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  #7  
Old 06-19-2008, 12:26 PM
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Ty- That's great and thanks for the visuals. I found a bunch of kids toys in the back seat when I cleaned mine out.
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  #8  
Old 06-19-2008, 01:48 PM
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I visited a church once where a church member came to the pulpit and announced his candidacy for Sheriff of (some district) in Fort Worth. When he uttered his name, it rung a bell.

After service was over, I ran to the W124 parked outside and looked up the original owner info in the booklet...sure enough it was him!

Best find? A 9mm handgun in the map pocket of a 95 SL we once owned. We returned it to the dealership, and the service advisor told us later that the PO rushed over IMMEDIATELY to retreive his piece!
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  #9  
Old 06-19-2008, 03:56 PM
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The Conrad Masterson business card looks newer than the Arthur Anderson. Email didn't start until what the late 90's?
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  #10  
Old 06-19-2008, 04:32 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hatterasguy View Post
Email didn't start until what the late 90's?
For commercial/public e-mail useage, early 90's via dial up online services like Compuserve, Delphi, AOL, Prodigy, etc.
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  #11  
Old 08-11-2009, 05:29 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MTI View Post
For commercial/public e-mail useage, early 90's via dial up online services like Compuserve, Delphi, AOL, Prodigy, etc.
MTI, have you ever heard of MIT? no, not your cousin, the school

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email#Origin
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  #12  
Old 08-11-2009, 10:13 AM
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The tag with the VIN is a seat production slip, they all have that under the seat. I found mine but left it there. My dad used to put those rear-seats together when he worked there during college, and explained what they are.

I did not find such interesting things in my car....mainly some (old!) change....and a couple pens....

In the 300E I have not taken the seat out....but did find a check stub for the purchase of the car from a local used car dealer...about 1.5 years prior to my ownership....at least it sorta backed up his story, he said he just wanted to get back what he paid for it.....and it was indeed the same amount that I paid him. So at least he wasn't lying....
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  #13  
Old 08-11-2009, 10:28 AM
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In my glove box, there are the service records and plenty of signed forms from all of the PO's of my car. It was surprisingly well maintained until the PO let it sit for a while (what a waste!!), but I was able to find that the original owner was from Vermont, then the car traveled down into Westchester NY, then to long island, and finally up into Greenwich and Fairfield county, CT. Someone with some money must have had it (ain't cheap to live in any of those areas), but I have yet to google the names. It also lost track when the PO stopped getting signed and dated services, and it somehow ended up in the woods of central CT, where I eagerly acquired it and now bring it to Philadelphia.
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  #14  
Old 08-11-2009, 10:56 AM
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Those are some cool finds. All i found was receipts, pens, coins and hair clips.
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  #15  
Old 08-11-2009, 12:21 PM
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So does o'l turbo smell like smoke? Seems it had a heavy cancer-stick user as an owner at some point!

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'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)
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