Art & Inspiration History lessons-learning where your car used to live

One part of my vehicle has a lot of very old scratches and surface rust but I can make out two names scratched into that area. Same surname and the christian/given names are male names. I looked up the surname/names and found a family with sons whose names match the two names scratched onto my vehicle. One day ... I might see if I can contact them. I bought it from a wheeler-dealer and I have no idea of its previous history apart from the possible clue of the two scratched names.

 

Awesome thread! Somewhere…deep in the bowels of this place I know I have a lot of paper on my 55. I’ve been curious about where it went to. Now I may actually make a serious search.

 

My '36 Chevy pickup came off the original owners farm in Janesville WI. in 1970. Still have the old title showing all the names on it...Got passed around between 3-4 guys who never re-register it, just took it apart. I bought it off the last "owners" Brother (my high school shop teacher and good friend) in '79. My '36 Ford Tudor was bought in Iowa in '61 from the original owner by the deceased husband of the widow I bought it from in '93. He drove it all thru college, brought it back to Illinois, hot rodded and drove it till he parked it in '69. Still have my Chevy but the Ford's gone to Morgan Hill, Ca. Mitch

 

I know most of the history of my '40 two-many door as it's been in the family since July of 1941 and also have the last name of the original owner, but have never been able to track him down. A bunch of years ago a good friend of mine whos' dad was one of the managers at the Ford dealership where it was purchased checked for me and found the all the early records had been pitched in the late '50's. Dead end on that one...

My '31 roadster came from California to the Northwest sometime in the late 60's-early 70's. I worked with the guy I purchased it from and have spoken to the son of the owner prior to that. The only real piece of history about it is this California bill of sale from the early 60's. Found it jammed down in the bottom of the passenger side cowl when I tore the body apart. That side of body cowl was soaked with oil from the last 80 years or so, and at first I thought it was just a piece of the old black tar paper insulation that Ford used in those days. After looking a lot closer I thought I could see printing on it so I soaked it in acetone for a few hours. That cleaned it up pretty well but unfortunately also removed any hand-written information on it... wish I'd been able to save it.

 

info from the vin # shows our Ford Victoria was assembled in Long Beach Ca in May of 1956. The person who reassembled it purchased it in 2013 by a receipt I found with all the paperwork that came with the car including photos. He paid 3K for it and it was partially stripped to make a “drag car” but never cut up. A 9” Ford rear was in the car. It was also all white but was originally blue and white. Nothing is known from 1956 to 2013 other it was bought in the Phoenix area of Arizona. There are photos of the body off the frame and from them the body or frame did not have any rust anywhere. The 9” was removed and the car was assembled as built by the gentleman over 8 years. All work including painting was done by him. There was over 40k of receipts in a file which I have and a disc with over 100 photos that came with the car. Due to bubbling places in the paint I had the car stripped to bare metal and repainted 5 years ago and there were no patch panels or evidence of rust repair. The speedo showed 89k miles when I bought it and I didn’t find a receipt for a purchase of one so I’m guessing it was the original miles.
I felt it spent it’s life in the “Valley of the Sun” and I was lucky to find one this good in Peoria Az.

 

Bought my Shoebox in town from the original owner 3 miles from my house 56 years ago. Been trying to remember his name for two days now. I suppose I have some paperwqork somewhere

 

My 63 2d sedan monterey lived in malverne long island.one owner till exported here.
My 64 cadillac last known owner lived long island massapequa, which is something like 15 miles from malverne.and my 57 turnpike cruiser was last registered queens new york, not too long from these two...
My 63 marauder came from Dallas texas. and my 63 monterey convertible somewhere texas.

 

Years ago I bought a ‘60 Falcon from a Recycler ad. It actually did belong to a “Little Old Lady from Pasadena”. She bought it new and it had been used by her, her kids and lastly her grandkids. It was all original with one rebuild on the engine. The seats had been recovered by her in extreme duty bus seat cover material. There were no dents or rust, original paint, faded and scratched, and all of the chrome, stainless and glass was nice. When we stripped the paint we found no repairs and only one 1/8” pin hole of rust in the bottom of the driver’s side quarter panel.
Obviously, the kids respected Grandma’s car.

P.S. - The old 144 burned a piston on the way home from Pasadena to San Pedro, crop dusting the last few embarrassing miles. It got replaced with a Mustang 200” six and a C4 and later a 302 and 5 spd.

 

My '63 Riviera was owned by the same extended family since new (until I bought it in 2022), so I got the original title and a bunch of other stuff with it. It lived in the same town for almost 60 years. It even came with the "Glove Box Copy" with its build date and option codes.

