Finding a cars original owner

That's unfortunate. It's not surprising they wouldn't have the customer name, but you would hope they would be able to cross-correlate a dealer number with the name of the dealer. Othewrise, there's not much value in knowing the dealer number. Maybe GM would have this information? Good luck getting it out of them.

Then you'd have to hope that the dealer is still in business 46 years later. Some descendant of it might be, but would they have sales records going back that far? Unlikely.

When I contacted the dealer that sold my '75 Olds, that was in 1994, only 19 years after the car was sold new to its original purchaser.

 

I've contacted GM but their numbering system changed and so the three digit code means nothing to them or their "system". Which the young lady told me only goes back to 84 or something like that anyway.

Somewhere there is (or was) a dusty book or binder in the halls of GM that lists the dealers, possibly broken out by zone and then number. I just need to find that old-timer that knows where it is.

I might try GM again, maybe I'll get someone else on the phone that can do more than put numbers into their 'system'...

 

Interesting. How did you know what number to call at GM? How much did you have to go through before you finally found the person who helped you, not that he helped you much?

 

Basically I just put GM Customer Service into Google and went from there. Took me a few people to get the person I talked to, but nothing too difficult. My question to them was whether they could provide me with information on a car based on a VIN. They said "Sure", and transferred me but when I told them how old it was, that's when I started trying other angles. Like I said, it might be worth trying again and I might end up somewhere else.

 

Interesting thread. I guess I'm in the minority here. I pretty much know the exact history of my '63 Ford Galaxie 500 (4 door sedan). I purchased it from the son of the original owner about two years ago.

To the best of his recollection: It was special ordered by his father at a dealer in Santa Barbara, Ca in late 1962. I believe it was built in Los Angeles, but I can double check the trim code plate. The family that owned it lived on an estate in Montecito and had multiple cars, so the car was rarely driven. When I was cleaning it out, I found (and saved) an oil change receipt from a Chevron in Santa Barbara. The date was listed as 1987 and the milage was listed at only 47,500 miles. About 10 years ago, his father had the engine and transmission rebuilt. The father died a couple years later and the car sat for about 8 years under a cover before I saw it up on craigslist.

The car had been living at the same address since it was new and the son stated that as they had a few station wagons over the years, the car was never used for road trips, just short trips around town, The odometer read 66,000 miles and the seller assured me that it had not turned over. From that info it's safe to assume that the car has very well never left the greater Santa Barbara area! I changed the oil and filter, and put in a new battery and the car started right up! The car is a black plate, rust-free, damage-free all original. All chrome, emblems, etc. is present and in good condition. The two-tone paint is original, though it is faded and there is some surface rust. The front seat and headliner have seen better days, but all in all, it is a solid, low milage original car that I plan on keeping for another 50 years or so.



I've had a bit less luck tracking down the history of my '73 Ford Country Squire, but I did happen to run into a previous owner of it a few months ago, just down the street from my house, in fact. I had just rebuilt the carburetor, so I was driving down the road and pulled over to make some adjustments. He recognized the car and pulled over to talk. He identified the small tear in the headliner and the blue streak coil that he had installed when he owned it 15 years ago. Turns out that he works just down the street from where I live. Small world indeed. (Sorry for the long-winded post)

 

interesting topic....
fo us up here in the province of BC...(province being the same as a 'state')...we have a 'insurance company' that was formed in the 70's...and everyone HAS to insure with them.!
and you can go in and pay them...i think 38 bux...and they will trace the car back as far as their records go .

I seem to have some dumb luck buying 1st owner/2nd owner cars....so ive never had to use them.

cant you do that thru your DMV?

 

It's a good story.

Mine is similar with my '73 Olds wagon. I bought it in January 2010 (also about two years ago) from the family that bought it new. They kept every piece of literature, every receipt, every everything about the car. I have the original window sticker and the original dealer invoice signed by the purchaser. I have a card with the salesman's name.

Contrast that with my other car, the '67 Delta 88. I know absolutely zero about its history. I can trace some of it at the Ohio BMV website which allows you to type in a VIN and see if that car is currently registered in the state. It'll give you the history for all titles issued in Ohio and the county number the vehicle is titled in currently. You would need a list of Ohio's counties arranged alphabetically and numbered to figure out which county that is.

https://ext.dps.state.oh.us/BMVOnlineServices.Public/TitleSearch.aspx

But that's it. No name of the owner or address or anything like that is available. Still, it gives you something.

 

From what I understand, we used to be able to do this.. But not since 9/11. Now they won't give out any info and I've even tried the thing where I just ask if they would pass on my info to that person and leave it up to them if they want to contact me. No dice.

