Tracking down a "long lost" car?

[Josue]

Has anyone here ever tracked down a car from their past? Just curious as to how to go about that task? I mean...I can imagine you start with old paperwork you still have from the car, VIN number would be the best I'm sure, get on the 'ol interwebz, and go from there. But, what about when you don't have much?

My story is, dad used to have a 1969 Camaro when I was little...one of the few few pictures I have of the car was taken by him, and it's of my mom carrying me out of the passenger side when they brought me home from the hospital after being born! I believe they sold the car when I was around 4, to by a more family friendly car after the Camaro continued to give them problems. The first brand new car they've ever purchased, a 1987 Buick Century...oh boy! lol I only have a few memories of the Camaro though, one being from the body shop when it was getting painted Canary yellow w/black SS stripes. I remember that old school paint smell for some reason. My favorite memory is, before pre-school, my dad would stop by a bakery and get me a cookie, and I'd eat half before school, and put the other half in the glove box for the ride home. lol

He has ZERO paperwork from the car though, since it was over 25yrs ago. The only lead I could offer is, I know the house where the guy lived that he sold it to, and that the guy was a Sheriff. I guarantee that the guy doesn't live there anymore though, because the county auditor website says the house has changed hands a few times.

How deep into this could a normal person dig in to? Go down to the Sheriff's office and ask them for a name to an employee who lived at XXXX address? City hall to see if there are housing records back to the 80's? Or, is searching house/employment records like....private investigator territory?

Just curious, kind of a pipe dream of mine to have that car back. A clone would be nice someday, but that exact car would be incredible!

[NJSPEEDER]

If you have the address and you can see the title changes it may be possible to do a limited title search on the house to reveal the name and possibly a forwarding address by lining up the time period. Though it is possible be aware that it would cost a few bucks and there is a fair chance people will think you are a stalker and refuse service or give you crap.

May not be a bad idea to swing by the sheriff's office and see if there are any old timers around that may remember the guy or the car. LEO's are a tight community and often keep in touch if they transfer or retire.

-Tim

[Josue]

I have a friend at work who does real estate on the side (he actually just helped me buy my house), I wonder if he could dig up housing information that far back?

And yea, I think people would look at me like I was full of crap if I said I just want to find that person soely to inquire about a car my dad sold him 25 years ago. haha I think it's worth a shot though. If people can track down their birth parents, or child they didn't raise (I have a half brother somewhere out there too, dad had a son with an old flame, and he's never met the kid either), then finding this car is at least in the realm of possibility. Just going to be a matter of how much it could cost to do some serious digging, and then if I did end up finding the car....then what? I don't even have any disposable income right now to make a serious offer on the car, if the car even still exists and the owner would entertain an offer to sell. Maybe I could throw my hat in the ring at least though, so if they ever did want to sell, I'd get first dibs.

[andrewb70]

The local agency (be it county or city) that is in charge of real estate assessments will have ownership records for any property going back to when the house was built. Check online, and you might be surprised at the info you find. If you can't get access to records that are that old, a visit to the assessors office will get you the info. It is all a matter of public record and you shouldn't get any grief, but you might have to pay a fee.

Andrew

[BMR Sales]

.

May not be a bad idea to swing by the sheriff's office and see if there are any old timers around that may remember the guy or the car. LEO's are a tight community and often keep in touch if they transfer or retire.

-Tim

^ this is what I would do first!^

[CamaroMike]

Good luck with the search and keep us posted! If you find the vin # and put it on the forum it could come up!

[Josue]

Thanks everyone!

I'm going to double check with my mom too, she'd have a better idea if they have old paperwork than my dad.

Dug up a pic to share too. Like I said, this is one of only like, 3 pics I/we have of that car.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/11/104_4145-1.jpg (http://s153.photobucket.com/user/josue309/media/Random/104_4145.jpg.html)

Diggin those old school Keystones!! haha If I every got this car, or another Camaro, I'll be going with a gold wheel with a chrome/polished lip as tribute to the way his looked. Even if this ends up being a dead end, and I continue on with my plans for their '68 Firebird (see my sig), I'm still going with a wheel setup like that since that car is yellow too.

[TheJDMan]

Do you know where your parents lived at the time they owned the Camaro? If so the property tax records from that municipality should be archived and should include a VIN. You should be allowed to search the archives as they are part of the public record. I assume you know the approximate years they paid taxes on the car so you would have a place to start.

[Josue]

Yes, I know the house they/we lived in when he owned the car very well, it's the house I grew up in until I was 10 years old.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by paying taxes on the car though? Were there annual taxes back then, to be paid yearly? As far as I ever knew, you just paid tax on the purchase price of the car, an initial cost, and that's it.