I also own an OT car that's been in my family since it was three years old in 1968, so I have names of all the owners. It's lived within a 10-mile radius its whole life. Come to think of it, I have an OT Firebird whose title was in the original owner's name when I bought it. I love searching through my cars' paperwork for their histories.

That is a cool wagon, Jim.

 

So you could probably take pictures of the car in front of all the houses where it lived?

That IBM card is fantastic!

 

I could! Of course, a few of the addresses belonged to my parents and grandparents. Unfortunately, the Riviera lived a thousand miles away in the mountains of North Carolina, so there probably won't be any pictures in front of that house unless I get ambitious for a road trip to that area. I kept the 1963 North Carolina plate the car came with on the front of the car to commemorate its previous home, but it's actually come BACK home in a way. I live about 45 minutes from Flint, where it was built.

 

Thanks Anthony.

 

Cool thread Jim, I love searching out history.
My Chevy was built in Tarrytown, NY and ended up in Malden, Ma in the early 70s.
The guy I bought it from pulled the six out and installed a 59 283, Muncie M20, and 4.10 posi. He drove it until 1976 when his wife told him " we need a family car"
Here it is in front of his house circa 1975
The roadster was put together from parts from many New England sources. Built in my garage and "completed" in 2017, so no real history on the car as a whole but some of the parts have history. The rear end was the main component of our family camping trailer since the 50s. The door skins were bought at the last Amherst swap meet. They had very old Bell telephone logos on them

 

Have yet to trace the background on my 32 Ford Sport Coupe purchased several years ago in Ankeny Ia. that was purchased in Wisconsin around the mid 80's by that owner who provided me with photo's when purchased with a later flathead & dash mounted tachometer & a visible antique license plate number. I began a process of tracing the ownership with that info & the vin number at the Wis. d.m.v. but hit a snag of which I don't recall the nature. Just wondering if anyone has dealt through the state of Wisconsin with a similar request & can provide any insight before proceeding once again. Thanks, Ron

 

I know where mine has lived for the last 70 years. I have owned it for 53 of those 70. I can track it back to 1954 when two young kids bought it off a car lot in Avon Ohio. Story goes that neither one of them had a drivers license. Try that today. They both belonged to a car club called the stylers. They put an olds 303 with a hydromadic in it in the mid 50s. I was able to track down the guy that owned it from 1954 to 1967 and originally built it as a hot rod/ custom. He sold it to a car dealer in my town sometime in 1967. I seen it in the car dealers drive way some time in 67. I was only 14 years old at the time. It was metallic blue with a white top. I told my brother who drove a 40 standard coupe with a Pontiac motor adapted to the early Ford drive line that I would love to own that car. Flash forward to 1971 a 40 Ford was advertised in the local paper . To shorten the story I bought it for $350. Was able to track down the guy that bought it in 54 and took him for a ride in his old car we were both smileling.

 

My Henry J was apparently a Christian Ministry project, according to this "tract' that came with it.

Gary

 

Great thread.... a one owner woman in Montana named Filomena bought our 1949 Dodge 3 window new...,I was intrigued that most women in 1949 drove standard shift...Didnt stop me from taking apart and hot rodding it the same week i bought it...

 

That Henry J story is great!
It turns out that in its case, this record is true!

 

I have the paperwork for my '59 Chevy 36 stashed away somewhere, so no pics, but it was purchased new in Evanston, WY by a guy from Rawlins named Ted Nueman, and he owned a trucking company called Nueman Transit Co, that hauled uranium around Jeffrey City, WY. They used my 4wd as a service truck for those trucks, and I'm guessing he had 5 haul trucks, since mine has "No. 6" on the cowl. It's currently repowered with a 402, to keep up with traffic, of course I be owner #4.

 

I wish I had more info on my car, but as far as I can tell the guy that I bought it from got it from his buddy in Northern Indiana. It had been sitting in his backyard with the intention of being rebuilt one day, but it became more of a jungle gym than a project.
As far as I can figure the rear tail lights, and front marker lights and the gauges were all leaded in with pieces of a black and white interior, and traces of dark metallic red

 

Not morbid to me, not even a little bit. Respectful, proper, custodial.
If someone visited my Mom's grave in the 55 Ford wagon or the 62 Country Squire she drove, I wouldn't think it was anything but cool. All good Squirrel.

