(first posted 12/8/2018) Update: I got a lot of flack in the comments on this post by readers who thought I was being inappropriate by posting this picture but even more so by including the name of the young woman. I found this photo and name only because Margaret had submitted it and a bit of a story to a newspaper a few years earlier. So it was hardly an invasion of privacy. And in 2019, Margret became aware of this post and left a comment commending us on our tact. Turns out she’s an old car buff, drives a classic VW Beetle Cabriolet, and she became not only a regular reader but also a paying CC member for our ad-free version. Maybe this is a technique I should replicate to find more readers and members?
I ran into this in my wanderings on the web, and not surprisingly, it caught my eye. But I wondered about whose car it was. The way she’s touching the headlight so tenderly made me think it most likely was hers, but I couldn’t be sure. That is, until its hidden caption appeared only just as I uploaded it into CC:
Margaret Ransohoff of Bay Village (Ohio) with the first car she owned, after her sophomore year of college.
Update: CC reader Oliver Twist found the original newspaper article that this picture was used in, from The Plain Dealer in 2007, in a series entitled “My Car”:
This makes the picture (from 1973) complete, and explains why it was out there on the web.
Thanks to Google, it wasn’t hard to find Ms. Ransohoff again, this time hosting a garden party in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Is she still driving a Mercedes? Given her history and economic status, quite likely. Or maybe a Tesla? She is an early adopter, after all.
Since those are 1973 Ohio tags, I’d say this was taken in 1973… We changed them every year back then.
My brother’s wife is from that part of Cleveland, it remains a very nice area. I’m a little shocked that so much information is so easily obtained about this woman. I’m assuming you didn’t hire a private detective to find her, but I may have to Google myself and see what shows up…
Yes…Google is your friend here. It’s not so much about being a gumshoe.
It’s what people ‘put’ on the net about themselves. You can’t find out about what’s not there in the first place. People are their own worst enemies.
Have you tried it yet? I found a site that gave me a lot more information about Ms. Ransohoff than I wanted to know. You’d be surprised what’s out there.
I had Googled myself a few years back when I was serious about changing jobs. Just in case there would be a question about my cyber-activities. I’m a pretty boring dude online. As I recall, it came up with a bunch of my comments on automotive blogs. I haven’t done it recently, though.
Regardless, I still think it’s a bit frightening that you can search for someone and find such information. I shouldn’t be, but I still am.
still think it’s a bit frightening that you can search for someone and find such information. I shouldn’t be, but I still am.
What information are you talking about? This posted this picture of her in 1973 on the web somewhere, and she included the caption that I used in this post. I then Googled her name, and it came up with this recent picture along with a few others as she’s active in the garden club scene where she lives. Another result was a website that offered more personal information (from various public records). Looks like she’s had a few traffic tickets along the way. 🙂
While it’s wonderful that we can identify the car’s owner from a 46 year old photo, it seems a few other posters besides myself are a little less than comfortable with this entry.
Maybe “Mercedes Girl” may have been a better title for the post. Leaving off the present day update would ratchet back the creepiness factor…
geozinger: Please read it again. I’ve updated it with more information as well as an explanation as to why I posted it as I did. There was a good reason. Posting it anonymously would just have encouraged salacious comments. She’s a real person, with a real name.
I just Googled myself and found absolutely bugger all – should I be relieved or disappointed?
It helps when the person has an uncommon name.
I was on the my high school’s 50th reunion (1966) committee and it was my responsibility to find classmates so that they could be sent an invitation to the event. I must say that I was very resourceful and became pretty good at finding long lost classmates. It was fascinating to look at the yearbook photo of someone who I thought then, was an attractive young lady in my class and now, through the power of the internet or Facebook, see what that 18 year old looked like 50 years later. Based on your deduction of when this photo was taken and how old Margaret Ronsohoff was at the time, she is probably about 4 years younger than me and the girls in my class.Some have fared as well as Margaret Ransohoff, but a lot have not.
Paul,
Just curious – have you gotten in touch with Ms. Ransohoff and if you have, what’d she say about having the photo of her and the Benz be used for this article?
I’m rewriting this from my original comment, which was of course tongue in cheek.
Ms. Ransohoff posted this picture and its caption on the web. And we know know that it was to accompany an article she submitted to the Plain dealer newspaper in 2007, called My Car.
I’ve updated the post with that article, as well as an explanation as to why I chose to use her name and her recent picture in the first place.
I have to say I do find the nature of this piece slightly creepy, harmless as it may be.
Please read it again. I’ve updated it with more information as well as an explanation as to why I posted it as I did.
