Call for HELP!!! TX to NM.

[Smokie55]

Guys, I am seeking help. I know there are alot of members here who could possibly lend a hand. First I will break this down for those who don't know my story.

I recently purchased a 69 Suburban here in Dallas. With this truck I recieved alot of cool things. Some of which includes the original owners manual, an original registration slip from July 8th 1969 and even the original window sticker that was still on the window of my Burban. the truck has 108K on it. I know that the previous owner bought the truck with 79K on it. I also know who the owner before that was. ALthough I haven't tried to contact him yet.

The story is kinda long. but here is what I have been doing to track down the history of this vehicle. Any help would be appreciated.
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The Story Of Otis - My 69 Suburban Ambulance

Since buying this truck I have become overwhelmed with the desire to trace this vehicle’s history as far as I can. Most of the time you have to start with present day and work your way backward. That can be a problem in this day and time because laws have been set in place to protect the privacy of previous owners’ personal information. That is good and bad: good for those of us wanting to keep our personal information out of the hands of the general public, but bad when it comes to trying to collect such information for historical reasons.

Here is where I got lucky. I have the information - which was handed to me along with the title to this vehicle - of the beginning of this long trail that originates in 1969, so I just have to follow it to discover its subsequent stops along its way to the present day. Thank God for the previous owners and their meticulous record keeping. It has awarded me this opportunity to possibly track, for the first time, my classic vehicle from birth to present day. I look forward to finding out as much as I possibly can.

Armed with the information I currently have, I started at the earliest source. If you don’t count the Flint, Michigan plant the truck was built in, it is pretty simple and straightforward. I then looked at the second piece to the puzzle. The truck was shipped to Johnson Chevrolet on Ross Avenue in Dallas. It is here that I hit my first obstacle. That dealership is no longer in operation, so finding out information from them is not going to be easy. But that doesn’t matter, considering I know the third location this truck spent its life. The truck was sold to Mosquero Volunteer Fire Deptartment in Mosquero, New Mexico. I was lucky enough to also be handed the original registration slip signed by the Mosquero VFD back on July 8th of 1969, so I have the information of the original owners. This truck apparently was equipped for use as an ambulance or first response fire/rescue vehicle. This is where I hit my second of what is sure to be many obstacles in the search.

I did a little searching for information pertaining to the city of Mosquero, New Mexico. It seems this little town in northeast New Mexico is actually the county seat of Harding County, New Mexico. The history of settlement for this area dates back to the early 1900’s. Even though the Indians inhabited the area for centuries, it wasn’t until 1921 that English settlers actually claimed the area as a town. The town became the county seat in 1930 when the county was named after President Warren G. Harding. The county has never been known for being heavily populated and has remained mostly unpopulated from 1930 to present day. Early on in its history it saw some growth but has been on a decline since the 1970’s. Currently the county encompasses about 2800 square miles and has a population of just 800 residents. Of those only 120 actually live in the Mosquero area. Keeping this in mind, you will see why this is going to be my biggest hurdle. Since the area has experienced such a steady decline, it has lost most of what makes a town, city or county run: the local government and its related agencies. Even though the internet is one of the most powerful tools in researching information, it has produced very little information about this city, and even less about who may or may not be running it’s day-to-day activities. I have spent a fair amount of time researching Harding County and the town of Mosquero. In my studies I have found out that there isn’t much going on in Mosquero. The town is basically nothing more than just a crossroads between the Ranches and communities in the surrounding County. There is still a School district and a court house in Mosquero. The School system is still in operation but the Court House is currently vacant. After finding out the court house had closed. This left me with another dead end. You see, during my searches I had uncovered several email address’s for city officials and even one of the more senior volunteers for the Fire Department. All attempts to contact these emails have left me with nothing but undeliverable messages. I did however right a letter “To whom it may concern”, addressed to the main court house. I sent this letter before I discovered the court house is closed. So I am assuming I will not hear back from anyone. Another bit of information I found out in my searching is that back in the late 90’s there was an audit performed in the county of Harding. It seems that the county clerk was misappropriating some of the county funds. I assume it was shortly after the investigation by the state that the city offices along with the court house were closed. It appears from the city finances that they couldn’t afford the staff they needed to keep the city running and also protect the state appointed funds being used to manage the budget. My only hope to find out more information on this town or the county of Harding is to contact the state archives. I imagine that the city of Mosquero and the county of Harding have kept some kind of records that must have been housed in the old vacant court house. I also imagine when the court house was closed, these documents were moved to the State Archives in Santa Fe, NM. Currently you can not access any state records outside of the State archives building. So this means, if I want to dig further, I will need to plan a trip to Santa Fe to continue my search. Being that this truck was located in the County seat, I figured I might get information about this truck from the Sheriffs’ department. Sadly, there is no current contact information available for the county sheriff. All roads so far have lead to dead ends.

