ferd1971

Good evening...can someone please point me in the right direction? I am trying to locate my old C3 '68 Vette that I had as a high school student. I was forced to sell the car when the frame broke while going over some rough train tracks. I sold it to a buyer who said he was planning on restoring it. I am interested in seeing what it looks like today or perhaps find out where it is. I would also be interested if someone knows how to decipher the VIN since many sites I enter it on says it is invalid. I have a copy of the original licence registration and the VIN looks to be correct. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

VIN: 1943785412786

Thanks in advance,

Fred

Revi

VIN: 194378S412786 - Your car was the 12,786th Corvette built in 1968.
http://www.corvsport.com/Corvette/C3..._1968_VIN.html

Older VIN's have 13 digits and are shorter than today's VIN's, that's why it comes up invalid in some searches.

ferd1971

Thanks Revi...I think you're correct about the "S". It makes sense to me. The IL license registration that I have was hand written and could have easily been misread. Any idea on how I might be able to track it down?

Easy Mike

Revi is correct. The S is the plant code for St. Louis, Missouri where the majority of C3s were assembled. The plant at Bowling Green did not open until June, 1981.

You do not say when you sold the car. Do you still have the buyer's name?

ferd1971

I'll have to admit, it is all kind of a blur. I got the car as a 16th birthday present from my dad in 1987. I believe I was a sophomore. I only remember having the car for a couple of years before having to sell it. I could not afford to do a frame off restoration on the car as an 18 year old. I sold it in the summer of 1989 before leaving for college. Exact date is unknown. I remember selling the car for $6000 and thought that was great since my dad had bought the car for $4000 from a guy trying to modify it and it had a broken frame, but was drivable. I do not have the buyers name...my dad handled the transaction.

Alan 71

Hi f,
Finding your car with that little information to track will be very difficult.
It depends how serious you are about finding it as to what you can do.
There are a couple of individuals who track cars (sort of like a detective) for a fee and seem to have some success.
You can join the NCRS and place an ad in the Information Wanted section of their semi-monthly publication the DRIVELINE. Many people look through those ads.
Usually it takes some piece of information to get things going…. like a name, shop, dealer, military link, or peculiarity in the car.
You have to start somewhere… good luck.
Regards,
Alan

Since you only had it a couple of years and you were young, perhaps you'd be better off finding one just like it and work on convincing your heart that that's close enough.

bashcraft

You also need to consider the possibility that maybe the current owner doesn't want to be found.

ferd1971

Hi Alan...Thanks for the reply. I know it was a shot in the dark with just the VIN. I was crossing my fingers that I would be able to track it down or get some sort of history since I last owned it. I'm not totally sure that I am looking to acquire it again after all of these years since I just bought a '14 in August, but I'm very interested in seeing it again and seeing what the buyer did to it and seeing if it survived after all of these years.

Fred

ferd1971

Anyone else have ideas on how I may be able to track down my old C3?

VIN: 194378S412786

thanks !

vettebuyer6369

Most DMVs refuse to do histories any more due to privacy constraints, so that avenue is more difficult that it was in the past. Also, help from LEOs on looking this stuff up is difficult as a LEO who does this without a valid LE reason risks a new career working at McDonalds when caught.

That said, your VIN info is way, way better than most people who start these threads, looking for "their green car, I think it was a '68."

I found the original buyer of my '63 split window, from over 50 years ago and who moved half a country away, with the VIN. Also found a long time owner of my '69 that way. I think your best avenue is dilligent Internet searches of that VIN... Google, Bing, 411.com, etc. You will likely get lots of false leads and frustration, and then have to track people who, as said before, might not want to be found.

Make a project out of it. Time, determination and luck is how its done.

JimLentz

According to this site I found the vehicle has not been totaled or reported as stolen:

VINCheckSM Theft Record

194378S412786 has not been identified as a vehicle listed in the VINCheckSM Theft Records.

VINCheckSM is updated regularly as additional information is reported.
VINCheckSM Total Loss Record
AutoCheck
Further information is available through AutoCheck .

194378S412786 has not been identified as a vehicle listed in the VINCheckSM Total Loss Records.

VINCheckSM is updated regularly as additional information is reported.

mooncricket

I swear I almost just fell out of my chair... I thought you were talking about my car and finding out it had previously had a broken frame. Here's my car # 12796, this car was on the assembly line 10 cars down from your old car. Has original L68 400hp 427, 4 speed, 3.70 posi. Very original car.




Tell me more about your car please...

ferd1971

Thank You !

ferd1971

Thank You !

ferd1971

Hi MoonCricket...Thank you for your reply. That is interesting that your beauty was produced 10 cars away from mine. Your C3 is stunning. I was 14 years old when my dad bought the car from a private seller. I think he purchased it from a guy that lived in Carol Stream, IL or Barlett, IL. I could be wrong about that. He bought the car from a person who had changed out the front end with a "mako shark" front end. This eliminated the flip up head lights, grill and the chrome front bumper. I believe he was in the middle of modifying the car, but gave up. My dad purchased the car from the seller for $4000 and fixed it to the point that it could be driven as a daily driver. There were many things that did not work, but he loved it and I have fond memories of helping him in the garage to get it back to driving condition. Anyway...it was a 327ci...I believe 300hp. 4 speed manual. The car was newly painted to blue (I think laguna blue), but I do not know if that was the original color. It had black leather interior, black side pipes and t-tops. It needed a valve job and smoked a lot when you pressed on the gas, but I loved it. When I turned 16, my dad gave me the car as a birthday present. I drove it for approximately 2-2.5 years until the frame broke on it. It broke right behind the drivers door and right in front of the left rear tire. I was heartbroken, but as an 18 year old, I could not afford to do a frame off restoration to repair the frame. I sold it to a private party just before going to college...my dad handled the transaction, so I do not have a lot of information. After 25 years, I have finally gotten back into a vette. I bought my first vette (a C7 Z51) in August last year...but always wondered what happened to my first car. I will try and dig out a picture and post it here. Thanks for listening.

Fred

skipmeister

Have you tried running a CarFax report on the VIN?

http://www.carfax.com

It might help narrowing down your search.

ferd1971

Carfax is unable to locate VINs older than 1981. The VIN on the C3 was only 13 digits. When you try and enter C3 VIN on modern sites, it doesn't recognize it or it says you don't have enough digits. I'll keep looking around.

1996Z15

Did it still have the Mako Shark front end on it when you sold it? There is a site dedicated to Mako Shark cars; perhaps you could try posting your search info over there.

Sorry I don't know the actual site name though.

ferd1971

Here are some pictures of the car I am looking for...

ferd1971

In a new development, my dad was able to locate the handwritten bill of sale, which had a business card attached. I'm going to try and contact them.