How to find original purchaser information? Ceaucescu car

[jf308]

Posted this on the 190SL forum, but I thought that I would check with the Pagoda crew, too.

I have a rusty 190SL project car, matching numbers WITH the very rare sunroof hardtop -- so worth some money. According to the prior Romanian owner who brought the car to the US from Romania via Germany way back when....it was originally purchased by Nicolae Ceaucescu for his daughter Zoia. Other than documenting his story of how he came to acquire the car (signed affidavit) and later flee Romania, etc -- is there any way to track down and document the original purchaser name?
(how many 1960 MB 190's could there have been sold to Communist Romania?).

I have the data card, but that just shows build sheet and country code info. I tried MB Classic Center, but they told me that they do not keep OWNER/Purchaser info....

John

[zak]

Congrats on your purchase, John. That sunroof hardtop is certainly super rare.
Can the Classic center tell you how many 190 SL's were sold in Rumania in 1960? But who knows how a dictator "buys" a car?
Bruce Adams would be a guy to ask. He seems to be the acknowledged 190SL expert.
Question: Proving the provenance back to Zoia, how much do you really think it would increase the value of the car?

jz

[Jonny B]

Would love to see a photo of the 190 SL hardtop with a sunroof! Don't think I have ever seen that.

[jf308]

There were two types of the rare sunroof hardtop....Goldie (crank type) and Webasto (t handle).  The one shown is a Goldie.

Both very rare options.  I have been told that these tops go for $12 - $15k unrestored. 

[mario]

This is a total shot in the dark, but one of her siblings, Valentin, is still alive and apparently still living in Budapest.  He is 66 years old.  I have no idea how one would be able to make contact with the son of the dictator, but if a physical address or email could be located, it may be worth trying to send a letter with the details of the car to see if he had any knowledge.  Silly idea, I know.  No doubt he is trying to live a quiet life, but at least you are not contacting him to ask about the regime, etc.