Who drove your Benz first?

[Peter]

1979 280SE - 150,000 Klms

First Owner was Mr Han Lim Lee - Embassy of the Republic of Korea - Yarralumla, Canberra Australia
Second Owner was Mr Melton Foo  - Mayor of Ballarat
Third owner was Mr Mike Rossi  - He owned the car for over 20 years.

[floyd111]

Heroic general Lee passes away at age of 91

Retired Lt. Gen. Lee Han-lim, the only military commanding officer to publicly declare his opposition to the military coup of 1961, died of natural causes Sunday. He was 91 years old.

Lee enrolled in the Manchurian Imperial Army Academy with the late President Park Chung-hee in 1940 and entered the Japanese Military Academy with him in 1942.

He played a pivotal role in the creation of the country's first modernized armed forces following the end of Japan's 36 years of colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula on Aug. 15, 1944.

He received the Taegeuk Medal, the highest honor for Korean soldiers, and a Silver Star from the United States, for successfully repelling Chinese troops as the 9th Division commander, during the 1950 to 53 Korea War.

The general earned respect for maintaining his political neutrality.

He rejected the demand of the top military and government authorities to force his troops to cast ballots for designated presidential and vice presidential candidates in elections on March 15, 1954.

Consequently, Lee was stripped of his post as commander of the 6th Army Corp and had to undergo the humiliation of being sent to a military graduate school as a student.

Due to his upright character, he clashed with Gen. Park, one of his best friends and military colleagues. He initially tried to deter the military coup by Park, but gave up on fears that his move could lead to a civil war and invite invasion by the communist North.

He was arrested by the coup forces and discharged from the military in 1961.

Lee was briefly exiled to the United States and had to serve a prison term on his return to his home country, largely due to his refusal to participate in Park's military regime.

Nevertheless, after repeated requests and persuasion from Park, Lee became the head of the state-run Korea Water Resources Corporation in 1963. He also served as head of Chinhae Chemical in 1968 and construction minister in 1969.

He became head of the National Tourism Organization in 1972 and served as ambassador to Turkey and Australia between 1974 and 1980.
leeth@koreatimes.co.kr,

[Peter]

Very interesting Stan and many thanks for the information

[floyd111]

This guy is not mr average, by any means. I would say it's completely feasible to sell your car at top dollar in Korea, to the right people. These people are capable of extreme emotions, compared to many other countries.. shame, hate, but also total idolatry of heroes. Remember how there was a vote to have the Dutch soccer coach made president of Korea?
Just a thought. You could also just keep it

[Type17]

My car came with a lot of documentation, and its first owner from new in 1976 had it until 2008. Here's the text of the sheet that I put on the dash when my car is at shows. All the info is based on documentation that came with the car, or was readily available on the internet:

On the 9th of November 1976, this Mercedes 350 SE was purchased new by Leslie Albert Dutch, then aged 52, of Ware, Hertfordshire, from his local Mercedes dealer, Arlington Motors of Bedford. A Hertfordshire registration, RNK 483R, was issued to the car.
Leslie's home was less than a mile away from his engineering business, so the mileage on his Mercedes was slow to accumulate, amounting to just over 10,000 miles in the first twelve years of his ownership. The Dutch's house had a garage, so the Mercedes was protected from the weather when it was not being driven.
After Leslie retired, around 1989, the annual mileage of the Mercedes dwindled to only a few hundred miles a year through the 1990's, with the early 2000's seeing the car travel only a dozen or so miles each year, mostly on journeys to the MOT station in nearby Hoddesdon. Despite his infrequent use of the car, Leslie ensured that it was always taxed and MOT'ed and even in what would be his final year, when he had become too infirm to drive, records show that he still arranged for it to be collected from his house and taken for its MOT test.
Leslie Dutch died in November 2004, aged 80. With 29,703 miles on its odometer, the Mercedes lay unused in the garage of his house for almost four years.
Following the death of Leslie's widow in the summer of 2008, a local surveyor, Paul W, came across the car while surveying the house for probate. Fascinated by its history, he bought the Mercedes from the Dutch estate.
As well as still bearing its original dealer window-sticker and tax-disc holder, the car came with its three original keys, all data cards and handbooks, every tax disc from new, MOT certificates since the late eighties, and many service receipts. Still in the boot were the blanking plates from the radio and the passenger door mirror, a Mercedes polishing kit and a full set of radiator hoses and engine belts.
Following minor recommisioning work, Paul covered around 1,300 miles in the Mercedes over the next year or two, before advertising it on a classic car website in 2010, from where it was bought by its current owner.

[marku]

That is the history to have - so many of these cars have lost all documentation and we are reduced to digging up what we can. Dare say that now knowing all the owners and addresses I could research them much easier these days given Google. In fact I might well do that you never know what might turn up. Do know that the last owner emigrated to Ukraine. This was obviously before the troubles there - wonder if he came back?

[ptashek]

In fact I might well do that you never know what might turn up.

As in my case. On several attempts I just got bored after page 5 of search results.
Then another try, I just had nothing better to do, and boom. I know more in an hour than I've found during on-off searches since 2012.

I think though we'll all have a hard time matching a Lieutenant General and a national hero

[djenka018]

http://www.cargocarriers.co.za/news/newsclips_0037.htm
http://remembered.co.za/desmond-bolton-14826

Desmond Bolton, best known as Des, was born on 29 January 1925 in Kensington, Johannesburg.
...
Cargo Carriers was formed in January 1956.
...
Bolton passed away in 1988.

