History Shot in the dark for dads ford

Hey guys. So I have always heard the stories of my dad’s cars and hardly had photos of them. Well my uncle happened upon an old pic of their 53 ford. It would be amazing to find it or locate its whereabouts. I’m going to dig deeper for a vin or anything more but they bought the car used in Utah in 1957, brought it to Glendale CA in 1960. The latest pics of it in Glendale had the Utah plates. But figured I’d start here! Thanks for lookinh

 

I'm gong to put it this way. First doing what you are thinking by searching for it with the vin is illegal as it violates the privacy act. Second and just important would you want some clown who calls himself Creepyjoe showing up on your door step unannounced asking about his dad's old car that you are listed as the owner of? If someone showed up at my place doing that they would be talking to the cops as fast as the cops got there.
If someone can see it from the road and knows where it is, that is one thing. If you see it on the road or in a parking lot or at a show and ask about it, that is honest. Using means that by law you are not allowed to just flat does not set well with me.

 

What privacy act? Each state has its own privacy laws (and when his father owned the car, registrations were considered public records). The OP has not said what he plans to do with the vin if he finds it. Posting a partial vin to sites like this or entering it on search engines to see if someone has posted it somewhere is different than trying to access current DMV registration information. Best case scenario, finding the car online may let him see the car at a show or cruise and get to know the owner.
Its still a long shot, but if the OP’s uncle remembers any mods that they did to the car, posting those may trigger someone’s memory.

 

It looks like a stock 52 or 53 Ford. Photo looks like 54 plate, with 54 Cad in background.
Not much chance of finding it 60+ years later.
Best chance is take notes from uncle's memory, then build a clone.

 

Yeah absolutely nothing illegal about searching by vin. There are even government websites to assist doing so. Heck when I got a Carfax on a car twenty years ago it even told me the addresses of all previous owners back to like 1986

 

Looks like a great neighborhood too. Would be interesting to see it now.