Like I said, I know they at least owned it from '83, when I was born, to '87, when they sold it to buy the Century. I'd like to inquire more with my dad, but I don't want to tip him off that I'm doing this. I guess it doesn't really matter though, since there are so many variables still. IF the car still existed, and IF the current owner wanted to part with it, it'd still be years before I could save up enough money to buy it back. By then, he will have certainly forgotten all about conversations we've had about the car. lol

[Josue]

The local agency (be it county or city) that is in charge of real estate assessments will have ownership records for any property going back to when the house was built. Check online, and you might be surprised at the info you find. If you can't get access to records that are that old, a visit to the assessors office will get you the info. It is all a matter of public record and you shouldn't get any grief, but you might have to pay a fee.

Andrew

My real estate friend was able to see that the house sold in 1994 to someone who owned it up until 2008. He did give me the name of the pre-1994 owner though, so I guess that's a start! I already found someone by that name on facebook who graduated in that city in the 70's, and still lives locally, sent him a message just for giggles.

I'll have to try to get a hold of someone and see if I can get some more solid info from that time frame.

[TheJDMan]

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by paying taxes on the car though? Were there annual taxes back then, to be paid yearly? As far as I ever knew, you just paid tax on the purchase price of the car, an initial cost, and that's it.

Your county may be different, but every place that I have ever lived the county levies an annual personal property tax on real estate and vehicles. Each of my registered vehicles are listed on the county tax records by VIN. These tax records ultimately become part of the permanent public record for the county. Another possible archive to look into might be your state DMV although I don't know if DMVs typically archive title information.

[Josue]

I gotcha. Another avenue for me to explore, thanks!

[nekkidhillbilly]

i tried this with one of my dads buicks and one of my grandfathers. was unable to locate either.

[Josue]

Yea, I'm pretty prepared to come up empty handed too. It's just curiosity more than anything!

[Nicks67GTO]

Iv'e been wondering the same thing excpt I have my old mans original window sticker {with the VIN} out of his 67' GTO he bought brand new. Iv'e always just wondered if it still exists?? He sold it in the early 70's to a guy in Colorado. Not sure where to go from there?

[Josue]

Damn! That'd be awesome to have the window sticker!

I asked my mom, and she said they've been using the same insurance agent for like, 30 years. So, I'm going to give her a call and see if she has info on that car. Not sure if a ****** would work for cars this old, worth a try though.

[Josue]

No luck on the Camaro yet, their insurance agent didn't have records that old anymore. Seems my only shot is finding the owner of that house in the mid-80's and going from there. I haven't gotten a reply from that person on fb yet either, I need to keep messaging some of his friends on there, maybe someone will see that they have a message and reply!

The agent did mention that she saw a 1972 Nova on the policy back in the mid-90's, it was my first car, they bought it for me when I was 12 or 13!

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/07/104_4146-1.jpg (http://s153.photobucket.com/user/josue309/media/Random/104_4146.jpg.html)
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/07/104_4144-1.jpg (http://s153.photobucket.com/user/josue309/media/Random/104_4144.jpg.html)

They only paid $500 for it, as the condition shows. lol Sold it for $800 when we found the '68 Firebird (see sig) The guy wound up stopping by like, 10 years later. My parents weren't home, so I was skeptical about opening the door to strangers. He said he was the one who bought the Nova from us, but I don't recall why he stopped by.

Anyone know what I can do with the VIN? Google only returned one result, and it was basically nothing. 1X27F2W225443

[NJSPEEDER]

May not be a bad idea to start posting around on various F-body forums. Regardless if the site is for a specific generation car guys know where all the cool cars in their town are.

-Tim

[Red67Mustang]

Try ****** once you get the VIN. The VIN should be all you need to find it. If the car is still a driver and someone takes it in for service anywhere, even jiffy lube it'll show up.

You'll also see the registration history showing the state / city it's registered in. You should then be able to work with the local DMV to do a title search, and see who the current owner is.

[Josue]

Auto check sites only go back to 1981, when all VIN #'s started going to 17 digits. Tried typing in this shorter VIN, and it wouldn't take...

I'm sure the DMV will be the ticket. My dad is a driver for a local Chevy dealer, and goes into the DMV all the time for their registration/license plate work, so the ladies there know him well. If it's not public information for me to go in on my own and ask, I'm sure he could get one of them to check for him.

Or, my brother actually just started a job at the title office (the 2 are different agencies here; licenses, registrations, plates, etc are at one place...titles and passports at another location) I wonder if he could do a VIN check for me?

[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 :yeah:
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 :yeah:

[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 :yeah:
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 :yeah: