Tracking down a "long lost" car?

[NJSPEEDER]

Since titles and Vin #'s are tied that should be the ticket. Although keep in mind that it may require a national search of some sort.

BTW, in the age of hte internet there is no such thing as non-public information. Just gotta find out who to make the check out to ;-)

-Tim

[Josue]

Haha...exactly!

Even freakin' facebook is trying to make a penny or 2. It's going to cost me a dollar to send the suspected owner of that house a message that will go straight into his inbox folder, so he would definitely see it. They said it's to make sure the message isn't spam....whatever, I'll just pay the dollar to try out a lead.

[Clutch93]

Well, any luck with finding your dad's old car? Did you get any info from the local PD? Seem's like it wouldn't be terribly hard to at least track down the owner your dad sold the car to, almost EVERYTHING is public record these days. Especially if it's documents that have been notarized, like the sale or REFI of a home. Might be pretty easy to at least come up with the guys name that way.

[Josue]

Oh yea...BIG breakthrough!

I wound up talking with the guy on FB, and he confirmed the guy he sold the house to as the owner of the Camaro. So, I knew the guy's name, and I know he was local PD. My dad was also in this PD back in the 80's as an auxiliary officer, so he knows quite a few "old timers" still. This guy who had his Camaro was after his time in the PD though, but I was certain some of the old timers my dad knows would know the guy's name.

There just so happens to be one of those old timers living in my neighborhood, so I paid him a visit to see if the guy's name rang a bell....and it DID! He said the guy left the force in '99, and now does marine repair or something, but still local. He said he remembered the guy having an old Camaro. After a lengthy conversation (I'm new to the neighborhood, I wanted to seem neighborly, and not like I was just dropping by to ask him to do me a favor in tracking down this guy. lol) he said he'd see if anyone else still on the force when that guy was working there would know where to find him, and get back to me. This was several, several weeks ago though, and I'm sure he's all but forgotten about my request by now. I'm waiting for the "right time" to drop by and ask him his results because again, I don't want it to seem like I'm only there for 1 reason.

I also have this guy living across the street from me, another guy my dad knows from way back when. A car guy, building a '68 Camaro in his garage, so that's awesome to live across from! But, I mentioned all this to him, along with the guy's name, and HE remembered the guy! Said he knows his ex-wife still, so he'd ask her to see if the guy was around/available still. But again, this was quite some time ago. I asked him about it a few weeks ago when I saw him, and he had totally forgot about talking to her. So, I'm sure by the time I see him again, he will have forgotten about it again. lol I don't see him daily or anything, so once again, I don't want it to seem like I only go over for one reason.

And, there's this guy around the corner from me with an old school, pro street 1969 Camaro that's been like that for as long as I can remember. He's known my dad for decades too, and they used to run around in their '69 Camaros together in the early 80's! The guy works for a grocery store, and said HE knew the guy who had my dad's Camaro too! The guy used to hang out at the store on security detail all the time. He said the guy was a body man, pretty anal about his work, and was in the process of doing the body work on the car in the mid-90's. He doubted that the guy still had the car though, as it's been 20 years, but like I said, just to know what happened to it would be good enough for me.

[Clutch93]

Wow, sounds like a few pretty solid leads. Well, good luck and let us know if you do end up finding the guy, or better yet, the CAR!

[aidanfancystang]

you have made it further than me, I have been trying to find my dads old 69 charger for years, the closest I got was it was last seen on ebay in Oakville ontario canada in november 2011 after that trail goes cold for me.

[Josue]

That would be cool to see it come up on eBay like that! Even if it went cold afterwards.

What a coincidence this thread would get posted in today, we just found out what happened to the Camaro! I let my dad in on my searches, thinking that it was a dead end trying to find the guy I was looking for. We drove over 2 hours yesterday to look at a '68 Firebird Convertible for him, and I shared what I found out during the trip.

Well, today we stopped by our local engine shop to let the builder hear a video I shot of this wicked rod knock in the engine of the car we looked at, and while there, my dad asked the guy if he knew of this guy. To our surprise, he's like...."Oh YEA, that guy is in this shop over here", he knew exactly where to find him! My dad visited the guy shortly after, and found out he painted the car red with black stripes, dropped a bigger motor in it, then sold it to a guy in New Jersey who saw it at a show and made an offer on it.

So, that's where the trail ends for us...short of going back to the guy, and asking if he has any old paperwork or the VIN so I could further try and track the car down up in Jersey. Cool to know what happened though!

[rogerd69]

Hey Josh:

Don't give up - could be it's still out there and just an email or phone call away
I found a Chevelle I bought new in 1969 almost 40 years later to the day - needed a nut & bolt restoration but I found it
I did have an advantage in that I kept the original paperwork plus the window sticker all those years
The VIN was critical - ran it on google and a craigslist ad popped up with the VIN right there in the ad

Don't give up - GOOD Luck - RogerD

[Josue]

Dang!! Can't get any easier than a quick Google search and BOOM, there's your car! haha

I/we're going to talk to the guy again sometime, see if there's anything else he can tell us about the sale. Maybe see if he has some old insurance paperwork with the VIN on it or something.

[rogerd69]

Dang!! Can't get any easier than a quick Google search and BOOM, there's your car! haha

I/we're going to talk to the guy again sometime, see if there's anything else he can tell us about the sale. Maybe see if he has some old insurance paperwork with the VIN on it or something.

Yup, just that easy after 12 years of turning over every rock, driving the neighborhoods where I last saw it, researching property tax records, answering eBay adds that sounded promising, tracking to the last owner of record from the mid 80's and from him learning it sat in a farm building for years, learning from the administrator of the farmer's (who died in 2008) estate that it had been sold for scrap, learning later that it wasn't sold for scrap but rather sold via eBay to a buyer out of state, running the vin and boom - an expired ad with the VIN in the ad, trying without success for months to locate the owner who posted the ad and then in Aug 12, 2009 - he posted it again - FOUND IT.
It really was easy or, maybe just that little prayer from time to time finally answered

[Josue]

AH! You didn't mention all those journeys and dead ends! All you put was.....

I did have an advantage in that I kept the original paperwork plus the window sticker all those years
The VIN was critical - ran it on google and a craigslist ad popped up with the VIN right there in the ad

...so I took it as you decided one day to look for the car, dug out your old paperwork, typed it into Google, and there was your car. lol

Glad you were able to reunite with her though! Did you buy the car then? Or it wasn't for sale, but you at least know where it's located?

[rogerd69]

. . . and then in Aug 12, 2009 - he posted it again - FOUND IT and BOUGHT IT Back