I understand the overall story of your post. The lady cherished the gift, took care of it and wanted her town to know her parents gave her and her siblings a great life lesson. Cars to some people are just point a to b machines. If she had pinto/vega or some other disposable car would be hosting a garden party?
Ms. Ransohoff certainly was and is very lovely, and I hope she’s had a happy life. But what happened to the Mercedes?! That’s the million-dollar CC question. 🙂
I’m having some strange jealousy pangs over that headlight.
Mercedes in the US in the early 70s made for some interesting sightings. They were sort of halfway between “quirky German sedan” of five years earlier and “modern high prestige” that they were becoming.
The first Mercedes I came in close contact with belonged to a carpenter who came to our house in 1973 to cut off the bottoms of most of the interior doors in the house after Mom had our house recarpeted with shag carpets. He had an early W108 (dark green) which had everything he needed in the trunk, including a pair of sawhorses. That car made for some real cognitive dissonance after I had been to the 1973 auto show and had seen the stratospheric prices on the windows of the new ones.
To this day my ideal Mercedes is either a Fintail or a W-108 with a small gas engine, a stick shift and crank windows.
Wouldn’t be my first pick, but that sounds delightful.
Our across-the-street neighbor back in the early ’70s had a diesel Mercedes – I was not into cars at all at the time (still in grade school/middle school), so no idea which model, but I do remember my Dad had a lot of respect for both the car and neighbor. IIRC, they also had a mid-1950s car parked in the yard next to the empty lot just up the street.
I hope it’s just a matter of time before Ms. Ransohoff or one of her relatives discovers that her Mercedes has its admirers on this site, and graciously adds to the story.
It has happened before.
My version of the story:
Dad, a doctor & early adoptor, bought the car new in ’68, then passed the car down to his daughter when he bought a new W108 in ’72. Probably still driving an S class.
At least our conversation about Ms Ransohoff is respectful and complementary. So much isn’t, these days.
A lovely car and a lovely person.
The respectful tone of the vast majority of posts is a major thing that keeps me coming back to this site and makes me think about becoming a contributor.
Agreed. This site’s comment section is one of the few that’s actually constructive and civil. And a pleasure to read. Most others degenerate into trolling and bile instantly these days.
+1
I found this article written by Margaret about her Mercedes. It’s a 1966 230S.
http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2007/02/1966_mercedes_benz_230s.html
I am sure she would be delighted to find out about the Curbside Classic article.
That was excellent, thanks for the link! It puts a few assumptions, some stated and some perhaps not so stated to rest…
Thanks. And that article is obviously where the picture came from. I’ve updated the post and included the article.
You’re welcome!
I seem to be in the minority, but I think that parts of this post and comments are not appropriate for CC.
The first photograph of an attractive young woman in front of her interesting car taken at a time when many of the men on this site were a similar age, gets attention – I understand that. But the second photograph has nothing to do with cars and, together with some of the subsequent comments about Ms. Ransohoff and the results of internet searches about her, are in poor taste and at least a little creepy.
It doesn’t matter that the second photograph and other information referred to is freely available on the web, or whether it is or isn’t legal to publish them on this site – they have no relevance to CC and it isn’t respectful to post them here.
If later photographs or other material was about her life with cars (or, even better, showed she still had the Merc) or there was a link to the article Oliver Twist found, that would have been fine. If Ms. Ransohoff wants to come here and tell us about her life, that’s up to her – but can we please stick to the cars?
Please read it again. I’ve updated it with more information as well as an explanation as to why I posted it as I did.
but can we please stick to the cars?
What I enjoy the most about Curbside Classic is the articles about the people and their every day ‘relationships’ with the vehicles. I am always fascinated about how the people end up owning or driving this or that vehicle(s), and what sort of experience they have with their vehicles. Thus, the popularity of COAL (Cars of the Lifetime) articles.
I had to read the article once again to see if Paul was trolling for the photos of ‘cars with pretty chicks’ and posting them in a sexist way. The way I see, it isn’t. Margaret, in her own volition, chose to post the photo of herself and her Mercedes along with a brief article about the photo. Otherwise, she wouldn’t want to post the photo and the article in the first place, anyway.
If Curbside Classic and its wide variety of vehicle-related subjects isn’t your cup of tea, there are other websites that focus solely on the cars and their mechanical aspects. That would be boring if the cars don’t have background stories written by ordinary people with real life experiences of owning or driving them.
Has her dorm stereo system in the back seat. Pioneer must have made a fortune back in those days. They were equivalent to Apple today in terms of reach.
