I've decided I'm going to reach out and try to contact my Corvette's previous owners. I'm looking for some advice from folks who have done this. If I get lucky enough to speak with one of these individuals I have a few questions in mind I'd like to ask, but was wondering what types of questions other people have asked when speaking to original/former owners.

I've got 2 cars I'm trying to track down previous owners for. I think I've got a decent shot at getting good info on one of them; the other one I'm not as optimistic.


Anyway, here's what I've got on the two vehicles. All advice is welcome .............


1971 LT-1 (White) - I've got the names of two previous owners, but unfortunately this only takes me back to 1998. The documentation I have shows this person (second previous owner before me) bought the car from CnV Corvette back in 1998. This is as far back as the paper trail goes. I could reach out to CnV but don't have high hopes for getting much information from them.

An interesting thing is in the paperwork I have there is an Arizona DMV form from when this person bought the car from CnV. On the form there is a box that says "Month/Yr First Registered" and it says August 1971 and a list price of 6,327. That's all it really has for historical information, which isn't much, but tells me there is a paper trail for the vehicle somewhere.

In my documentation there is also a hand-written inquiry to someone at Holler Chevrolet in FL stating that they believe the vehicle may have been bought new there...but I don't have any response from Holler in the docs. There's nothing that says why they believe that it was purchased there...but I think my best chance with this vehicle is to get in touch with Holler and hopefully they will have some documentation in their archives. If not then I can try CnV but I suspect I'll only be able to track this one back to 1998. I looked up Holler and they're not longer a Chevy dealer...they appear to be a used car place now. Apparently a victim of the GM fallout.


1971 LT-1 (Red) - I think i've got a better shot with this vehicle. I've got documentation of repairs, registration, etc dating back to the early '80's for this car. Among the documentation there is print out from the "MI dept of state driver/vehicle records". It looks like someone back in the late 80's/early 90's requested previous owner information from this agency. This print-out has the names, addresses and title info for every owner back to 1974. I did a search on anywho.com and it appears the person who bought it in 1974 is still in MI and is only 62 years old. I'm planning on writing a letter to this person and also one or two owners after him (in case i don't hear back from the first guy). These other owners date back to 1982 and 1986 respectively, so i may get some good info from them also. I'm going to write a short letter and include a picture of the car and politely ask them to write back or call if they have any pictures or documentation.

I want to be prepared with questions in the even i do get a call and looking for input for folks that have done this. So what do you guys think, do you think i have a decent shot of finding out more info on my cars?


Paul

 

Ask questions about aspects of the car you know nothing about. When certain repairs were made, repaint or previous collision repairs if there is evidence of this.
Ask each owner you contact who they bought the car from and so on. You may get lucky and trace back to the original owner. You also may find someone still has original documentation etc...
Request ANY kind of records, repair receipts, to document the history of the car. What good are they to a previous owner now?
How long did each owner have it and do they have any old pics they could send copies of.
Good luck and have fun!
Can't hurt to call CnV either.
Glenn

 

I think that CnV closed or they moved to a new location. Hopefully you have the tank stickers, that will tell you the zone and the dealer and you can start by looking for the first time they were titled.

 

I spoke to the second owner of mine and I found him by going thru receipts and invoices for repair and finding a phone number which turned out to be his uncle. When I called, his uncle thought I was a solicitor and I had to convince him that I was truly just looking for information on the Vette. He reluctantly gave me his nephews phone number who I called 3 times trying to get the original owners name and number….to no avail.

I believe some original owners do not want to be contacted due to them thinking you are going to complain or want restitution on a repair, etc. Also some of the original owners are getting up in years…my car is a ’70 and if you think of the age of the original owner may have been late 20’s early 30’s….they are nearing 70 or over now, so they may just want to be left alone. I would like to think though that all of the original owners are as passionate as I and would like to see where their car ended up and its history after them.

Good luck on your quest and let us know what you find!

 

My best advice is DON'T WAIT...do it now. Things change, memories fade, people die, dealers dump their old records (most after 10 year).
Just do it.

 

The internet is a very useful tool. My car happened to come with the protect-o-plate, giving me the name (first and middle initials, common last name) and address of the original owner. Wrote a letter with no response. Five years later, while searching the web for that name, I happened upon a State of California website for liquor licenses at that address...a bar in Yreka. After numerous phone calls to all sorts of individuals, including the CPA now doing the books, I was told that Andy passed away in '95 but gave me the cell phone # to his 52 year old son. He returned my call and said to me "so you own the banana now?" Being a car guy himself (Mustangs) he gave me a whole lot of information. I responded with photos. May your search turn out as well, but you'll never know unless you try. Do it now.

