California issued pink slips in the early years in lieau of****les. If a vehicle ownership history for an early vehicle needs to be traced back in California prior to Carfax, is there a recommended way to do that someone has recently used ? Jim
The Privacy act pretty well makes it illegal for the govt to hand out info to the general public. I am****uming that you are wanting to check on a no****le California car you either have or are looking at. Even Car fax does not show who owned a car at any one time it just shows were and when it was sold over the years. And no your law enforcement buddy can't check for you and give you info as that is fully illegal. A cop buddy of mine wouldn't even run a vin to give a yes/no if it had ever been reported as stolen when I was looking at a no****le car that didn't have an engine and had been sitting for years. I have found paperwork in cars before that would lead back to a previous owner. That included an insurance card and old registration slip. I even found the****le in a no****le parts rig a guy gave me one time.
You can call the DMV with the VIN/SN, see if it’s reported stolen, has a lien/back fees, etc. But as mentioned, they won’t give you much more.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread, ownership history has been documented from 1984 to the current owner by FOMOCO. Apparently Ford Motor Company kept records of ownership history as information became available to them. It has been a California car going back to 1984, so the odds are the vehicle has always been in California. Jim
This is the vehicle I have been researching. 1956 Ford Continental Mark 2. My research paid off ! The first three owners … The dealership the car was first shipped to in California … What happened to the dealership ? Jim
Interesting provenance of big money $$$. Leonard Firestone of the Firestone Tire co (who survived a kidnapping attempt!): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Firestone Edward W. Carter of The Broadway Department store chain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_W._Carter Durward Howes looks to have owned jewelry stores. Would be cool to photograph the car in the driveways of their Beverly Hills, Bel Air and Pasadena estates.
I edited that post because I had inserted the wrong image. The first three owners were significant California folks as you pointed out. Durward Howes was a Jaycees National VP and President of the Los Angeles Jaycees who helped found the Pasadena Jaycees. Jim
I was able to research the history of this vehicle online, this is public information. The first owner who bought the car from the dealer was Leonard Firestone, the youngest son of Harvey Firestone. His Wikipedia page @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leona...e was elected,Gerald Ford, serving until 1976 Jim
That puts a bit different spin on things than trying to illegally find out who currently owns a car you spotted on the street or trying to hunt down the current owner of a car you or your dad or Grandpa used to own. I still wouldn't post full addresses though as that may still be and invasion of privacy.
No difference in the eyes of the law whether you owned the car or saw it on the street - both have same privacy rules. If you found it on the internet it's not private but still not ethical to repost. CA has/had hand searchable records that they would search for a fee. They also let certain individuals - PIs and insurance investigators access them. One insurance guy killed that when he and a couple other guys started building new Cobras using****les that had been surrendered to DMV. Later CA privacy laws went into effect and there were even cops disciplined for running plates for their friends. The CA "Pink Slip" is a****le - it stated Certificate of Ownership - It has a place for the registered owner and another for the legal owner (usually a bank or finance company). The Firestone's owned two of them: https://www.markiiforum.com/database/xxxxxoriginalowners.pdf C56 E 2894 Firestone, Harvey S., Jr. MI C56 S 3912 Firestone, Leonard CA 3912 = exterior D22 Med. Gray Iridescent interior 1Q10L Lt Gray Ltr Lt Gray Ltr Dp Gray Ltr AC, BG (ft bmpr lic guard), -DSO Pnt = special features 1 of 5 with this color/trim Firestone, Leonard Beverly Hills L-M Inc. From production data, DSO designation was used whenever unique features/options were ordered. You should go online and update the MKII registry last entry was over 12 years ago. https://www.markiiforum.com/forum.php
The information regarding the trademark/vin plate came from a member of the Continental Mark 2 forum who provided it to me on a Facebook group we both are members of, This Continental was unknown prior to my research, it has now been entered into the Continental Mark 2 database. You provided ownership history in your post, my research is historical. Jim
My research is complete. Using public information posted on the internet and keyword searches along with records provided from posts made by folks on car forums, the ownership history has been documented for my subject vehicle from the date shipped from Ford Motor Company to the selling dealership and the first three owners and current owner, there is a period of ownership that I could not conclusively establish. The selling dealership no longer exists and no ownership history physical addresses were disclosed by me in the process. For those interested in finding the ownership history of a vehicle, it is possible to find answers but it takes time and effort. Thanks to all who contributed to this discussion … Jim
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