Pioneer was one of the “go to” brands for stereo equipment back in that era, unless of course you had tons of money and were willing to spend it. I always felt it was better to spend less on the equipment and then have more money to spend on records (you kids might have to Google “records”, or ask some older person). I have a Pioneer AM/FM receiver that I purchased in the late seventies that served as the amplifier for a turntable, cassette decks and now a CD player. I don’t use it as much as I once did but there was a time when it stayed on for days at a time; still works as well as it did when new.
That is one sweet Benz. I’ve always felt that MB cars peaked in the late ’50s and ’60s. My first exposure was to a best friend’s Dad’s car, a ’58 190? “ponton” in black with red leather, a jewel of a precision automobile, with doors that closed with a solid “thunk” and interior reminiscent of a fine English library, all wood and leather. Rather unlike our ’59 Ford!
On my walk to Towson Elementary school on Allegheny Avenue, across from the entrance into the Towson “Y” there was a seemingly eccentric guy (I never met him) named Crabtree who always had 2 or 3 big MB “Adenauer” sedans in various states, and a gray-beige big Cabriolet with those landau S bars, under a cobbled on carport on the side of his rather tatty house… evidently he had his priorities!I always wanted to look at them close up but didn’t. These were huge imposing cars of the highest order and I’ve never seen one in person since, they are hugely expensive now and real testaments to MB’s quality.
In the mid 70s we went through a German car phase and owned a black/red 1960 220 SE (when our daughter was born, she came home from the hospital in it, and ever since then we’ve blamed that for her expensive taste!), and luckily there was an excellent German-trained mechanic, Herr Metteler, in town who kept it running like a fine watch and could work on it without causing us to go into bankruptcy. With a 2.2 six it had to be thrashed to get up any speed, but with the 4 spd column shifting was kind of fun, and it seemed to like it! Biggest mistake I ever made car-wise was to trade it for a BMW 2800, 2.8L Six 4 spd. Lovely car to drive but a money pit extrodinaire!
A friend had an elegant silver/red ’65 300SE, the air suspension was a problem, but again what wonderful car, these ’60s MBs were beautifully built, if somewhat underpowered, automobiles. No they didn’t have the gizmos and power of a Cad or Chrysler, but their workmanship and materials were stellar, and the mechanical FI wrung out every bit of power out of those SOHC 6s. I’ve always felt the 108s and Pagodas were the last of the best MBs, and that the later mid-’70s onwards models just lacked that Old World craftsmanship feeling, somehow. All things must pass. BTW I don’t see anything inappropriate here.
I remember that guy! I’ve mentioned him here. Did you know he had a 300SL Gullwing in the garage? Seriously. One day I walked by there and he was taking it out for a rare drive. It was in a rather ratty state; not really bad, but just old and neglected. he was just pulling it out when I came by, and then drove off. Quite a sight.
Wow Paul, I don’t remember a 300SL, but then again these days I don’t remember a lot of things lol! The big sedans really made an impression, I’ve never have seen another and it seems not many were made. My recollection is that his kids in my school always looked kind of neglected, like all his cars, and the house was next to an empty lot that always needed mowing and was always in a sort of marginal condition, not quite fitting in with the fairly nice neighborhhood. I always wondered how he was able to have those rare and fancy cars! I think I remember someone telling me he was a mechanic, probably a good owner for those cars! If he hung onto them he could probably retire on their sale! Is there a link to the previous mention? I didn’t see it under the 1952 300 sedan story.
No link to a post; I’ve just mentioned it in a few comments over the years.
I have all the exact same memories about the place; I can see it in my mind’s eye. And yes, I was a bit blown away when I saw the 300SL.
I suppose it’s possible that he acquired it after you were around. It was in a small old garage or shed, at the front of a carport. Actually, I don’t remember all those 300s that you saw; one, maybe two.
It may well have been 1 or 2, or maybe not even at the same time, again, possible brain fade. I’m pretty sure at some point there was a cabrio, though, as those S bars on the side of the top kind of stick in my mind. We left at the end of summer ’68.
Now I’ve got a hankering for a (small) late ’50s M-B…this place is dangerous! I’m sure I won’t act on it, but still….
Even in its original form, Paul’s post was respectful. This image seems to have done the rounds (or found its way to the top of searches); I came across it many times when researching my heckflosse piece. Let this picture be celebrated for what it is – a beautiful young woman posing in front of her exotic first car. From the news article, Ms. Ransohoff clearly has some sort of affinity with cars and I hope she chimes in at some point.
How marvelous, I suspect my daughter is also the type who will appreciate a quirky car to get to her first job in college.
