66jack

Put your full vin number in google and see what pops up...you never know...worked for me...

futura

For the last three cars I've owned:

67 Mustang GT 390 FB - Facebook located the son of the original owner

67 Camaro SS/RS 396 - a forum cross referenced the original black plate number and located the classified by the original owner in the LA Times

61 Corvette - A work in progress, located the last 4 owners. I'm now down to a name and address from the early 70's. Sent him a letter and picture of the car when he sold it. Still waiting

Bill Gould of Auto Ancestry used to provide this service and was darn good at it. He found 30 years of history from a 1/4 time slip 3,000 miles away in a few days. He also located the first 5 owners of my friends 69 Z-28. The 6th owner purchased it in 1974. They were all in the Air Force! Google his name. He was also mention on the forum quite often.

Happy Hunting!

mikelj

Yes Billy is the one who was the best at this, but I think he has retired, at least from most of it. He did 5 cars for me, one had 19 owners before me, and all we started with was the 19th owner and his memories, along with the first owners name and statement about the car. I think I talked to all but 2 of those previous owners, all very happy to discuss the car, and the original owner was dead, but I talked to his daughter who lives in Italy, the car was bought for her as a high school graduation present, lots of great memories.

RatDog

Yeah, I think Bill is retired.

Is there anyone else who does this?

Steve

MaineDoc

After reading all of this I'm very glad that I have the complete owner history of my 66. Maybe the next owner will be impressed as well but that will be a while.

emccomas

What you get from NMVTIS is the contents of the Department of Justice database. Anything they have about that specific VIN is provided. It generally includes the state and the date of title issues, as well as any title brands (flood, salvage, etc.).

If there is not info from a specific state, then you will not get it.

68hemi

Yes but when I bought the car it was registered in NY, did they have a fire also?

Nowhere Man

I can't answer that I only know about PA

reddog5

You can find info in the oddest of places. In both my Corvette and Porsche I found previous owner info under the seats. Just stuff that had fallen between and under. For the corvette, it was an old show and shine card with owners name and city. This was second owner (and I am 5th, so the card went through 2 other owners) and he owned the car in the 90s. I then tracked him down via car club information in his area from the internet. He led me to history about the first owner who was 61 years old when he bought the 61 new and sold it thirty years later in 91. Good chance I wont find him without ouiji board. So, I know the 2nd and 4th owner, both who owned it about 10 yrs each and where the car spent its first 30 years. Third owner only had it for two years and I think I know who it was and where but have not contacted.

Good Luck.

cor28vettes

And post it here. I had 4 of them in Md.

Vette60

Very interesting conversation. I'm incredibly lucky that I have the Corvette that my Dad bought in 1962 from a used car lot in Pittsburgh and the original owner was kind enough to include all his paperwork. I have the original Bill of Sale, owners manual, etc, etc. I've bee thinking long and hard about trying to find the gentleman that bought my late Father-in-Law's '65 Impala SS a ways back. It's one of those things now that you look back....well., what can you do.

Good luck with the quest.

Tigershark3

FWIW, I called NMVTIS and they said their databases only cover 1987 and newer cars.

AlanC.

I got a report on my ‘66 through InstaVIN. TheIr data comes from NMVTIS. They only had information going back to ‘02 showing that it had been registered in three different states during that time.

Bremquest

I am going through the same process now, looks like Bill is retired. Did you ever find someone else?

vettebuyer6369

Its possible, but be careful what you wish for...

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...nal-owner.html

johngammel

I was able to find every owner of my '61 (I'm #10). But my circumstances were very unique - and it helped that it was in Oklahoma most of it's life and with a valid title they will go back into the 70s. For the first owner the state historical society got me a reverse phone from the 60s. I'd look through the car and try to find any scrap of paper and use that.

ShadowJacker

What if they don't want to be found?

Railroadman

That happens. I've tried a couple times to contact someone who owned my '67 a few years after I had sold it. I don't know if the contact info is no longer accurate, or if they just don't want to respond. I may try once more at some point but sometime the trail just fades out.

vettebuyer6369

Plenty of them dont. If you find a good address and send a contact and they do not reply, you respect their privacy and stop.

mikelj

You can also run across so very angry owners about how they lost their cars, so be ready for some rants.