 

Well, I sent out the letters and got my first phone call last night

As stated above, I had contact information for previous owners of my red '71 LT-1 back to 1974. The guy who called me was not the 1974 owner, but the guy after him. He owned the car from 1982-86 and proceeded to tell me he's good friends with the previous (1974) owner...in fact right before hanging up he said he was going to give him a call to reminisce some more

It was a really good experience listening to him talk about the LT-1 and its history....and also other experiences with Corvettes and life in general (he currently has 3 vettes right now). You could tell he really loves these cars and established a lot of personal relationships over the years.

When i bought my car it had several distinguishing characteristics.....after-market hooker side-pipes, incorrectly painted hood, cragar wheels, broken old 8-track, cracked instrument cluster bezel and several other small things. Before I could even ask about any of these things he started telling me about them. He told me how he didn't like how the previous owner before his friend freshly painted the car and didn't bother to do the hood correctly. He said he intended on painting it back but never got around to it and still has the LT-1 stickers he got from the dealership at the house. He also talked about the sidepipes and rims and other distinguishing features so I knew I had the right guy ......although i was surprised that all these changes were made so early in the car's history and how it remained relatively untouched since except for mechanical repairs. He was even telling me stories of how he broke the instrument bezel when trying to fix the heat one day and how he sold the radio to put an 8-track in.

The one thing my car does not have is a build sheet, but talking to him was the next best thing for me. He told me people weren't faking LT-1's back then like they are today, and not to worry because the car was every bit an LT-1 back then as it is today. He said he knew the original owner's name and it was at the tip of his tongue but just couldn't remember. He said it didn't really matter much though because he was a much older guy back then so he probably isn't alive anymore.

So i learned a few things about the car and had an opportunity to talk to another enthusiast and who loved the same car me....just 30 years prior when i was just a small boy. I may or may not hear from his friend who he bought it from (1974 owner) .... but it probably doesn't matter much because he said his memory is not as good and knows his friend does not have any documentation or pictures. He said he definitely does have at least 3 or 4 pictures himself in the basement, and that he'd send them to me. He also out of the blue asked if the car was missing the heat deflector (which it is) and said he had it at the house and would send it to me . As a thank you I may send him that old 8-track since i've since put an original radio from another '71 in the car. The 8-track probably doesn't work and is worth much, but maybe will bring back some memories and will give him back at least a little piece of the car. I hope i get some pictures; If I do I'll post one. This was a nice belated Christmas present.

Research on my white LT-1 seems to be a dead end. I think i know the dealership it was bought from but they're not responding to messages. They probably destroyed records long ago.

 

^ Great story!!


Unfortunately, the last couple of cars I sold, wound up getting wrecked, one by a dashing deer, the other by an inexperienced driver thinking he was the next Mario Andretti. (he wasn't!!) It saddened me to hear those stories....

 

Hi Paul,
I was really interested to read your update!
I can vouch for the fact that VERY often, (but not always), the cars that mean so much to owners today were also important to previous owners.
When I saw the dash and gauge lights on my 71 for the first time at night, I just about wet my pants! I couldn't believe how cool looking they were. I'll never forget that first time.
Keep searching, you never know what might turn up!
Regards,
Alan

 

Okay here is the can of worms, time to go fishing

Why is it so important to contact prevoius owners concerning your car? I get the fact of a documentation search, that is of course you are into numbers, originality, etc. But be realistic at the end of the day you will not find out that your car was originally owned by Elvis and a Monet is taped under the seat.

I would never call someone unsolicited to talk about their old and my new car.

Just wondering.

 

Hi sce,
I can answer only for me... I would find it interesting to know the car's history and the original owner just MIGHT have the original window sticker in a folder in a file cabinet. Lo and behold someone DIDN'T take the fan shoud off..... it never had one!!
Regards,
Alan

 

As a guy that has owned, restored, built a few old cars, I'd love to know where some of my old cars are now (or if they still are). I'd also love to know the history of my car, but have nothing to search on.

Guess some of us are just sentimental.

 

Great story. Made me tear up like a chick.

 

Hoping or expecting to find a Monet?, No,...Build sheet, Yes! It does happen http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...r-my-72-a.html

I know it's very unlikely to find this kind of information from a previous owner but you never know unless you try. And if I don't try now then when...these are 40 yr old cars and original owners aren't going to be around forever and may regret it if I don't do it now.

Knowing that finding factory documentation was unlikely I was at least hoping to find out some information about my car..and at least verbally confirm the authenticity of the LT-1, which i did.

I too felt uncomfortable about this, which is why i sent a letter instead. If the guy wasn't interested in talking to me he could throw the letter in the trash and go on with his day....it wouldn't be the first nor the last piece of junk mail that someone gets. I figured though that chances are someone would want to talk about their old Corvette; putting myself in that position I know I would. We're not talking about Toyota's or Kia's here, we're talking about Corvette's....and there is a good chance that someone would want to talk about their car. It's no different from you and I posting on a forum right now, we love our cars and like to talk about them.

Anyway, I learned some information about my car and got to speak with a fine gentleman so I'm happy. I should be getting some pictures which will make me even happier. We talked for 1 1/2 hours, and I'd say about 20 minutes of that was me speaking, the rest was him

Paul

 

Mine was easy...One owner

 

I managed to contact 3 previous owners of my 72. 1st 2 were fairly amenable, with some good info....the 3rd guy was a hoot. He was convinced I was a bill collector and was tracking bad debt. He gave me some info about the car and he still wasn't convinced that I actually had his old car....he finally asked me if the gauges were out and I told him no...I asked why. He said he put his contact info on a piece of paper and jammed it up under the gauges.....I told him wait a minute, I got a flashlight and laid on the floor and scrounged around in there and found his note. When I started reading his info back to him, he started laughing....gave me as much info as he could...we talked for quite a while, he told me about one of the accidents the car was in..almost getting divorced because of the car, almost losing his license because of the car...almost going broke because of thie car....real man to man corvette talk...

 

I have spoken to 3 of the 5 previous owners of my car, a "73 vert" and all were excited to talk about the car. I did get ahold of another previous owner but I think it was an exwife and she was not excited at all. The ones that did talk told me a whole lot about the car and confirm the originality. My car is a SUPER low miles (8500 miles) when I bought it in 2009 so I really wanted to findout about it. 2 of the later owners ( I spoke to owner 2,3, and 5) asked right away if it was still a low miles car so I felt the milage was correct. The 3rd owner told me he drove the car 105 miles in the 14 years he owned it so that really was exciting to hear and good info. I think people were just as crazy about these car then, as we are now. The 5th owner had it Bloomington certified Benchmark /Survivor in 2003 and I have even met him and am trying to get the certificates from him but he's not that willing to give them up, but I do speak to him every couple of months and keep asking for them (he will break down and give them up sometime) I would not be afraid to call people whats the worst that can happen, they hangup on you? There is a website called Spokeo.com that can help you get phone # for people if you know an address of city and believe me you will call a few of the wrong people. You can also go thru NCRS and for like $40.00 you can findout where you car was originally delivered (dealership) which may help too. Well I've run on too long so good luck with your research and keep us informed.

Talltxin

 

A couple of comments on this thread --

Interestingly, I was the example cited having contacted the previous owner(s) by mail and actually getting a tank sticker and pictures.

I can see both sides of this ... why is it important? blah blah.

To me, owning a vintage vette has several aspects to it. There's the physical side which is fixing up, maintaining and driving the car. There's the emotional side which is how you feel about the nostalgia, prestige/ego and pride of ownership. Then there's the academic side to the "hobby" which is the natural desire to want to know why, where, how etc. It's normal to want to know the story behind the car. Generally speaking, anyone who owned the car before you was probably a Vette enthusiast to some degree -- so they are not going to be surprised to be contacted about vehicle that they to likely had attachments to on several levels.

now, the final aspect is the financial side of ownership. Documenting or being able to demonstrate, validate, prove or otherwise have enough facts or similar information goes a long way to round out the history on a collectible.

Quick test. You are looking at two 1972 corvettes: both equally priced, both in similar condition, same color, etc. One of the two has a tank sticker, NCRS letter validating delivery, pictures from previous owners, receipts and information about past owners. The other car has a title, registration and a receipt for the last oil change.

Which one would you buy?

I already know the answer and so do you. And that's why we document these cars.

 

Hi,
I'll pile on.
Imagine someone sending you this!
Regards,
Alan

The 14425 is the zone and dealer number... 14/425... also on the tank sheet.
CBTI68 is the order number...also on the tank sheet
170553 is the Identification Number...also on the tank sheet

 

What's the worst thing that could happen?
The previous owner saying "that car was stolen and they never found it".
I think that would be the worst thing. I wonder if this has happened to anyone?