But what will be a quirky car in 2022 when she is a college sophomore?
The same 1966 Mercedes-Benz 230S.
A definite human interest story. I’m instantly drawn to the Girl, but the car has me dreaming away because my dad’s father had a chocolate brown 220 down in Miami, FL. Grampa of course groused about the cost of maintenance, but held onto it for 10 years before trading it in for an AMC Hornet sedan in the early 1970s. I hope her parents continued to support her during the years she had it. The blurb she wrote with the picture suggests that she held onto her first car for many years.
My high school crush’s first car was a lime green ’72 Pinto Runabout. Fortunately her parents upgraded her by senior year to a new Mercury Monarch II coupe which she held onto for many years.
Related reading:
http://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-outtake/cc-outtake-1966-heckflosse-reporting-for-duty/
This is an amazing Google inspired find in your case and in mine. I was searching under vintage MBZs. As it so happens, the subject Margaret from Bay Village, OH, in the discussion and in the ’66 MBZ 230 photo, was my steady girlfriend at college between fall of ’71 to the winter of ’72. Sadly we went our separate ways, I graduated in ’73, went off to work for Douglas then Boeing, I think she graduated in ’75. She was then and from the latter photo you posted, she still is a lovely and sweet woman with whom I was totally smitten. I have fond memories to this day, and her as the one that got away. As to that stereo one of you guys recognized in the back seat of the car was a system incl. the Pioneer speakers, that I had procured for her in the summer of ’72. I had it shipped from Japan by a friend who lived on an US Army base in Japan where I used to live as a dependent. What’s really amazing is oddly enough, I ended up purchasing a ’67 MBZ 230S in Los Angeles with 100,000 miles on it in ’75. So obviously we had similar tastes. Drove it for another 100K miles before I sold it for the same price I originally bought it, $2600 in ’82. The pinion gear in the rear axle was “singing” too much and got on my nerves. I went on to other ‘quirky’ cars like ’82 Renault Fuego, ’84 Cadillac Seville slant back, then in Germany I finally straighten up and leased a BMW 525TDi that my company paid for.
Thanks for adding the additional backstory and your experiences. You’ve made the story more complete and real.
Hi Guys – it’s Margaret! A friend alerted me to this Curbside Classics posting: what a cool surprise. I’m honored by your comments and they are as chaste as the photo. And with a name like mine, there’s nowhere to hide from Google!
So I DID acquire a passion for nice German cars, both used and new. In addition to the 230, I’ve had (in approx. order) a Karmann Ghia, some VW beetles, a couple BMW 325s (the career years), several BMW station wagons (the carpool years), and several MB station wagons (the garden club years). My current ride is an MB 450E 4matic wagon: lucky girl. But of all these great cars, my fav is my ’79 VW convertible (purchased new, pictured here) which I still have and enjoy. I drove it to work for a few years, and then it went into storage, to be driven only on sunny days. It still looks and runs like new; I will never part with it! And the ’66 MB230? It eventually became my brother’s post college career car, going with him to South Carolina and then back to Cleveland. It always ran beautifully but finally succumbed to rust. Thank you Curbside Classics for the opportunity to indulge in so many great car memories!
Margaret,
Thanks for your comment. It’s always nice to hear from the actual owners of the cars (or bodies) we post here.
I’m adding your VW Cabrio image to my post, as I can’t actually add it to yours. Sweet car.
My guess about your current ride was right! 🙂
Are you able to add the VW image somewhere? It completes the tale!
I don’t know what happened; I was sure I had attached it. Here it is:
Nice Cabrio in a great color! Margaret, you’ve had (and still have!) some wonderful cars over the years, thanks for chiming in here!
+1 Great colour. Thanks for letting us know a bit more about you and your classics Margaret.
Cool car, lovely lady.. I had a similar car in black with red interior. Was a 230 but don’t believe it was an S.Belonged to a fellow I knew at work. It sat at a repair shop in my area but not the best neighborhood. Had a chunk of concrete through the windshield and the head was in the trunk. Got it for $300. Cleaned and detailed it inside and out. A visitor at my house fell in love with it. Gave me $1500 for it, hole in the windshield and head still in the trunk.. Would have been sweet done.. Never saw it again
As attractive as the subject vehicle is I do not believe it is a 230 S (W111) but a 230 with no “S” (W110) as evidenced by the single headlights. I have owned two Mercedes-Benz 230 S, a 1966 project and a 1967 year model pictured here which I owned in the early 2000s.
