Searching for previous owners

[Chuck M.]

Hi, We boughht our 67 one year ago and have been looking for as many owners as possible. I have talked to about 4 of the previous 10. My question to eveyone is there a way to effectivly search for a previous owner. I have the address of their last known residence. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions it would be much appreciated. I dont know where to look. I have tried the online yellow pages but found that to be very limited. Thank you for any help.

Chuck

[Tony H.]

Re: Searching for previous owners

Hello, Chuck.

To me this is perhaps one of the funnest aspects of owning one of these beauties, uncovering the car's history via memories of its previous owners. In my case, I was only the forth owner, so I got to know and talked quite a bit with the third owner. He owned my '70 for about 17 years which meant that the first and second owners only owned the car for a combined three years. From the third owner I got a last name of the second owner and the dealer where the car was purchased. The dealer was still around but had changed ownership (and names) twice. I went to that dealer and was able to talk to one of the secretaries that had been there through all the name changes. She remembered the salesman who bought the car for his son in 1971.

I went through the Philadelphia white pages and called the only name matching the salesman and contacted the second owner. Lots of luck to get that far! All hits at the time were on an old but still warm trail. Then I moved away to Texas and the trail to the original owner got cold for 5 years. Little did I know that the original owner had already passed away a few years before I bought the car.

I had the original owner's name from the second owner and I knew that the car was purchased near Pittsburgh. From the internet, I had some names of a handful of people in the area. Two were from the same town that the car was originally sold. After the Pittsburgh meet this year, I headed to that dealership where my car was originally purchased. Again that dealership had changed names three times. This time, no one was around from 1970 but an older salesman listened to my story and helped me get some history on the dealership and let me place a few phone calls from his phone to the people with the same last name as my original owner. With some new leads, I finally found a surviving sister (different last name) that still lived in the area and I got closure to my story of ownership.

DMV records would have been of no use to me for NJ or PA. In some states that may be viable option for previous owner hunting. Once you have a name, the internet white pages can be helpful provided you're not looking for a Smith or Johnson, etc. There are several search engines for the white pages and each may give different results. Try them all. Talk to the owners that you do contact and bug them for any and all memories. Take a picture of them with the car and give them a copy. They'll be friends for life!

My tips: be persistent, don't give up, and lots and lots of luck. While this search can be very frustrating at times, the rewards are amoung the greatest of all (right up there with: long drives with the radio off and the nice rumble of original LS-5 note).

Tony

[Tony H.]

Re: Searching for previous owners

Hello, Chuck.

To me this is perhaps one of the funnest aspects of owning one of these beauties, uncovering the car's history via memories of its previous owners. In my case, I was only the forth owner, so I got to know and talked quite a bit with the third owner. He owned my '70 for about 17 years which meant that the first and second owners only owned the car for a combined three years. From the third owner I got a last name of the second owner and the dealer where the car was purchased. The dealer was still around but had changed ownership (and names) twice. I went to that dealer and was able to talk to one of the secretaries that had been there through all the name changes. She remembered the salesman who bought the car for his son in 1971.

I went through the Philadelphia white pages and called the only name matching the salesman and contacted the second owner. Lots of luck to get that far! All hits at the time were on an old but still warm trail. Then I moved away to Texas and the trail to the original owner got cold for 5 years. Little did I know that the original owner had already passed away a few years before I bought the car.

I had the original owner's name from the second owner and I knew that the car was purchased near Pittsburgh. From the internet, I had some names of a handful of people in the area. Two were from the same town that the car was originally sold. After the Pittsburgh meet this year, I headed to that dealership where my car was originally purchased. Again that dealership had changed names three times. This time, no one was around from 1970 but an older salesman listened to my story and helped me get some history on the dealership and let me place a few phone calls from his phone to the people with the same last name as my original owner. With some new leads, I finally found a surviving sister (different last name) that still lived in the area and I got closure to my story of ownership.

DMV records would have been of no use to me for NJ or PA. In some states that may be viable option for previous owner hunting. Once you have a name, the internet white pages can be helpful provided you're not looking for a Smith or Johnson, etc. There are several search engines for the white pages and each may give different results. Try them all. Talk to the owners that you do contact and bug them for any and all memories. Take a picture of them with the car and give them a copy. They'll be friends for life!

My tips: be persistent, don't give up, and lots and lots of luck. While this search can be very frustrating at times, the rewards are amoung the greatest of all (right up there with: long drives with the radio off and the nice rumble of original LS-5 note).

Tony

[Mike Jones]

Re: Searching for previous owners

I assume since you have the last known address from a title search of the states in which the vehicle has been registered. If not, this month's issue of Vette Fever magazine has the addresses and $$$ requirement for a search.

