How to find a truck I (regretfully) sold

[LT102]

10 years ago I had to sell my 1971 C20. Of the 10 years I owned it 5 years were spent in restoration. I just turned 60 and one of my "Bucket List" dreams is to get that truck back. I've owned 2 other 71's since but it just isn't the same. I live in Ohio and I sold it to a guy who lives around St Louis, Missouri. I lost all his information in a computer crash but still have the VIN. Has anybody tracked down a vehicle like in my situation? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

My wife told me I would regret selling it and as always she is right. But at the time we had bought our dream home in the country but after several months we could not get our old house in town sold. Needed the money to keep up both payments. Two weeks after I sold the truck the house in town sold. That is how my life goes.

[pat english]

I always think about the one i sold too..Any chance you have any cop buddys that could look up the vin?if its still registerd they can find out where its at.

If thats not possible,you can call the dmv and tell them your thinking about buying this truck but the owner doesnt have the title and you just want to check if everything is cool.If they tell you its not in there system,that means it hasnt been registerd for a while and is maybe sitting somewhere.
i dont remeber exactly what forms you need and im is california so the laws might be differnt,but i was able to request the name and address of the last registerd owner of a 54 ford and send him a letter requesting to release the title..
So maybe you can do an info request in your state and write the dude a letter asking if he would sell it.

[LT102]

Just was on the Missouri DMV website. Sent an email request thru their site to see if they can help me. If they are anything like Ohio it will take a couple of days to, hopefully get a response.

[Sammy]

No pics u can scan n post? There are a few here that know most of the on the road trucks in our areas. You can post in the Midwest\Missouri section also that might help you also. Although I have had no experiences dealing with Mo. DMV in that area, I seriously doubt you will be getting a satisfactory response from them. But good luck.

[57chevyman]

just an idea, since you have the VIN.....did you try running a carfax report? if its been inspected, the report should tell you where it was done. Try calling the shop. I dont think a mechanic would give out a customers information, but you could at least give them your contact info and hope that the guy contacts you. good luck!

[LT102]

I will see if I can post some photos. I know the guy I sold it to had taken it to some car shows. He had sent me photos of it being at a show. Unfortunately I lost all that with the computer crash.

[LT102]

Don't know if I did the upload correctly.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Caxfax doesn't go past 1981 or so, that would be no help.

Have you literally googled the VIN? Maybe someone bought it and wanted some SPID help or something. It could have been posted on EBAY, etc...

My 65 mustang VIN pops up on a couple auction sites when it was last sold in 2005.

[LT102]

Yep, I searched the VIN on Google, BING and any other search engine I could find, no luck. Went to our auto title department to see if any info could be found on the old Ohio title. Apparently Missouri does not return the old titles back to the originating state. According to the State of Ohio it's still titled to me.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by LT102

According to the State of Ohio it's still titled to me.

Report it stolen and see what happens?













**I kid, I kid, don't do that...**

[LT102]

Appreciate the suggestion but going to jail was not in my "bucket list". Ha, ha!! Still waiting for a response from Missouri DMV. Don't know what else to do.

[Boog]

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

Report it stolen and see what happens?


**I kid, I kid, don't do that...**

Jesse. That is so bad..... but it might get quicker results.

[72 Copper C-10]

Great story, I hope you find it! Good luck with your search!

[Sammy]

Nice clean truck. Hadn't seen it in my area. I am just south of STL.

[undertaker72]

well, if you have any friends , and I know they aren't supposed to say , but if they are your friends they might give a idea, and you might could bribe with a doughnut , see if one will run it n.c.i.c. they might shed a little light , good luck

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

Originally Posted by undertaker72

well, if you have any friends , and I know they aren't supposed to say , but if they are your friends they might give a idea, and you might could bribe with a doughnut , see if one will run it n.c.i.c. they might shed a little light , good luck

NOT a good idea. I am a cop and it is ILLEGAL to use NCIC for non-investigative purposes. That is why I had to wait for the right moment to find my dad's old 68 C10 and could not run the VIN I had on an old registration (story in another thread). The info was always just a quiet click away to find it, but I was not willing to risk my career, even though it was 10000 to 1 that I would NOT get caught doing it. I have seen cops fired for that.

[BrianG]

I would put up some "Wanted/Reward for info" ads in the St Louise Craigslist, AutoTrader, newspapers, etc. If he took it to some shows, someone who reads those types of publications might know who it is, or you'll get lucky and the owner himself might contact you.

[68shortwide]

I feel like I've seen it....but before last year I never REALLY paid attention to these it was always a "Hey I like that truck" kinda thing. Now I know of every 67-72 in a 5 mile radius ill keep an eye out and ask around the car community and see if anything pops up. I can try and post a flyer on the board at dads work and see if it helps. The Craigslist idea is actually pretty good. Just north of St. Louis so I'll see if I can dig anything up? What year did you sell it?

[68shortwide]

Motor at the time? If you would, could you pm me a partial vin so I can try and match if I do find anything? Best of luck.

[R.L.]

Have you checked in Illinois?

[Lokin4AReason]

all I can think of is do you have a copy of you old title and they can go by the title number ( each title has a serial number )

or

go to the DMV with the photo of your truck tag

I have to say your in a better situation than most. either they do not copy or photo(s) of anything that they previous owned =0/

[LT102]

The Missouri DMV emailed me back. They have a form to fill out and submit back to them for review and possible response. Not having a lot of hope with them but am going to fill it out and return. At least they did get back to me. Still going thru boxes in the basement hoping for some scrap of paper or something that I may have kept from the sale.

[sduckworth13]

Would you happen to have the owners name by chance? Here is Missouri courts website
https://www.courts.mo.gov/casenet/base/welcome.do
Go to the page and on the upper left side of the page is "Litigant name search". Just type in the name and if they have had a legal issue their name and maybe the address will be on the docket entry. You could possibly send them a letter about the matter.

[LT102]

Don't have the buyer's name. Wish I did I could probably find him easily on the Internet.

[firedog]

NCIC will only show if the vehicle is stolen or wanted in another state. I think he is on the right track to use Missouri Department of Registration (DOR) still not sure what they will be willing to do. I agree its not worth your career to risk to run the Vin as I also could access the information. But every search I do is logged and if the current owner got mad enough it could be found out that I was the one that searched the information.