Story on finding docs, history of your car: Do you have one?

[Vinnie P.]

Re: Story on finding docs, history of your car: Do you have one?

The former owner of my 1971 ZQ3 coupe wrote a very interesting article about the past ownership of the car. Not only was ownership history important but mileage documentation was as well. The car had 6700 original miles at the time and he needed to document that somehow. Through lots of detective work he did accomplish that.
Vinny published that article in the Spring of 2008 Restorer. I tried to post it on the DB but the file is to big and I can't figure out how to reduce the size or reduce it into seperate pages.

The story Dave speaks of can be found here

https://www.ncrs.org/restorer/strickland.pdf

[Bill O.]

Re: Story on finding docs, history of your car: Do you have one?



Route 66 first aired.

[Doug L.]

Re: Story on finding docs, history of your car: Do you have one?

If you guys want to submit your stories along with any hi-res photos, I'll put something together for ONE article with everyone's story as space allows and publish them in The Restorer so all 15,500+ members can benefit and learn...thanks in advance.
Vinnie

Vinnie,
I'm guessing you can cut and paste the stories from the TDB threads but how would we get "Hi-Res" photos to you? Unless things have changed with the new format of the TDB, the only photos that can be uploaded are decidedly Low-Res. Also what type of photos do you want, of cars or documents?

Doug

[Vinnie P.]

Re: Story on finding docs, history of your car: Do you have one?

Vinnie,
I'm guessing you can cut and paste the stories from the TDB threads but how would we get "Hi-Res" photos to you? Unless things have changed with the new format of the TDB, the only photos that can be uploaded are decidedly Low-Res. Also what type of photos do you want, of cars or documents?

Doug

Doug...photos can be emailed to me directly...I would prefer documents, either photos or scanned at a minimum dpi of 300, and saved as a jpg. Members can also include a photo of their car and I'll try and put something together that is an interesting read for all...

restorereditor@ncrs.org

Vinnie

[John H.]

Re: Story on finding docs, history of your car: Do you have one?

When I bought my '67 convertible ten years ago, there was no documentation with it; I worked a title and internet search back over several months, and came up with the next previous owner (a jeweler), a neurosurgeon before him, and a restorer in Colorado before him. I spoke with both the jeweler and the neurosurgeon, but neither of them had any paperwork. The restorer in Colorado said he didn't have any information and was too busy to talk about it, and the trail went cold at that point.

Ten years later, the Shipping Report showed that it was sold originally by John Falb & Son Chevrolet in Elgin, Iowa. Did more digging on the Internet and finally found the 80-y/o retired owner of the dealership, who was delighted to talk about the dealership AND the car.

He started as a mechanic, then a salesman at John Falb & Son Chevrolet in 1956, married the boss's daughter, became the General Manager in 1961, and bought the dealership in 1966; at that time he had five employees who had each been there for 50 or more years (the dealership opened in 1909). He sold the dealership when he retired in 1991. It closed in 2000, and most of the employees were transferred to West Union Motors in West Union, Iowa.

In spite of being a small-town mom-and-pop dealership, they sold over 650 cars and trucks a year, but only one or two Corvettes each year; he remembered ordering and selling my Marina Blue with blue/white interior '67, and had the original owner's name right off the top of his head; the young man was from Clermont, Iowa, developed mental problems the following year, was committed to a state mental institution, and died there of a brain disease two years later. County records showed his death, but no indication of how his estate disposed of the Corvette, and I was unable to find any relatives.

The old dealership paperwork is long-gone; he said the past records were stored in his basement at home, but the day after he sold the dealership in 1991 he took all the boxes out back and burned them so he could finish the basement.

So I did find the name of the original owner and had a delighful 30-minute conversation with the retired owner of the dealership, who remembered the car and its unique 2-tone interior; I still don't know how many owners the car had between the death of the original owner and the restorer in Colorado. The neurosurgeon said he understood that the Colorado restorer bought the car from the original owner, but the restorer isn't talking. The body has never been hit and the entire drivetrain is all-original (300hp M-20, 3.36 Posi), so I think I have only that one gap left to fill in.