Help Needed!
Thread Starter
7th Gear
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 7
Likes: 0
From: Chuckey TN
Help Needed!
Hello,
I'm not sure if this would be the right place to post this or not but I thought I would start here.
I am trying to find my Father-in-laws 1977 Corvette that he owned for my wife. She has tried to find any paper work but we have come up empty. My father-in-law passed away 8 years ago and he sold the Corvette around 1995. My wife nor her mom can remember the name of the person who he sold it to so all we have is his name.
So the help I'm needing is to find out if there is anyway to find a car by the former owners name only? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you ,
Sean
I'm not sure if this would be the right place to post this or not but I thought I would start here.
I am trying to find my Father-in-laws 1977 Corvette that he owned for my wife. She has tried to find any paper work but we have come up empty. My father-in-law passed away 8 years ago and he sold the Corvette around 1995. My wife nor her mom can remember the name of the person who he sold it to so all we have is his name.
So the help I'm needing is to find out if there is anyway to find a car by the former owners name only? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you ,
Sean
Team Owner
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 38,923
Likes: 1,481
From: Southbound
Cruise-In II Veteran
You will need the VIN for the car. Without it, a title or registration search would be essentially hopeless.
Did your father-in-law leave any auto insurance or registration papers?
You could check with your DMV for a possible title search, but with only a name they are likely to turn you down due to confidentiality laws.
Did your father-in-law leave any auto insurance or registration papers?
You could check with your DMV for a possible title search, but with only a name they are likely to turn you down due to confidentiality laws.
Last edited by Easy Mike; Jan 6, 2012 at 03:16 PM.
Thread Starter
7th Gear
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 7
Likes: 0
From: Chuckey TN
No. Everything has been thrown away. Her mom never thought anything about keeping anything like that and we called the insurance company but they told us their records do not go that far back.
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,116
From: Crossville TN
You could call the BMV administration office (not a local brance office, but the main office..state headquarters, if you will) and tell them the story. Give them your father-in-law's name and the year & color of the Corvette. They might be able to look up records of title transfer to get information about the new owner. But, they may not be willing to convey that info to you. If someone there would be willing, perhaps they could call the new owner to see if he would OK the tranfer of his info to you....or to supply them with your phone number so that they could contact you.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 2,709
Likes: 3
From: Savannah GA
Posting the last known location of the car, a description and any mods would go a long way toward awakening memories. If it was a silver/oyster stocker in NYC maybe not, but if it was a convertible conversion painted vermillion rolling on chrome Dayton wires in Boise it might be easier to place. Hope you find it!
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Team Owner
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 38,923
Likes: 1,481
From: Southbound
Cruise-In II Veteran
Here's a thought: I can understand your wife would like to have her father's car, but would a Corvette like her father's car fit the bill? Odds of finding her father's car are slim, but finding a 77 like the one she remembers could be an easier task.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2,936
Likes: 2
From: Enraging liberals everywhere. Ocala,FL
Posting the last known location of the car, a description and any mods would go a long way toward awakening memories. If it was a silver/oyster stocker in NYC maybe not, but if it was a convertible conversion painted vermillion rolling on chrome Dayton wires in Boise it might be easier to place. Hope you find it!
Thread Starter
7th Gear
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 7
Likes: 0
From: Chuckey TN
No it's all sentimental. But it would be a lot easier!!
Thread Starter
7th Gear
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 7
Likes: 0
From: Chuckey TN
It was a 77 corvette. It was sold around 1996-ish in Greeneville, TN by Richard (Gabe) Gabelmann. It was silver with black leather, T-tops. Silver Shadow was the plate he had on the front of it. From what I can remember he always said "the numbers matched."
I will post a picture when I figure out how to !
I will post a picture when I figure out how to !
Safety Car
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 4,057
Likes: 99
From: Southeast, Tennessee
St. Jude Donor '09 thru '26
You could call the BMV administration office (not a local brance office, but the main office..state headquarters, if you will) and tell them the story. Give them your father-in-law's name and the year & color of the Corvette. They might be able to look up records of title transfer to get information about the new owner. But, they may not be willing to convey that info to you. If someone there would be willing, perhaps they could call the new owner to see if he would OK the tranfer of his info to you....or to supply them with your phone number so that they could contact you.
it's worth a shot. i would certainly give this a try first. if it ends in a dead end, you can try some of the other more obscure methods. dmv should have the information if you can find someone with a kind streak.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 1,148
Likes: 5
From: South Dakota
Do some google searches for the name and start making calls. If you know where that person supposedly lived, try some adds in the local papers.
I've found the 4 previous owners of my 4 corvettes this way. I never got to the adds in the papers.
I've found the 4 previous owners of my 4 corvettes this way. I never got to the adds in the papers.
Last edited by builder; Jan 9, 2012 at 10:30 AM.