The history of your car.

Ever stop and wonder...who owned this car? Who bought it when it was new, Did they wash it every weekend, Did it get "fixed up" at one time, how did the past owners let it get this way. I wanted to track the past history of my '49 Chevy and '69 bug, so I asked the DMV for some past registrations OR anything, and they said :...ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!! They would give me NO info, Yeah I guess there could be some problems of privacy, but both my cars have been off the roads for y e a r s, and the owners are doubtful still at the same addresses, I just wanted to track the cars whereabouts! Oh well, maybe I'm just rambling!!...Ken

 

I dont know much about my pick-up other than it was an oilfield truck in and around the luling,lockhart,san marcos area.

According to the birth certificate I got for My 66 vw. It was sold on the very same Lot that my dad worked at as a new car make ready mechanic, So its possible that he worked on my old vw TWICE

 

I've always wondered about the history of the cars I owned. Years ago I bought a Limelight green '70 Roadrunner and found the original owners info in the glove box. I called information and found the people were still in the same place so I called up and asked some questions. Turned out the WIFE was the one that ordered it and the husband made her get rid of it after a few years when he decided they needed a more practical car. I about fell over laughing when she told me the story.

Nik

 

that's what carfax is for to some degree

 

John Voight used to own my Lebaron convertible.

Haha. I know what you mean. I've always wondered about that kind of stuff. I wish there was a site that you could type your car's VIN into, and it would show you all of that info.

 

Yeah, but carfax is for newer cars only.

 

I've had some weird damage to cars that seemed impossible. Such as "outies" when there was an inner panel behind, and i couldn't help but wonder how in the hell it happened. Yeah, i'd love for some of my cars to "talk"

 

Carfax only gives you the Place of purchase, city/state of registration, and damage/non-damage type stuff. I did it for my wifes '01 Impala and the print out was pretty much a repititious 10 pages,with the same info so it "looked" like a lot of info but wasn't really, well yeah I guess it WAS a lot of info, just seemed to take forever to print out!!...ALTHOUGH it did tell me what I wanted to know, like: was NOT a rebuilt car, NO insurance claims, milelage correct etc. I do recommend carfax for newer cars I think it goes back only 15 years though. out of the reach of most of "our pride -n- joys"...Ken

 

well there goes my idea...lol

 

I've often wonded about the histiory of my cars. I thought of the guys that first put them together on the****embly line as I was taking them apart. The stories that could be told if they(the cars)could only talk. I've thought about the person that bought the car new and how thrilled they were to get a new car. I wonder about the situations places they have been. I wonder if anyone or how many have been concieved in them.

 

I feel fortunate to know a little about the history of my 56 F-100.
It's not very exciting, but here goes:
The first owner bought it new in 56 and used it up until the early 90's. He was a gardner near Riverside Ca. My late uncle bought it from him and promptly rodded it (SBC/700r/IFS/IRS) into a very nice driver. Used it as his daily driver until he died. He actually made his last drive in the truck.
After he passed, I bought it from my Aunt and dragged it kicking and screaming from the sunny confines of So Cal, back home to Michigan. Don't hit too many car shows with it, mainly just try to drive the snot out of it in the summer...and even occasionally still use it as a truck.
Maybe I can make my last drive in it.........

 

Pontiac and Chrysler have historical services, for a fee, for certain years, you can get what information they have on the car - usually the original selling dealer, build sheets, that sort of thing.

I'd love to know what happened to the '53 Buick Skylark I have here. Been meaning to try to track down the owners - the name is in the steering wheel - and see if anyone remembers how it was wrecked or why it ended up upside down in a junkyard only about 25 miles from where it was sold new.

It's funny how some cars bounce around, my '57 Pontiac was built in Georgia, someone brought it to Albany NY, it got parted to restore some other car, a guy in Pulaski ended up with it, then I bought it cheap because the body is real solid on it. Now it's near Herkimer.

In that junkyard there were a number of New Jersey plates, a '64 Ford that still had 70's Virginia plates on it, and I found a 1951 California plate laying on the ground that would be in nice shape if the bottom middle 4" or so wasn't rusted away. I saved it anyhow. There was a right-hand drive Holden 4dr from the '60's, and a number of other strange foreign cars, too.

Wouldn't mind finding out why the '48 Hudson I picked up, that was on the road inspected in 1996 with a bunch of NSRA decals in it, ended up hours from the crusher when I found it, too.

 

only time I really wonder about the history of a cae is when I see something really screwed up. Otherwise, I figure the history starts with me. I liked it well enough to buy it, and the seller liked it less or he wouldn't have sold it (exception being estate sales). A car with a lot of well known history has to be boring to own. Any changes are frowned upon, and you seem to be relegated to "caretaker" status. It's almost like owning a new car in reverse. You own it, but you can't work/change it. I buy what I like. I'll change what I want. And I'll give credit were it's due. But wondering about how many times it was washed, what went on in the back seat, or how did it end up here, doesn't effect me one way or the other.

 

my buddy has the 32 5 window his pop bought from the original owner in 1954 for $40.00. first thing he did was throw the fenders away. over the next few years it got channeled, a hemi, then chopped..... ran B altered in 1958 at Tulsa 13.40@107 without slicks....

 

....I got this 57 chevy... I'd like to know why they cut out the firewall and then replaced it with another. I'd also like to know how many different seats it must have had. there were 30 some odd holes in the floor for various seats and belts. I'd like to talk to the guy that painted the undercarraige turquoise right over a 1/4" coating of GREASE.

then someone cut out the rear wheeltubs, including the package tray and all the supports, and replaced all that with the same parts from another car. shoved it back in all in one peice, then sheetmetal screws and bondo/glass. I'd really like to have a word with that guy.