I got Desmond's car from his surviving wife in 2002. after decade and a bit more mostly in storage, with 49000km, two round cam shafts and terrible K-Jet condition

[UTn_boy]

My 1976 280S was bought new by Long Mercedes in Chattanooga, Tn, in 1976.  It was a stock order car to put in their showroom and/or out on the lot.  It sat for several months and then sold to an unknown person.  This unknown only had it for a few months, and then traded it in on a V-8 model.  I can't say that I really count him as an actual owner.  So one day a gentleman by the name of Raymond Henry walks into the Mercedes dealership here in Knoxville, Tn, then called Knoxville Motor Company.  He specifically requests a 280S in Astral Silver with blue MB Tex.  Naturally, dealerships view the inventory of other local dealerships before they place an order for a new car from Germany.  Well, they found this 280S that had just been traded in, shipped it to Knoxville, and Mr. Henry and his son owned the car from 1976 until I bought it in 2010 or 2011. 

When I found the car, it was on a local craigslist ad.  The said the car was rust free, but it didn't run.  What caught my attention was the mileage......49,000 original miles.  So I went to look at it.  After looking at it, It was obvious that the miles were original.  I bought it on the spot.  The car had sat for 16 years untouched, not started, and not even washed.  Mr. Henry's son, Raymond II, has been blind his whole life, so he never even drove the car.  The father had died 20 years prior to my purchasing the car.  I asked if there were any more receipts or paperwork that went with the car.  His son said no, there wasn't, and that his father always gave the car what it needed when it needed it,  but wasn't one to keep up with paperwork.   

The gas tank had been left half full all of those years it wasn't run.  Consequently, the whole top half of the gas tank had literally rusted off of the bottom half right where the top of the fuel level was.  I knew that there was zero hope for that tank.  So, I bought one out of a diesel, and it's still in it.  I think it's a bit smaller, but the alternative was to spend $2,000 or more on a new one. 

All of the fuel lines were stopped up solid with solidified gasoline.  So all of the hard metal fuel lines were renewed, as well.  The worst part was when the new fuel line came in, it was rolled up in spiral.  It took me all damned day to straighten that stupid thing out.  Anyway, after that, I commenced to change all of the fluids, filters, etc.   Rebuilt the carburetor, and the strapping young lad came to life without a hesitation. 

Obviously, the automatic climate control didn't work.  I had several used ones lying around, and so I gathered all of them up and make one good one out of all of them.  Almost 7 years later, that particular servo is still in service.  Not one problem out of it.  I'm guessing by now my time is limited, huh?   

Over the years, every piece of rubber, every kind of seal, etc, have been renewed.  I also renewed all of the front and rear end bushings, ball joints, etc.  It's an amazing specimen all of these years later.  It currently has about 76,000 miles on it now.  It's never missed a beat, and I've taken it on day long road trips several times both in the heat of summer and the dead of winter.  The R-12 A/C still works amazingly well, and the heat will make you sweat on a sub zero degree day!    One of the things that amazes me the most is that the original radiator is still in it.  It doesn't leak or even look bad on the inside, and the car never over heats.  Never look a gift horse int he mouth, right? 

It still needs a paint job.  The original wood is starting to crack its clear coat, I already have a new dash for it, too.  I did have to replace most of the excelsior seat pads, but it turned out very nice.  So this is the story of this one particular W116.  It gets put away in storage this time of year, and I do miss driving it.  Soon though, it'll be time to wake it up again! 

[ptashek]

I've just made contact with the second owner, who owned the car for most of its life. From new the car was on lease to the United Arab Emirates embassy in the UK, until he bought it.
That's another missing piece in my car's history puzzle falling in place.

TBC...

[js1sj]

1977 450sel 6.9 # 2180
Original Owner: Casino Founder and Car Collector William F. Harrah
The car was Mr. Harrah's personal vehicle and not part of his automobile collection that is the basis of the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada. According to the service record book the car appears to have been used occasionally until 1994, then stored. The car was then donated to the University of Nevada Reno in 2004 and auctioned.  The car has several unique additions including power mirrors and a 1977 vintage radar detector.

http://www.cabnr.unr.edu/news/story.aspx?StoryID=307

[Type17]

Wow, a great connection with a great collection. Obviously a car collector with taste 

[ptashek]

Managed to get some more details about first owner of my 450 by deciphering the original service booklet (which is with the car in Poland).

Purchased new by T.H. Bennett Motors Ltd. of Theatre Street, Preston, UK as (unconfirmed) a company car for one of the directors "N.V. Kidd".
First serviced (oil change) at 529 miles on Oct 25, 1979, almost exactly three weeks after being first put on the road.
Mr. Kidd no longer appears on their financial statements after 1981, so it's likely he's left the company by then.

The other director, Mr. Bennet, has passed away in 2003 at the age of 93. A very generous man, it would appear, who left £4.5m to charity in his estate:
http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/local/motors-king-remembers-the-animals-1-396194

The company is still in business  but "dormant" since 2002, and registered under a new name "Speeds of Blackpool Ltd" since 1989.

BTW, "T.H. Bennet Motors Ltd" is listed on page 6 of the factory "United Kingdom, Sales/Service for Passenger Cars" booklet. They were an official Mercedes-Benz franchise dealer until 2002.

[Casey]

Well I don't know who had it first, but the previous owner of my Euro 6.9 deserves mention.  His name was Hampton Hoge, and he was an avid collector of cars and boats and other such things, to the degree that he had to rent places to store them that his family didn't know about.  Quite the character, and certainly seemed to be a happy fellow.  He ran an automotive service shop, and so the previous license plates on my 6.9 said "AUTO ER".  Some time after he passed away, his daughter put up the 6.9 for sale and that is how I got it.





A picture with his wife in a festive moment:



One of his secret stashed boats:



An enthusiastic driver: