I thought I would see if anyone has any experience in this. I have a 69' with the original sales receipt from Harry Mann in Los Angeles, CA. I would love to track down the original owner. It was a woman and the sales receipt has her name, address and phone number from Oct. 69. I've tried a few of the "people search' sites with no luck. Has anyone ever tried a private investigator?

Just being able to track down the original owner or finding some photos of the car when new would be amazing!

Anyone else had luck doing this?

thanks!

 

Credon,
A very cool thing to have a Harry Mann vette with docs to support the bragging rights.
Now down to your question: My father was a PI and I saw how things were done.
Problem #1 owner was a female, females change their last names.
A little easier if owner was male but I'm not done yet cause most people have a brother.
Go to the recorder of deeds in the county where the orig. owner lived.
You may find a record of sale for property and a forwarding residence.
Some people never leave the same area their whole lives. These records should be a matter of public record. Even if you get a brother follow up through that person or just ask him about the cool 69 sissy used to have.
It is rare this day and age that someone will invite a complete stranger into their home for tea and recant the good ole days with their vette. I think this only happens on Cold Case episodes.
However; if you locate family locally and drive the car there it maybe an icebreaker.
You need the gift of gab and finese' to make headway. It's much easier to get info today with the advant of the internet. I watched my pop do it the old gum shoe way.
Vin # no good to trace ownership as most DMV's are on line and only go back so many years.
Depending how involved you want to get. You can ask neighbors about previous owner and maybe someone who has lived on that street since 1959 will remember the owner. Good Luck the fun is in the hunt.
I'm still trying to find out who car dealer #172 was. My 68 BB came form the San Diego area originally then some how migrated to Ohio then slipped into Pennsylvania where I am the 7th owner.
Also a local corvette club may have that old time member that remembers the owner. Many vette owners join social car clubs.
Hope this helped
Marshal

 

That was 43 years ago. Most likely over 80 or dead.

 

Maybe. But, if she's still living, she would definitely want a ride in your car!

 

This is sort of funny because I did this also. Only I was just trying to contact the previous owner. I found a receipt in the car from some parts and went from there. I was just trying to find out some info on the engine that had been replaced. I thought it would be cool to talk to the PO about the car.

So I was telling this to my wife and she was like 'Huh - you're doing what??, that's sort of stalkerish... What if he (the PO) didn't want to get rid of the car? He might not want to talk about it.. '

Well I finally got a hold of the guy and he was a jerk and didn't want to answer any questions about it. So she was right... Hopefully your results will be different. I would love to know the entire history of my car.

Jim

 

Before you get too far along, consider the first owner may not want to be contacted.

 

Credon,
I recieved a lot of paperwork with my coupe. The engine and parts reciepts lead me to the original owner and the second owner. I contacted both PO's and was glad I did. At least try, all they can say is no, go away.
I continue to give updates to the original owner from time to time.
Good Luck.

 

Yeah, my PO had the car repossessed, so I'm pretty sure he won't want to hear from me. However, there was information in the glove box regarding the original owner and dealer. That might prove interesting!

 

Never understood the the fascination with contacting the original owner. Why?

 

How's about People Search? Easy money, if it works. Or Facebook?

 

Would be cool to see if he/she had pics with the car from 40+ years ago or driving it out of the showroom. And regarding your previous comment about being over 80 or dead, I have only had my '69 for 7 months and have had 3 people approach me telling me they bought a '69 brand new (they were all in their late '60s to early '70s).

Regarding other comments about not wanting to be contacted - I am sure some won't and others will be real excited.

 

Yes.. But I used the internet. It's all out there.. you need to know where to look. Harry A Mann lives in CA and his wife is Marion (110 yo).

Try www.spokeo.com
Spooky how much stuff is out there...

 

How cool would it be if they had the original window sticker or other paperwork tucked away. If you want to establish provenance you have to start somewhere.

 

I was just able to contact the original owner of my 71, (he's 73 today)! We are planning on meeting at the NCRS Regional in Tuscon next month.

As far as why, I'd like to thank him for ordering a vehicle exactly like I would have, if I could have, at the time! I have more info to give and show him then he has for me. I hope to have the shipping data report in time, for his enjoyment! It's the car he say's he wishes he never sold, regrets still, almost 40 years later.

Oh, he drives a 74 Corvette as a daily driver! Once bitten

Regards,

WB

 

PM sent

 

[QUOTE=69VetteFla;1579960666]Would be cool to see if he/she had pics with the car from 40+ years I have only had my '69 for 7 months and have had 3 people approach me telling me they bought a '69 brand new (they were all in their late '60s to early '70s).
QUOTE]

Probably the same people who told me they once owned a '70 SS Corvette convertible. I just answered that must have been a nice car.

 

It is funny this topic came up as last night, I worked on the car and thought I wonder who first owned this also I thought of the lady I bought it off, she was concerned, was hopeful I would fix the car up as her husband intended, she wanted to see pics but was over 5 years ago now that I bought the car, I am going to track her down as she did tell me she would like to see updates as they occur.

 

Well, my car was repainted laguna gray and was originally steel citys gray. The car looks accident free so I was curious as to why it was repainted. I managed to get an e-mail to him and asked what he could tell me about the car. This is what I got back:
"Hi Ken,
That sure looks like the old boy. I sold the car in '75 to a fellow from PA. When I moved from Athens to Columbus in '73, some dickwad keyed it, so I had it repainted to charcoal gray. I removed all of the smog -control items and installed hooker side pipe/ headers, and an electric fuel pump. Ran pretty strong, despite the 9:1 pistons. I don't recall replacing the windshield, so the next owner(s) must have done so. I'm curious where you found it. I'd like to own another someday, but they're a lot more costly to own and operate the newer ones, so we'll see. Current ride is an '04 SVT Cobra, bought new. Hope this helps.
Enjoy,
Terry Efaw


Turns out he's a founding member of the
country western group McGuffey Lane .
http://http://www.concept2k.com/Talent/terry_efaw.html

That's why.

 

Cool! That is exactly why. There's a whole history there hidden somewhere.

 

Good stuff