Story on finding docs, history of your car: Do you have one?
John Seeley recently posted a story about his unbelievable luck through posting his car on the C2 Registry. Some posters on his thread said "never give up." You need to start looking and then never give up. Here are two examples of why you don't quit looking that happened to me, written as short as I can. I know there are other great stories out there, so feel free to add them here. Maybe we can learn some new tricks to looking.
First story: I once bought a roach of a 67 435 convertible with OM and but no docs. I told my good Corvette friend about it. He had a small data base of separated motors, trans, docs etc. he developed over the years. He checked my vin against his data base and found a letter a man wrote to him over ten years before saying his friend had docs for that vin. After a few phone calls, I found the friend who was the first owner, no less, and who had the window sticker and 20+ pieces of paper us NCRS guys love. On top of that, my son worked with him in the same building in DC.
Then, there was the 67 435 coupe I bought in 2009. PJ had owned the car since 1975 and was dying of cancer. A friend lived near PJ and told me of the car. He handled the whole purchase for me, so I never met PJ. Then PJ died the next month from his cancer. I began searching for PJ's friends....many phone calls, emails and posts on forums. Then some luck. I found PJ's closest two buddies. Then I found PJ's daughter who lived in another state and was settling his estate. I was told the original motor to my car was in PJ's 66 Biscayne. I made the 180 mile trip to PJ's home but it was not the original motor...was a 1969 CE for it though. But, it got better. The daughter first invited me to look at her father's stuff in two garages and the house. That got me 50+ NOS parts PJ had laying around in his garages for the car he never put on it. I also found five original parts to my car laying on the work benches. But the real luck was when she asked me into his kitchen. It was a mess (bachelor) full of books and magazines piled on the floor and chairs. I was hardly interested in that stuff, but decided to look around. I pulled a box from under the kitchen table with a door panel on top and there, with several others, was the original owner's packet for my car including POP, owners manual, radio guide, trim ring card and V.V. Cooke warranty card!! If I had not called, if I had not made the trip, that would have been thrown away. From that, I found the first owner and a great story including how my car got a CE block!
It can't be said enough, never stop looking, asking, calling, investigating, chasing....
Here is what I got under the kitchen table....
First story: I once bought a roach of a 67 435 convertible with OM and but no docs. I told my good Corvette friend about it. He had a small data base of separated motors, trans, docs etc. he developed over the years. He checked my vin against his data base and found a letter a man wrote to him over ten years before saying his friend had docs for that vin. After a few phone calls, I found the friend who was the first owner, no less, and who had the window sticker and 20+ pieces of paper us NCRS guys love. On top of that, my son worked with him in the same building in DC.
Then, there was the 67 435 coupe I bought in 2009. PJ had owned the car since 1975 and was dying of cancer. A friend lived near PJ and told me of the car. He handled the whole purchase for me, so I never met PJ. Then PJ died the next month from his cancer. I began searching for PJ's friends....many phone calls, emails and posts on forums. Then some luck. I found PJ's closest two buddies. Then I found PJ's daughter who lived in another state and was settling his estate. I was told the original motor to my car was in PJ's 66 Biscayne. I made the 180 mile trip to PJ's home but it was not the original motor...was a 1969 CE for it though. But, it got better. The daughter first invited me to look at her father's stuff in two garages and the house. That got me 50+ NOS parts PJ had laying around in his garages for the car he never put on it. I also found five original parts to my car laying on the work benches. But the real luck was when she asked me into his kitchen. It was a mess (bachelor) full of books and magazines piled on the floor and chairs. I was hardly interested in that stuff, but decided to look around. I pulled a box from under the kitchen table with a door panel on top and there, with several others, was the original owner's packet for my car including POP, owners manual, radio guide, trim ring card and V.V. Cooke warranty card!! If I had not called, if I had not made the trip, that would have been thrown away. From that, I found the first owner and a great story including how my car got a CE block!
It can't be said enough, never stop looking, asking, calling, investigating, chasing....
Here is what I got under the kitchen table....
his 2nd wife was tickled to hear from me she said she wasn't with him when he had the car but always talked about the corvette he owned when he was young and how he always wanted another one..wish I could have talked to him about it and let him know it's still around and now getting treated to a body off restoration. She did send me pictures of the car when it was new or pretty much new.
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