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Need Help tracing 57 F series T-bird history


supercargirl

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I could use some help tracing the history of a 57 series F T-bird. We purchased the car from Frank Stubbs (and it is a wonderful car of course) and we have been able to trace all of the owners of the car save the person that bought it from Heath Motors in N. Hollywood CA in 1957. The original owner was believed to be from San Pedro CA. The car was then sold through Katt and Smolar Ford in Willmington CA in November of 1964.

Is there a way to find out who bought the car from Heath Motors. If records existed I am not sure where they would be. I actually called the dealership that exists at the same address today and it was quite an awkward conversation as the guy I was talking to couldn't understand why any company would keep records longer than seven years. I envisioned boxes of moldy records stored in the basement which was not the case so that was a dead end.

And I had a friend in CA try to look up the VIN with the DMV but that was also a dead end because apparently you not only have to live in CA to access the records you have to currently own the car in question. Unless we are understanding that wrong.

The car did some racing on the west coast.

I would appreciate any help and or suggestions anyone might be able to give on how we can find a record of the ownership on the car between 1957 and 1964.

Thanks so much.

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Hi Supercargirl,

You are pretty much out of luck when it comes to filling in missing piece of your puzzle. Most DMV records don't go back that far and states are reluctant to give out that information, as you have discovered. I tried to trace the history of my car and ran into a dead end in 1986, so you really did pretty well being able to go back as far as you did.

Lew

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Hi Supercargirl,

You are pretty much out of luck when it comes to filling in missing piece of your puzzle. Most DMV records don't go back that far and states are reluctant to give out that information, as you have discovered. I tried to trace the history of my car and ran into a dead end in 1986, so you really did pretty well being able to go back as far as you did.

Lew

Thanks Lew. I was thinking more of trying to find a past employee of Heath or Katt that may have kept some records. Or to try to find out who raced it on the west coast - but the cars were not registered of course by VIN. Bill Heath of Heath Motors was active in the community and sometimes they used the special cars, like the F series car, for promotional events. Yes, even as I write this I see it is a long shot.

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  • 2 years later...
Guest Silverbird58
On 11/20/2014 at 6:37 PM, supercargirl said:

I could use some help tracing the history of a 57 series F T-bird. We purchased the car from Frank Stubbs (and it is a wonderful car of course) and we have been able to trace all of the owners of the car save the person that bought it from Heath Motors in N. Hollywood CA in 1957. The original owner was believed to be from San Pedro CA. The car was then sold through Katt and Smolar Ford in Willmington CA in November of 1964.

Is there a way to find out who bought the car from Heath Motors. If records existed I am not sure where they would be. I actually called the dealership that exists at the same address today and it was quite an awkward conversation as the guy I was talking to couldn't understand why any company would keep records longer than seven years. I envisioned boxes of moldy records stored in the basement which was not the case so that was a dead end.

And I had a friend in CA try to look up the VIN with the DMV but that was also a dead end because apparently you not only have to live in CA to access the records you have to currently own the car in question. Unless we are understanding that wrong.

The car did some racing on the west coast.

I would appreciate any help and or suggestions anyone might be able to give on how we can find a record of the ownership on the car between 1957 and 1964.

Thanks so much.

 

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Guest Silverbird58

Bill Strainiie  Drove a code F bird For vv cook chevrolet on the beach in 57  the rear glass got sucked out he said  ! 

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