C1 History and Search

[Steve Westphal]

I would like to research the history of my '56. I purchased the car from a gentleman in California. I have heard that some states only keep records for a specified number of years making a search very difficult. Is California one of those states and if they are, what do I do? Thanks.

[Craig S.]

Re: C1 History and Search

Steve - I have a 66 L72 that has lineage in Calif too, but it came to the Arizona DMV in 1971. I called Calif DMV, and they said they destroyed all the old records years ago. I thought I had heard somewhere Calif was one of the states that kept this information forever, but apparently not...Craig

[Don H.]

Re: C1 History and Search

It is different from state to state. My experience has been that California is a dead end - no records. Other states (ie Iowa or Florida) can be a "goldmine" as they keep records and they are available. Don H.

[Dennis C.]

Re: C1 History and Search

Steve... At the risk of being rude - California won't give you nuth'in. I must say this is probably an offshoot of having 5 bazillion cars and people. There just didn't seem to be quite enough money in providing info to guys like you and me. NOW, if your car came from Wyoming... For 5 bucks, you can trace its history forever. But how many people in Wyoming bought C1's... ? or C2's...?

[Dick C.]

Re: C1 History and Search

I did a search in CA and they had records back only to 1982. Call the DMV in Sacremento. They sent me a form, filled it out and sent it back to them. 2 weeks later received a computer print out with info back to 1982. Good luck, Dick

[Mike Yager]

Re: C1 History and Search

Steve:

If you don't get anywhere with DMV, you can try putting an ad in Driveline or some bulletin boards like The Corvette Action Center. Its a long shot but you never know.

If you have no success there that will probably be the end of the line unless you received some type of documentation with the car - i.e. - prior owner names, etc.

I was able to trace my '64 using a combination of the internet and DMV back to 1978. I would not have even gotten that far except one of the owner's gave his house to his son so the name came up in a phone search and the son gave me the contact information for his dad. DMV only had records back 10 years. The road finally ended when I could not locate the person who sold the car in '78.

The guy who bought the car in '78 said the car had been sitting for many years as the owner was in the mob or something and had been in jail. That could explain why I could not locate him (maybe its best I couldn't).

It is interesting the things you come across looking into these cars.