Contacting The Original Owner/ Search Your VIN

[Guest]

First off has anyone here tried contacting the original owner of their car? Did they have success? Was the owner reasonable or did he give you a hard time or ignore you? I would like to hear some stories.

Well I tried contacting the original about four years ago which I had no success. The owner still lived at the same address he bought the car from however I think he passed away around that time also. So what I did was send another letter to the same address and noticed from the phonebook that it appears his son lives their now. So I sent the letter which is registered to make sure he signs for it and in the letter I asked some simple questions. I hope to get a reply back. To make it simple I even included a SASE.

Also is anyone familair with Birmingham Alabama 35215 and this was considered Birmingham city if I am correct? The original owner still lives in this town off 75 which is Center Point Road.

As anyone also heard of a dealership called Ed Mollison Chevrolet which is where my car was purchased which is stated on my bill of sale.

Second is their any chance I can take my VIN number and search through records of how many people owned my Chevelle? I live in New York but is their a service that will help me with this?

Thanks For All Your Help

[Guest imported_PackardV8]

gotta phone number????????? call him.

[Guest]

I sent a letter two days ago registered to that address where he still lives. I would rather send the letter first to see if I get a reply. Also I put in the envelope a SASE so he can send back the questions I had for him to answer.

[Guest imported_PackardV8]

sometimes it helps to send a pic of the car along with the letter. If its a man then have a young beauty in the pic. If its a woman correspondent try to make her think your infulential or something.

[Guest]

Yeah what I did in the letter is include a link to wraaca web site where I have pictures of the car and I am going to make updates to that page tonight which will show almost all the pictures from the restoration.

Thanks for that thoguht though!!!

[Guest Hal Davis (MODEL A HAL)]

My car was last registered in Alabama. I called the DMV in Montgomery and was told that the records for that long ago were archived and not readily available. I bet they could be found if someone wanted to go to the trouble, but I don't guess they do. I know who owned it in 1966, but before that is still a mystery.

[Guest]

There was a local character up here who I'll call "Title Czar", The guy scoured the junkyards and fleamarkets for vehicle registrations and at one point could sell you a title for almost any car but he got greedy and hooked up with some unsavory fellows who stole cars and resold them overseas with "clean titles" supplied by our friend.

Needless to say when the law caught on title czar took the fall and did time as he was not a member of a certain alleged criminal organization that affords protection,legal and otherwise to it's members.

Another scam is so outrageously funny and simple that it bears repeating. title czar had a registration for a Willys-Knight but he had no car. He eventually found one in Hemmings of the same year and model as the one on his title and asked the owner for a couple of pictures. He then used the pictures and the title to insure and register the car which,of course he had no intention of buying.

After a year or so he contacted the insurance company claiming his "car" was stolen,eventually receiving a hefty settlement which he then spent on drugs,women and liquor so at least it wasn't wasted.

Well,{ad formam nasi cognoscitur}

[Guest imported_Dwight V.]

Through PaDOT I was able to find ALL the prior owners of my Fiat. For a fee (used to be $10) they will send you a list of all the title transactions with dates (no other info). From that, you pick what 'items' you want copies of ($10 each again). They will show you the title but not the signatures, which is no big deal.

I then contacted the first owner by mail (still lived at the same address!). He was very helpful and provided a complete history of the car while he owned it. A short time later I received 8x10 Polaroid copies of photos of the car he had taken after it was purchased! Very nice guy.

The second owner I spoke with on the phone...I got his number from owner #1 as they used to be co-workers. He was also helpful but didn't seem to care if he ever saw the car again. To him it was just a car.

Third owner was a female. I found her address and drove by the house, confirmed the name on the mailbox was the same and sent her a letter with SASE asking questions and providing my phone number as well (call collect!). Never heard from her. As she was the one who drove the car into the ground it didn't surprise me.

The last person preceding me obviously was the person I bought it from and I already had his info.

It was great fun piecing together the history of the car, and pretty easy as it wasn't terribly old at the time I did this. I'm going to do the same with the truck; I know who everyone is but it is from several states away so may be more difficult.

You can read about the Fiat's history here if you want:

http://www.mongrelmotorsports.homestead.com/entry.html