Currently I am looking for information and possible photographs pertaining to the original dealership the truck sold from in Dallas. Also any information and or photographs pertaining to the town of Mosquero, NM or Harding County, NM. Somewhere someone has receipts for the purchase of this ambulance. It must also have receipts showing it’s sale when it was retired from duty. I assume that someone at sometime also may have photographed this truck in it’s original form. If anyone stumbles across information that might be of help, I would welcome the help and forever be in debt to the person who helps me solve this puzzle.

Needing information from or about:

Johnson Chevrolet Co.
901 Ross Avenue
Dallas, TX

Mosquero, NM – located in far north east New Mexico – County Seat of Harding County.

Harding County, NM – located in far north east New Mexico.

Harding County Sheriffs’ Dept. – and any related agencies who may have had contact or knowledge of this vehicle.

Thank you for any help you can lend me.
Will Evans

[PanelDeland]

Maybe an E-mail to the New Mexico State police would help.They probably know who is in charge of law enforcement in Mosquero.You can only hope that the population is not totally Hispanic/Native American as they tend to be tight lipped about their heritage/history.There should be a county sherriff or maybe a county board of commissioners.Good luck in your search.

[Smokie55]

thanks for the info Deland. I have found out that there is still a rather bustleing community just 18 miles from Mosquero. it has a whole 362 residents. but most have been there for generations and I may stand a chance of someone in the city or VFD there remembering this truck. Who knows it may have been the only ambulance for miles around. Like I said, there ain't much near those parts.

[jcueckert13]

sunday when i see my dad i will ask him if he knows anything about that area. i live just outside albuquerque where my family has lived since the late 50s. my grandfather had a tendency to study everything about the area he lived in he was somewhat obsesive over it. in his stuff there may be some info about that town

[Smokie55]

Thanks JC, I am finding out that Roy, Nm has a few businesses that have been around since the Sixties. One is a print shop that is on it's 3rd generation. Roy is only 18 miles from Mosquero. So there is a real good chance someone in ROy will remember this truck. Plus I found some contact info for the Roy, NM Volunteer Fire Dept. they may also remember this truck.

I can only assume that with the size of this little town and the sparsley populated area of NM. any old timer from around the area will know it or have seen it.

thanks for any and all help guys.

[jcueckert13]

sorry no luck finding anything more than what you already have

[Smokie55]

thank You again for the help JC, it looks more and more like I will be planning a long weekend drive to NM. It is only about 8-9 hours from me. might be a good time to take the family on a vacation and also do some digging around. We'll see what it turns up.

thanks for the help guys. It is harder than I thought to track the history of a vehicle.

[SCOTI]

Guys.... I've seen this burb firsthand & it's one of the cleanest/rustfree trucks around. Add the bigblock & the perfect barndoors.... man, what a find.

If I may.... you also need that piece of rear drivers side glass (just in case anyone's reading this & they have an extra). Don't lose that window sticker! Scot

[Smokie55]

Thanks for the compliments scott. BTW, I was cleaning the inside glass of the truck the other day and got a little to close to the window sticker. A little piece flaked off and I decided right then to remove it. it all came off in one piece after some delicate work. I now have it stored away in a nice acid free photo ablum. if it doesn't last for eternity, Oh well. It will surely last longer than it was going to. the sun had done a real number on that sticker.

here is a picture of it before removal.