 

I found my old A- bone coupe in a farmers woods in 1978. He had junked it many years before. He also had a 28 phaeton with the back cut off that he was using to feed his cows. I asked him if he would sell me the old coupe in the woods? He said that he didn't want to sell it. I asked why? He said he may need the gas tank someday. So I would visit him a lot, and help him feed his cows too. He finally gave in to my pestering him, and sold me the coupe for $100. I took this picture of him when we were feeding his cows, also of the coupe then, and now.

 

I bought my '64 Plymouth locally from a private owner. The keys he supplied with the vehicle came with an old, well-worn, embossed leather key fob from a Plymouth dealer in Florida. St. Petersburg, if I remember correctly.

It all made a lot of sense as I had to do some patchwork for a bit of rust damage in the cowl vent on the driver's side at the base of the windshield. There was a fair amount of sand collected in that area that had plugged the cowl drain and held moisture. And looking up at that area from under the dash it had some previous patching done with fiberglass before I got the car.

There was no owner's manual or any other paperwork included with the car that indicated the selling dealer.

 

I know the history of my '52 Chevy truck with a certainty to the '60s... but having known the former owner, I feel confident that it's more like the late '50s. He bought a small country store in '55, and told me that the '52 "weren't new, but it weren't real old" when he had gotten it and used it as a delivery truck. His son remembers the truck and an old Willys Jeep as being used while he was in school in the early '60s. The old store is still open, albeit used as more of a deli today than a general store, and I'll be getting pics there again once I get the old guy back on the road.
The history of the A and the '46 though, are lost to time.

 

I remembered! Last name was Brainard !

 

My late father-in-law bought my car at an auction in Amarillo in '97. He bought it just to flip, trailered or drove it to his home in the Madill, OK (Lake Texoma) area, but never put a for sale sign on it. I found out about the car at his funeral, and bought it from my mother-in-law. I got a never-transfered Wyoming title with it.I trailered it to where we lived in Colorado Springs where it sat in my driveway for 4 years, then drove it for a year. After retiring in '03 and moving to Amarillo (wife's home town), it sat in storage in Colorado for another year. Drove it down to Amarillo in '04, started restoration in '05, finished in '16. When I got to the rocker panels, I found some 1975 newspapers from Casper stuffed in the rockers. So, after being built in San Jose,Ca., I think it's a safe assumption the car spent most it's life in Wyoming. I have no idea how it ended up at the auction house in Amarillo.

 

I have the chain of custody for my Chrysler from new, but I have never found anyone that had a photograph of it before I saw it in person in 2007.

The original owner purchased it from Reinauer Bros Motor Co on September 17, 1957
His wife sold it to her maintenance man on January 16, 1995
He passed away November 19, 2007
His daughter sold it to her friend, who sold it to me on January 20, 2008

I have names, dates, addresses... but no old photos. You can rest assured, I've made up for it since.

 

Cool wagon Jim. Our 57 came from California originally. It had 68 tags & a Pollard ? Van Nuys blvd dealer plate frame on it. Also a very old hard to read LA Valley (something) parking sticker thats since all but dust now. We bought it from a field in Oklahoma. Edit: Found the tag, it was last tagged in 63 not 68..
View attachment 5978301

 

Our coupe was originally built into a Hot Rod in Napa California (I have the builders name, Ive always wondered if he's still alive). It was blue w Mustang bucket seats and 283, 3speed and a 57 Ford 9" rear.
At some point it was painted yellow.
Then it made its way to Okiehoma and recieved a horrid restyle.
Gray paint (still on it) with maroon fenders and matching Vinyl top. Gray & Maroon velour button tufted interior, headliner & all... Even an overhead console with a spark o matic cassette deck.
The fella mustve been real short as he had a matching pillow made to sit on to see over the weel.
When we got it the headliner was so thick we had to crouch down to fit.
Ditched the glass running boards and fenders painted some real Henry steel black and put them on.
Also died the vinyl roof black as well.
Looks much better now. I'll have to dig for a pic before the changes.
We bought it in Fort Worth Texas from a guy named Tom around 2010-2012 ish..

 

My Dad owns this five-window that can be traced back fifty years. It first came to town in the condition of the old pic around 1975. Sat for a few years, then was sold to another hot rodder about an hour away. He used the doors and trunk on another coupe, and the bare body sat for more years till a different rodder in our town brought it back. He had it for a few years, not doing anything with it, then sold it to my Dad about 1985-ish. It got the subrails replaced back then, and put on a different frame, but not much else. It’s now at my house where I’ve been slowly adding the missing pieces and trying to make them straight.