How do I track down a car the was sold many years ago

[John348]

I came upon some old paperwork of some of the cars my Father had and he sold in the 80's. I never had seen or heard of them since. One car in particular was a 1939 Pontiac 8 cylinder two door sedan. It was even used as a "prop' car when the original Godfather was filmed. I have the VIN and the paperwork has anyone tried to find one? Maybe I don't want to find it I have a fear it was rodded, even though it was a nicely restored car. I was restoring this car with my father in 70's and this car was the one that hooked me into the hobby. I look and really don't come upon many for sale. In 1939 GM really had the art deco look down pat with the grills on on all of the cars that year

[mercer09]

HI John,

 

no real way to do a trace, unless you remember or know who bought it and then trace back.

 

You could also go to the Pontiac club, give your information and see what comes up.  Most records are gone out of dmv's system in pretty much 15 years in any state.

 

Hope you find it.

[60FlatTop]

1 hour ago, John348 said:

One car in particular was a 1939 Pontiac 8 cylinder two door sedan.

 

Was it a medium gray car with origins in South Carolina or Tennessee?  It might be the car my Son was almost born in, 1981.

 

Being conceived in an old car, yeah, I can see that easily. Born, that's a whole different story.

Bernie

[John348]

No it was black, always was a NYC car, I think my dad found it in the Bronx from the original owners son around 1969 or 70. He sold it around 1984, needed more space

[GARY F]

there is a lost car registery website. try there.

[John348]

2 hours ago, GARY F said:

there is a lost car registery website. try there.

 will do,

thanks

[Harold]

Punch the VIN into Google.  It may have been posted online in an ad at some point.

[Frantz]

I always love a good hunt. It certainly isn't always easy. The technology is there in many cases, but often, especially with these older machines, the owners may have very limited online presence. First you'll want to build as much of a dossier of the car as possible. Identifying features, vin, people, locations. Anything that will help. Then see if you can determine how it was marketed when he sold it. If it was just the local paper, there is a decent chance it stayed local for some time. Obviously find out if your car has enough hobby interest to find a registry and get that list. Find examples of the model online and start crossing them off the list. Depending on how much info you have on the car you'll either be able to make a quick ID once you have a small list, or else you can do a deeper cross off by elimination ("I've owned this car since 1970"). Folks who own similar cars will know where a few more of them are. Treat it like a crime and you might just get lucky!

[60FlatTop]

20 hours ago, John348 said:

Maybe I don't want to find it I have a fear it was rodded, even though it was a nicely restored car.

 

If you do find it be careful, those Godfather producers may have replaced the safety glass with something more dramatic.

 

[John348]

1 hour ago, 60FlatTop said:

 

If you do find it be careful, those Godfather producers may have replaced the safety glass with something more dramatic.

 

 

No, we stayed with the car the entire time. We had to have it a hanger at JFK early in the morning the cars were parked in the hanger sort of like an indoor show. One of the production guys drove around in a golf cart and picked the cars he wanted for the scene and off we went to where they wanted it. It was a big deal for my Father, he took two weeks of his vacation time just to it. My father would let nobody drive his car let alone touch replace the glass. We never found the car in the film, The scene must have gotten cut out. It was just parked in the back round. The Lincoln that Sonny was shot in was a display piece at the New York International Auto Show at the New York Coliseum, I remember seeing the car. My dad and I used to go to it every year 

The famous "Sonny gets whacked" scene was shot in Mitchell Field complex. where Charles Lindberg took off from. The prop guys made up a toll plaza and the rest was Hollywood. 

Thinking about it now the car was not really that old at the time, only about 30 years old.  

 

15 hours ago, Harold said:

Punch the VIN into Google.  It may have been posted online in an ad at some point.

 

I tried it no luck, just a thought I have it would be great to see where it ended up. The thread a few weeks ago here on the site with the Hershey footage from the 60's got me motivated with the question "where are they now?"