 

I've been searching for info about my Coupe also. This decal is in the quarter window. Has anyone heard of Wohl's in Brooklyn? I was thinking of calling information to see if they are still in business. Maybe they would have some service records and info on the previous owner.

 

car fax means nothing as far as damage or acidents. It only shows up if damage is reported or mileage is reported.

if some one never puts a claim in for a wreck or body shop buys a wreck from owner it wont show on car fax.

I bought a 2000 lexus 400 sc that was flood damaged from the owner before it wen tto insurance. fix it and sold it. checked car fax putting in less miles then the car had and it listed it as being good.

 

I bought a '71 Chevy 3/4 ton truck from out of town one fall, 34,000 miles on it, in pretty good shape...a little less than two weeks later I was cleaning out the glovebox before heading out to pick up my date for the night, recognized the name as a friend of my dad's and coincidentally it was his daughter I was taking out that night...so when I drove the truck up to his house, he came outside and made a comment that "hey, that looks JUST like my old truck, bought it new in '71...never put any miles on her and sold her about a year ago...wish I had that truck back..." I told him "Lanny, I can't give you the truck back, but you can have your old insurance registration card, if that makes you feel any better"...he and I had a good laugh about that, but he quickly stopped laughing when his daughter came outside and jumped into the passenger seat of his/my truck...I was on my best behavior that night...yeah...right...hahaha...

 

I must have been lucky when I bought my 64 Holden from an old lady who said it was her husbands car , he died about 16 years ago and it was still in the shed where he parked it, when I got it home it had in the glovebox, the owners handbook with all the yearly regos and receipts for every oil change and lube,tyres and repairs up to 1983 ( when it got parked). The guy even kept track of every gas fillup/date /gallons /$$$. Ive made up a scrapbook for posterity.

 

I thought I was the only guy who walked thru a boneyard and thought about the life history of cars. Who had it new, did they wash it on Sunday after church, who learned to drive in it, who took it on their first date, who lost their virginity in it, did they take it on that once-in-a-lifetime vacation? Boy, how I wish they could talk. Good to see others think of old cars as having a soul like I do. I thought I was the only freak.....Ole Pork

 

This is the same thing that I think. I was just thinking the other day that my 55 was saying " WOW this guy is about to put me back on the strip and I will be a winner again , But why wont he paint me." Then I realized I need to change her name.

 

i bought my 31 model a off the original family. somewhat of a neat story behind it, it started life as a fordor family car and was registered for the road up until 1956. after that the family needed a vehicle for around the farm so the cut the body down into a pickup with a hammer and a bayonet then riveted it together (it was messy). in order to keep it from rusting they would paint the body with house paint every couple years, which kept it in pretty good shape. so now its all nicely welded together and looks like a true pick up cab.

 

I bought my 54 F100 from the original owner in Yuma AZ 10 years ago. I knew his son here in Minnesota and that is how I made the connection. And AZ trucks have rust issues, but not like Mn trucks.

 

I purchased it from the original owner's son. She worked as a clerk at a department store in Boone NC and used the car as her daily commuter.
It's a radio delete car with a V8 and very austere looking navy/baby blue two tone paint.
I even have the original Ford warranty paperwork (90 days) and the owners manual and sales literature with it.
The car never left the county except for one big road trip to a neighboring county in its entire life. And then, I got it.
And, that's why I'm so torn about modding it.

 

I have owned my 40 for 43 years. When I was a kid in Poughkeepsie,NY an older gentleman down the street named Ira B. Relyea owned a 40 Ford coupe that he bought new. I always wished I could own that car. In 1961 he had an accident 9 (I have photos of the wrecked car) and a friend of mine Robert Rose bought the car for $100. Then in 1963 I bought the car from him for $400 from and still have it today. What's cool is that I have the bills of sale. I wonder who will get it when I die?

 

I live in a dinky town in southern Colorado.While driving through another small town, I spied the '56 Plymouth I now own. After making the deal and getting the car home, a friend of mine was looking at it and kept saying stuff like "There's something about this car...". Finally, he saw a small decal in the rear window that, combined with some of the faded blue paint still remaining around the door edges, etc. made the lightbulb click on. He says "That's Rusty's car! I spent many a night in the back seat, cruising main in Alamosa and drinking beer."
So now the old car I found in another town after sitting for over thirty years is back in it's home town, ready to go to Alamosa and do a little cruising again. I got insurance and plates yesterday, and hope to have it on the road for testing soon.

 

my 50 chevy was own by a guy in pa who got it from a uncle it was a back yard custom done in 1959 a guy in irvington traded a 55 chevy for it at e- town and i got it from him in 84 . my 58 ford i got in 89 from a buddy that was in same car club

 

I recently picked up a 51 ford shoebox, I was incredibley fortunate enough to meet the origianl owner of th car when I wen to picj it up, his son was selling it for him. has 29,500 miles onit, flattie 8. he was really cool to talk to about it, even got the receipts for any of the parts he had to replace over the years, sat in a barn for almost 30 years, got pulled out torn down and painted in 96 and nobody drove it aside from a few hundred miles. he put it out for sale and I parted with my modified to get it, I dont think I could ever sell it.

 

my dad and i picked up my 53 ford when i was 7 at a salvage in stillwell okla.(1976)he built and drove it until 80ish.then parked it in my grandmas backyard where it set until a few years ago when i brought it to tulsa for a rebuild.i rode to grade school in this car .went on allot of vacations/fishing trips in it..all those years as it set in the yard i would look at it and dream of driving it myself...