 

Well....seems you have done a pretty good job of searching so far, teej. It's not easy to trace a car that old. I'm thinking you are on the right, and maybe the only, track with the dealer. How about the State Historical Society? I believe that you know what State the car was originally sold in, right? So, maybe they would have all the dealers listed somewhere and then you could track down the Poncho dealer. And if it is out of business you may be able, through the Society, get the family name of the owners of the dealership back then and find one or two of them. It's possible that the dealership records are stored away somewhere and long forgotten.
It angers me that GM is of such little help. All of us KNOW that those records are sitting SOMEwhere in the GM archives. I know a guy that sent a letter to the CEO of Ford wanting to know the history of his car because he wanted to know if it was worthy of registering it in some Ford history club or something like that. The CEO did his own search and sent a letter back of the original sale AND a letter of registry. Why not try going right to the top and just tell him that you have had no luck finding the right person and that you feel that all such info is likely sitting in one of the GM buildings......probably supervised by some old guy that has a great interest in such things. Write a short business-like letter to the CEO.
Finally, the DMV probably NEVER throws out old paper work and maybe you could try going right to the top dog there, too.
This is frustrating. Why? Because we know damn well that this info exists somewhere. Likely in several different places. Keep on keeping on....it's out there. You just need to get the right guy that isn't afraid to get off his lazy ass and help. Good luck and DO keep us posted.

 

I've had success in knowing the history/ fate of all of my mom's cars. She's had three cars since 1973 and the last two of them are at the house. The first one was a VW super beetle that she bought new in Chicago. She traded it in Nov 1984. I always wondered what happened to that car. I found the original registration card and ran a Title verification at the Illinois Secretary of State site. I was sad to know that it was junked in Nov 1989. The last car that she bought is a 1984 Volvo GL stationwagon. She bought it used in 2001 with 160k and we've added 200k since. I do have the dealer/ original owner info but I've never had the spine to look them up. I know what happened to the car since 1997 but not between 1984-96.

I have an '87 Buick Lesabre sedan with 37k miles. I bought it from the family of the original owner after she passed away. I knew the original owner and her son for all my life (hence the history of the car as well). I remember when she first bought it to replace her '59 LeSabre (that car still sits in the garage where it hasn't moved since '87). The only bad thing is that the original keys are missing since her son misplaced them and gave me a crappy set of copies. I don't have the key codes (I'd have to pull out the ign lock.. not fun) so I went to the dealer that sold the car. They were not of any use since they they don't keep any records except for the minimum gm mandates to keep. I tried to to find out what work was done for the car (she always maintained it at the dealer) but they didn't keep any of those records on their system.

The other wagon I have is a 1969 Buick Sportwagon. I bought it from the second owner who only had it for 6 months. The only paperwork that came with the car was the original pink slip that was issued in May '69. I wish I knew more direct history of the wagon (and could obtain a key to the glove box lock). The wagon was a one owner that spent its life at the same address in San Jose until 6 months before I bought it. I eventually tried contacting the daughter of the owner but I never received a reply back. The owner is still alive and I have the contact info but I don't feel comfortable contacting an elderly lady out of the blue. I tried to obtain a CA dmv Vehicle History Report but that only went back five years (mostly the period I owned the wagon) Wayne

 

In response to the original poster, try the AZ DMV. You can also see if there is a state archive that keeps records on registrations from the 1960's. If the AZ dmv didn't keep anything, then your search is most likely at an end. If the car was bought in Texas, then you could also try the same thing for TX. You could also look up city directories from the 1960's to find Pontiac dealers to see what happened to them. Wayne

 

Waynestevens,

As a matter of fact I have talked to the AZ DMV and they've said that they can't help me. Mainly because they can't release any info over the phone (I'm in Florida) due to new homeland security laws. I might be able to submit a request to their records department, but I have to have a 'good' reason. They were pretty vague on that. I've talked to a member of another board and his brother lives in the Phoenix area and is looking into it.

On another note, I recently ordered a copy of my window sticker from the same Pontiac folks that provide the build information. Rumor has it that they have a list of the dealers so I might be able to get some more information on the car, but I don't hold out any real hope that A) That dealer is still in business. or B) That they would have any info on the buyer. or C) That they would give me that info.

But then again it might help narrow things down... every little bit helps. I'll keep adding updates as I get them.

 

The guy that bought (ordered) my 72 Dodge Coronet new lives in the next town over, pesters me about wanting to buy it back. He's 88 years old and his wife told me I'd better not sell it to him. They had the car for 30 years. She's going to look through some of the family photo albums for pics of the car from thier many trips over the years.

 

The original owner recently brought me a BOX of paperwork and pictures he had stored away, he also put together a VHS tape with the wagon on it from his home movies.

 

This is so cool. I would love to meet Fannie's orginal owner(Fannie) When she is on the road this will be the first road trip we take, back to Yarmouth, NS where she was sold and lived for many years. Congrats on the paper trail.