Documenting ?'s
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 323
Likes: 0
From: ********** New York
Documenting ?'s
Okay I'm looking to start documenting our ride I know it has a replacement block do to a spun bearing. However I would like to do a full documentation previous owners , how many with our options manufactured, where it was bought , ect... & the biggie documentation for the block replacement.
Not to sound like I rode the little bus to school w/ a helmet on
,But where do I get started and is this going to cost me or is it something I can do online free ? Any help would be great.
Not to sound like I rode the little bus to school w/ a helmet on
,But where do I get started and is this going to cost me or is it something I can do online free ? Any help would be great.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 2,336
Likes: 1
From: North Bellmore Ny
St. Jude Donor '09
I am on the same road, its really hard. You have to trace back each owner and hopefully they remeber where or who they bought it from. Its a road that always looks like a deadend but breadcrumbs do keep popping up.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 872
Likes: 3
From: Cortlandt Manor New York
It is a very noble idea to document the history of your ride. It is not an original idea and if you check the archives here and on other websites you will see how many people have been able to complete their car's history.
Unfortunately it is not easy. There are most likely no records available of original owners, or dealers, or anything else that will help you document the car.
Legwork is the only way you can do it. Start with the guy you bought the car from and find out who he bought it from and go back one owner at a time until you get to the original owner. Unfortunately some of these people are going to be hard to find or impossible to find. Some states will keep records of owner history while the car is in their state. Hopefully you bought it out of state because New York is not one of the states that keeps or shares owner information.
If you are lucky there may have only been 2 or 3 previous owners and you will be able to trace it easily. If you are not you may only be able to go back 1 or 2 owners out of 30.
It is a quest that can be fun and rewarding or aggravating and useless. Until you start the trip you will never know.
Unfortunately it is not easy. There are most likely no records available of original owners, or dealers, or anything else that will help you document the car.
Legwork is the only way you can do it. Start with the guy you bought the car from and find out who he bought it from and go back one owner at a time until you get to the original owner. Unfortunately some of these people are going to be hard to find or impossible to find. Some states will keep records of owner history while the car is in their state. Hopefully you bought it out of state because New York is not one of the states that keeps or shares owner information.
If you are lucky there may have only been 2 or 3 previous owners and you will be able to trace it easily. If you are not you may only be able to go back 1 or 2 owners out of 30.
It is a quest that can be fun and rewarding or aggravating and useless. Until you start the trip you will never know.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 323
Likes: 0
From: ********** New York
Damn I did buy it in NY and Iknow their was only 2 owners cause the guy we nabbed it from told me he bought it from the original owner he could have lied but what I do know is was going threw a divorce and they were selling everything including the house. Oh well guess I'm going to burn some shoe leather on this one.
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,116
From: Crossville TN
If you only have two PO's to work with, you only have to contact two people....and you already have contact information on one of them--the guy you bought the car from. If he doesn't remember the name of the person he bought it from, or you can't find original owner info from the state motor vehicles system, you may be "out of luck". If the car was built in Bowling Green, KY, you may be able to find original shipping info from the GM factory--that will get you to a car dealership and they may have the original owner's name [or not]. If the car was built in St. Louis, you are in limbo; GM claims to have no records from that period. You might want to 'sweeten the pot' for prior owner by offering a couple hunder bucks if he can locate his prior owner and provide useful contact information; that might just motivate him to do a thorough search of his records (old bill of sale, personal phone directory, etc.) to come up with something.
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 31,230
Likes: 4,324
From: Westminster Maryland
I think of Documentation and History as 2 separate things.
In my mind, DOCUMENTATION is made up of items related to the car up to the time it was sold the first time. It includes things like Dealer Order, Shipper's Copy, Tank Sticker, Window Sticker, Warranty Folder with POP, Owners Manual and Dealer Sales Invoice.
But, HISTORY is made up of the records of where and to whom the car went before you bought it. The VERY BEST part of HISTORY is when you discover that a former owner has saved a piece of DOCUMENTATION and has it in his closet, and gives it to you along with 2 old pictures of the car from 1972.
People spend years searching for Documentation and History because there's always the chance that someone or something will turn up.
There's a section in the NCRS DRIVELINE called Information Wanted for this reason.
Start your search!!!!!
Regards,
Alan
In my mind, DOCUMENTATION is made up of items related to the car up to the time it was sold the first time. It includes things like Dealer Order, Shipper's Copy, Tank Sticker, Window Sticker, Warranty Folder with POP, Owners Manual and Dealer Sales Invoice.
But, HISTORY is made up of the records of where and to whom the car went before you bought it. The VERY BEST part of HISTORY is when you discover that a former owner has saved a piece of DOCUMENTATION and has it in his closet, and gives it to you along with 2 old pictures of the car from 1972.
People spend years searching for Documentation and History because there's always the chance that someone or something will turn up.
There's a section in the NCRS DRIVELINE called Information Wanted for this reason.
Start your search!!!!!
Regards,
Alan
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,116
From: Crossville TN
While factory documentation may not be available, you could obtain affidavits from each of the previous owners as to when they took possession of the car and from whom, how long they kept it (time and miles), and what changes/repairs they recall having made. Those should be notorized; and if you can get any sales documents (dealer paperwork, bills of sale, etc.) to go along with the affidavits, that will go a long way toward verifying the car's history.
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 2,336
Likes: 1
From: North Bellmore Ny
St. Jude Donor '09
While factory documentation may not be available, you could obtain affidavits from each of the previous owners as to when they took possession of the car and from whom, how long they kept it (time and miles), and what changes/repairs they recall having made. Those should be notorized; and if you can get any sales documents (dealer paperwork, bills of sale, etc.) to go along with the affidavits, that will go a long way toward verifying the car's history.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 323
Likes: 0
From: ********** New York
How do I go about doing that because I have a dealer receipt in 2003 for my car but the dealer will not tell me where he purchased it from. I did however get in touch with someone claims to have purchased and sold it to the dealer but no paperwork to back up the story. Only tie I have on this guy is a replacement dealer catalog that has his name and address stamped on the back.
7T1vette Thanks great plan $$ always modivate people I'm going to have to go on a hunting mission tofind this guy.
400hp427vette My grandfather is a used car dealer & he has to fillout a MV-50 which statesbuy/purchaser info U can't aquire a copy of that however you can ask thedealfor the dealerinfo it waspurchased from on his mv-50 for documenting & that you dont care what he paid.