ctjackster

I will share an experience I had today as it might help explain why some former owners of our Corvettes resist all efforts to contact them.

I finally got what I thought was the correct phone number for the owner of my 65 from 1997 - 2002. He has a name that is not all that unusual, and the phone numbers listed with his name in the invoices that came with the car were no longer in service, and he had long since moved from the address given. All sorts of googling and Anywho-ing got me no where. I was only able to narrow it down to him using all of the tricks I have at my disposal, in this case I searched d/b/a filings and property ownership records in California and got what I thought was his place of business. It was important to speak with him since I could see that he had been the one that put a ton of money into the car for a full frame off resto, and I really wanted to confirm some items.

Nervously I dialed his number, asked the person who answered if I might speak with Mr. X, he said "speaking" and then I went into my talk about how I did not want to take up too much of his time, but if he owned a 65 Corvette at one time I was the present owner and would love the chance to learn more about the car. He replied, tersely, "what is this about?" and I quickly assured him that guys who own old Corvettes loves to talk to the previous owners, and if he was the previous owner I really just wanted to thank him for the great work he put into the car, for bringing it back to the correct Milano Maroon, and to assure him that the car was in good hands - my heart was sinking now, for I knew I had found the guy but he did not want anything to do with me. "I am at work right now, make it quick", he said.

uh oh.

He told me the reason he really had no desire to talk about this car - he had put more than $40,000 for a 3 year frame off resto into the car after buying it, only to then lose the car in a nasty divorce, and he had no desire to revisit that painful memory, his last memory involving the car was watching it drive away and him wanting to kill his ex-wife.

Uh-oh, this is not going well at all!

and it was clearly my one and only chance to talk to thsi guy, there would be no follow-up call. I got him to open up a little about the car; I heard the key information that I needed to hear. No comraderie, no offer to send some pictures of the car he still had. Conversation clearly over, I thanked him again for his time.

So you just never know what sort of feelings are involved when it comes to a previous owner wanting to talk about his old car. I have seen, from time to time, posts about a previous owner refusing to return any letters or phone calls about the car - perhaps this might help explain a possible reason.

Paul L

Write him an old-fashioned letter on paper. He will contemplate at leisure an old-fashioned reply. And given his affection for that car, and his apparent wish to see that it found a good home, I would expect that you will see a reply in due course. He may say "Thank You."

7vettes

Sometimes the reluctance may involve issues like "full disclosure", or lack thereof, when the car was sold..........

But you did well just to track the guy down because it gets tougher all the time, especially with Telephone Area Codes and Local NNX's changing at lightening speed due to the demand for more & more numbers. Almost any contact # from only a few years ago has changed. Also many people either have unlisted numbers or only have cell phones which usually don't get listed in the various Directories.

six-T-six

Divorces can be nasty and bitter. That was an unfortunate circumstance. Too bad it wasn't someone you could gab with about your car. But at least you have another peice to the puzzle of the history.

Tim Gilmore

There are some strange stories out there. I bought a '65 Corvette from the original owner in 1992. His moving and storage company was in bankruptcy
and his world was falling apart. I know that he hated selling the car and I felt as if he and his wife never took to me because I "took' their car from them. The car was advertised in the paper and was quite a find. I left the car in his name for a while until the IRS called me one day. They had placed a lien on all of his assets and this car was still in his name, they thought it may still be his car and that I was sheltering the vehicle. They were very pleasant to work with and let me know that I should get it out of my name quickly. I transferred the title the next day. I brought the car over to the original owners home one time and he was a bit more friendly, but his wife would not come out to look at the car.


[Modified by Tim Gilmore, 5:06 PM 3/5/2004]

6T7L71CPE

When I first looked at my '67 I decided not to buy it. The guy acted like he knew it all yet told me the headlights ran on vacuum not electric motors. Months passed and I saw it going down the road one day and figured he didn't sell it yet and thought the price might be lower. I went to his house, his wife answered. I asked about the car. She said "I GOT MY MONEY OUT OF IT AND DON'T CARE WHERE IT IS"... Months later I ended up buying the car from someone else after a couple chance occurrences.

gilbybarr

Its too bad the guy was less than happy to hear from you. I had the opposite experience when I tracked down my '65's first owner via an internet search....overjoyed to talk to me...told me the whole history of the car. And sent me eight great old pics from 1966 when they owned the car. You might try sending the guy a thank you note and a nice pic of the car along with a self addressed and stamped envelope. You never know, he might send you back some written details on the car after settling down.....then again, he might toss it all. But who cares...nothing ventured, nothing gained. Good luck.
:flag


[Modified by gilbybarr, 12:26 AM 3/6/2004]