Two things that distinguish a 230 from a 230 S externally are the 230 S has stacked dual headlights and bumperettes above the front full-width bumper instead of a single headlight on each side and a single bumper. Also, the fintail (note my forum name) on the 230 S features a stainless steel trim piece starting from the tail light bezel and extending along the top of the fin and onto the rear doors.
All that said, congratulations to the Margaret Ransohoff of fifty years ago for choosing such a wonderful first automobile. BTW, my first automobile was a 1971 BMW 1600. The Mercedes-Benz came much later. 🙂
For some reason I could not add two images to the same post so here is the rear 1/4 view of the 230 S “fintail.”
My first time driving a Mercedes was in one of these. In 1966 I had just got my licence. I was with my parents at our cottage in the country and I was visiting a neighbour who was a family friend and a doctor (she had been my pediatrician). One of her brothers (also a doctor) was visiting her with his family and he was driving a 230S 4 speed. He knew I was interested in cars and he took me for a short ride up the gravel road. When he turned around to go back he asked if I wanted to drive. Of course! It really was a revelation. Several years earlier he had had a very serious accident while driving a Mercedes. He said the only reason he survived was because of the strength of the Mercedes and he only ever drove them after that.
Back in high school in the early 1970’s we had a young male teacher who drove a brown fin tail, a four head light version. That seemed pretty unusual as the teacher was probably only around 30 years of age. The car was probably a mid 60’s model and five or six years old. Mercedes weren’t seen as being rich people’s cars at the time, just distinctive and for the discerning driver. I had a classmate who would drive her parent’s Pagoda coupe to school on occasion. That car left a stronger impression.
This photo is all about Margaret caressing the headlamp ring with both hands….
I just recently found this photo below, which is the only one I have of me with my first car but without other people, 20 years old at the time. Obviously neither me nor my car are as fetching as Margaret or hers. This has to be one of the least flattering photos of me ever, even compared to others taken this same day. Bad hair day, bad clothes day (everything is 8-year-old hand-me-downs from Sears and doesn’t fit right). As for the car, an ’82 Pontiac J2000 LE, the usual GM paint that dulls at a much faster rate on the plastic body parts than the metal ones and looks awful; this car was only four years old. I should have bought an old Mercedes instead…j
The internet is so good and so bad at the same time. And IMO this is a so good example. It all seemed fine until Margaret herself jumped in and then it was great! I’m not one who typically describes things as sweet stories, but this one is a sweet story. Just made me smile.
And kudos and best wishes to Margaret.
Why on god’s green earth would you consider this post “inappropriate?” This country is way too soft.
This looks near identical to the “Heckflosse” 220SE we had in the mid-70s, and ours was in this nice condition but had a red leather & wood interior, a stunning combination and just right for an understated but sort of luxurious car. As a small-time vintage car dealer i’ve owned about 350 cars but I’d say none of them were built better than this one. IMO M-B and Cadillac were both at their peak in the early ’60s, but very different kinds of cars and customers. I’ll take one of each.
pic 220SE similar to ours in 1974.
pic
220SE with red leather
pic
https://www.dreamstime.com/black-mercedes-benz-s-sedan-w-displayed-national-jamboree-surakarta-indonesia-november-was-chassis-code-given-to-range-image304625569
You have indeed generated a lifelong subscriber in me! I read CC every single day and although I rarely comment, I’ve come to know the regulars and feel like part the gang. CC has also reignited my passion for old, classic cars and instead of the usual gardening publications that all my friends study, my coffee table is loaded with books about classic cars and their designers.
My idea of a good time is a day spent at the local Crawford Auto Museum.
Also, I recently entered my classic VW Cabriolet in a European car show and won a small award!
I forgot to mention in my earlier post that my family is from Shaker Heights too! But they moved to Silver Spring, MD a few years before I was born.
Home:
Well, thanks for unveiling another Cleveland attraction! I’ve been to the Art Museum there – a fine museum! – but have somehow managed to miss the Crawford Auto museum that seems to be virtually across the road. DOH!
It’s also great to hear from folks who read but seldom comment. Obviously there’s more readers in that category than those who do actually comment, but it’s always good to have evidence that you’re out there.
Hi Margaret, Nice to hear from you again. And thanks for being such a loyal supporter of CC. Love your Cabrio!
J’ai trouvé cette photographie sur Internet et je l’ai trouvé immédiatement magnifique. Cette Mercedes et sa propriétaire sont extrêmement photogéniques. J’habite en France et je possède une MercedeS 250 S type W 108 de 1966 également. C’est une voiture merveilleuse que j’utilise depuis 2007. Félicitations à Mme Ransohoff en tout cas… OT