Once I had the titles, I found the White Pages search on the WWW to be very helpful. I would search on the surname in the town or, using an Atlas, nearby towns hoping to find the individual or a relative. I found one from a fellow who was not a relative, but coincidently had the same last name and who had known the person some years prior. All he could remember was the place of employment which turned out to be the local Chevy dealer. When I checked there, the person was no longer working there but the receptionist said that she remembered him because he was the owner's brother-in-law! That led me to him.

Another fellow still lived in the same town 30 years later and when I talked to him he off-handedly mentioned that he thought he still had the original engine for my Vette in a neighbor's barn. He asked if I wanted it!

HTH,

Mike

[Mike Jones]

Re: Searching for previous owners

I assume since you have the last known address from a title search of the states in which the vehicle has been registered. If not, this month's issue of Vette Fever magazine has the addresses and $$$ requirement for a search.

Once I had the titles, I found the White Pages search on the WWW to be very helpful. I would search on the surname in the town or, using an Atlas, nearby towns hoping to find the individual or a relative. I found one from a fellow who was not a relative, but coincidently had the same last name and who had known the person some years prior. All he could remember was the place of employment which turned out to be the local Chevy dealer. When I checked there, the person was no longer working there but the receptionist said that she remembered him because he was the owner's brother-in-law! That led me to him.

Another fellow still lived in the same town 30 years later and when I talked to him he off-handedly mentioned that he thought he still had the original engine for my Vette in a neighbor's barn. He asked if I wanted it!

HTH,

Mike

[Roberto L.]

Re: Searching for previous owners

Check the Yankee Lady Corvette gazette site. There is a page for previous owners searching, not a great chance but could work for you... Best from Argentina Roberto NCRS #30019 RMC

[Roberto L.]

Re: Searching for previous owners

Check the Yankee Lady Corvette gazette site. There is a page for previous owners searching, not a great chance but could work for you... Best from Argentina Roberto NCRS #30019 RMC

[Everett Ogilvie]

Re: Searching for previous owners

What can be done when states are encountered that claim they only keep vehicle records for 7 to 10 years?

My car was sold new in Atlanta, Georgia, and I know the 2nd owner, but have lost the trail and can't make any progress on the original owner. DMV there says no records after 10 years.

(car was sold new at Timmer Chevrolet, Atlanta, in 1967)

[Everett Ogilvie]

Re: Searching for previous owners

What can be done when states are encountered that claim they only keep vehicle records for 7 to 10 years?

My car was sold new in Atlanta, Georgia, and I know the 2nd owner, but have lost the trail and can't make any progress on the original owner. DMV there says no records after 10 years.

(car was sold new at Timmer Chevrolet, Atlanta, in 1967)

[Tony H.]

Re: Searching for previous owners

Everett,

Is Trimmer Chevrolet still Trimmer Chevrolet? If so, then there is still hope. Give them a call or better yet, visit them and see if there is anyone (an oldtimer preferably) that can help you with records that old. Still, although there may be some hope, my experience is that dealers' records are only kept for so long before they are either pitched or put in long term storage with limited access, that is until computer storage came about but I don't think that was around until late '80s. There is an outside chance that they may have converted their old records to computer files, too. Good luck!

[Tony H.]

Re: Searching for previous owners

Everett,

Is Trimmer Chevrolet still Trimmer Chevrolet? If so, then there is still hope. Give them a call or better yet, visit them and see if there is anyone (an oldtimer preferably) that can help you with records that old. Still, although there may be some hope, my experience is that dealers' records are only kept for so long before they are either pitched or put in long term storage with limited access, that is until computer storage came about but I don't think that was around until late '80s. There is an outside chance that they may have converted their old records to computer files, too. Good luck!

[Everett Ogilvie]

Re: Timmer Chevrolet, Atlanta, Georgia

I had no luck finding them via search engines on the Internet. I have the old address, and did searches by address, name, everything I could think of.

If anyone out there has any info about this dealer, it would be appreciated.

thanks, Everett

[Everett Ogilvie]

Re: Timmer Chevrolet, Atlanta, Georgia

I had no luck finding them via search engines on the Internet. I have the old address, and did searches by address, name, everything I could think of.

If anyone out there has any info about this dealer, it would be appreciated.

thanks, Everett

[Bill Baird]

Re: Timmer Chevrolet, Atlanta, Georgia

Under the dealer section of the Chevrolet home page, they list a Timmers Chevrolet Geo Inc.; 4545 Shackleford Rd. ; Norcross, GA 30093-2973 ; Phone: (770)923-4900 ; Fax: (770)381-0893. Could that be them (or related to them)?

Bill Baird

[Bill Baird]

Re: Timmer Chevrolet, Atlanta, Georgia

Under the dealer section of the Chevrolet home page, they list a Timmers Chevrolet Geo Inc.; 4545 Shackleford Rd. ; Norcross, GA 30093-2973 ; Phone: (770)923-4900 ; Fax: (770)381-0893. Could that be them (or related to them)?

Bill Baird