any history?

[valerio]

Hello,
my father just purchased vin#113 004 120 15 305
1970 280sl
and was wondering if any one knew any history on this car.

The vender stated that the original owner was George Steinbrenner of the Yankees, is there any way to verify this?

Thank you.

Valerio Massaro

[waqas]

I think the fifth and sixth digits in your VIN# should read 44 instead of 04...

WAQAS in Austin, Texas

[glennard]

Hey, George never was good at numbers!  Have Torre check that VIN! A '0' here, a 4 there.  What ever.

[glennard]

One thing- it should tell the right time.  The Red Sox just cleaned George's clock.

[valerio]

you are correct,

the vin is 113 044 120 15 305

sorry about the mix-up.
perhaps now someone can find some history on the car.

Thank you
Valerio

[valerio]

I am new to this forum, how can I get a hold of this Torre person to see if there is any history on the car.

Valerio

[Kenneth Gear]

I think the Torre comment was a joke...he is the manager of the Yankees.

To my knowledge the only was to confirm prior owners is through a state's Department of Motor Vehicles but for privacy reasons most states do not provide this information.

I would write a letter to Stienbrenner and ask.  It's a long shot but maybe he'll answer it.

Ken G
1971 280 SL
Silver/red

[mdsalemi]

I tell you, with all these wild claims about ownership, and about condition, it's no wonder people are duped all the time with false claims.  Who owned the car is probably of less importance than how good it is.

I actually did once own a Taurus SHO car that we bought from Ford and was a lease car that was Bill Ford, Jr's.  My wife thought it would be great; daily maintenence and washing because we was the Chairman of the Board at the time.  Turned out to be the WORST of the 5 SHO's we owned!  Who owns the car doesn't mean much, except for curiousity's sake.  Would be nice if there were photos to go along with it...

With claims of originality and condition, I'm reminded of some joke amongst Ferrari owners (I apologize for destroying it, but you get the idea...) that "75 of the original 33 Ferrari 250GTO's are still on the road"...

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored

[Douglas]

Apparently, other folks are making a similar claim:

http://www.hamptons.com/hamptons_article_magazine_741.htm

This article refers to a 3.5 Cabriolet once owned by Steinbrenner.

This doesn't prove much, but perhaps he has a thing for Mercedes? Seems plausible.

Douglas Kim
New York
USA

[TheEngineer]

I'd love to have the history on my car before it was bought by Keith Collins from Complete Automotive in Seattle on 12/30/1991. I had lunch with Keith and have the chain of owners from that date. Complete Automotive has been sold several times since and tell me there are no records. At the time the milage on the car was 16,961 and I found a sticker from German Motor Car Service in Santa Monica CA 90405 dated 6/5/84 with a milage noted 14,115. MB USA wrote that the car was sold new on 3/29/69 by South Bay Autohaus, Torrance, Ca. They were sold to AutoNation and records are no longer available. I have an invoice for the tires: Evans Tires, 6565 Washington Blvd. City of Commerce, CA 90040.
If anyone on this forum can help, it would be very much appreciated
VIN is 113044 12 007537

[valerio]

The pedigree of the car wasn't a deciding factor in the purchase of the car but it would have been a bonus.

Thank You to everyon for their comments.

Valerio

[Chad]

The Ford story is not very surprising.  Why should the Ford chairman care about the condition of his own Ford, given the stewardship of the company overall.


1967 230SL