Finding history of vehicle...?

[epashhans]

I was wondering if anyone knows how to attain public records or such about vehicles and previous owners, where they were bought, etc. I was just up at the DMV getting some stuff licensed and a lady I know up there said she can run VIN's for me to tell me the number of previous owners, but thats it. And she doesn't know how far back it goes. I would love to know where my truck was originally bought, maybe by who, and how many owners it has had since then. Mainly out of curiosity. Anyone done this or know of any resources I can hit up?? I have a feeling I am probably s.o.l. Thanks!

[driller35]

I do not know if this will work for USA vehicles but for us here in Canada u can find out from

www.vintagevehicleservices.com and a phone number 1-905-440-7636, let them know first hand your vehicle is from the states and see if they can help

for my vehicle i found out from the VIN that it was

made in Oshawa,ON
the dealer, originally sold in Quebec and the number produced for sale within Canada with the same model # is 52 (North America production around 6900)
production date was Oct 21 1971 and shipping date was Oct 25 1971, it also goes into all the installed options were for that vehicle

Hope that helps

[Longhorn Man]

you are lucky that your DMV will give you the info they said they will. That kind of info is getting harder and harder to get in most states these days.
Good luck with your search.

[bigblockorange]

In Pennsylvania we can go to the DMV "Penn dot" and find all previous owners for $5 per owner back to 1972. All of our records preceding that were destroyed in the 1972 flood complements of hurricane Agnes. This information is covered under our states freedom of information act defined as "Public Record" and is therefore open to the public "small fee applies". Once you have the name of the previous owner you can look them up. BBO

[epashhans]

Originally Posted by driller35

www.vintagevehicleservices.com and a phone number 1-905-440-7636, let them know first hand your vehicle is from the states and see if they can help

Thanks. I looked at their website and it sounds like only stuff after 77 can be looked up in the US.

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

you are lucky that your DMV will give you the info they said they will. That kind of info is getting harder and harder to get in most states these days.
Good luck with your search.

I know. I was waiting for quite a while so started some chit chat and she said to just bring her the numbers and she would give me what she could...she said no promises. So I will probably take her up on it and see what I can find out.

Originally Posted by bigblockorange

In Pennsylvania we can go to the DMV "Penn dot" and find all previous owners for $5 per owner back to 1972. All of our records preceding that were destroyed in the 1972 flood complements of hurricane Agnes. This information is covered under our states freedom of information act defined as "Public Record" and is therefore open to the public "small fee applies". Once you have the name of the previous owner you can look them up. BBO

I figured there must be some kind of public record deal. I wouldn't even know who to ask though. So, for $5 you get all the previous owners? That would be a deal!

[70cst]

Hey...I just had a brain spasm. Would Car Fax be of any help? I'm guessing they don't go back that far.

[epashhans]

Originally Posted by 70cst

Hey...I just had a brain spasm. Would Car Fax be of any help? I'm guessing they don't go back that far.

I was thinking that as well, but haven't looked into it. That would just be too easy if so!

[69-350]

Originally Posted by epashhans

I was thinking that as well, but haven't looked into it. That would just be too easy if so!

I don't believe they do. Somebody on the FSC boards had a Carfax one month trial and did a bunch of VINs. I ran both my 72 and the VIN that's on my shortbox and he said they were too short. Apparently sometime after 72 they switched to longer VIN numbers and Carfax thinks they are incorrect since it is the shorter number. Apparently it won't let you input older ones.

Carfax also doesn't list names. It will list towns, however, and how many times it has changed hands, along with some mainentance records, and the dates.

[Legolas894]

I tried CARFAX and for my '67 it wouldn't take my VIN number since the number of digits is only 12 (13 in Canada). Modern VINs are 17 digits.

I'm going to try this GM vintage service.

[Keith Seymore]

Guys - the GM of Canada service only documents how the vehicle was produced by GM, and what the original dealership was.

It will not list a series of previous owners prior to when you bought the truck.

Originally Posted by epashhans

Thanks. I looked at their website and it sounds like only stuff after 77 can be looked up in the US.

My understanding is that they could only research vehicles either built or produced for sale in Canada. Can they do some US stuff now?

K

[mrein3]

They probably don't do it any more but when I got my truck in 1994 the state of Wyoming gave my buddy photocopies of all the titles my truck had. My truck was a mutt. 1971 chassis and 1970 cab. In WY the put the K VIN number on the title because they understand trucks out there and clearly my truck is a 4x4. However here in MN, the state where nothing is allowed, they balked because the C VIN number didn't match the title. So I got all that paper from WY, went to a MN DMV inspector, had it all inspected, waited for them to run both C and K VINs to check for stolen, then finally got a legal, MN title for it.

Long story short the WY DMV lady was really nice and provided my friend all that information. Some of the titles even had "Deceased" written in pen next to the person's name. I don't think any of our fine public servants here in the state where nothing is allowed would go to the trouble.

Oh and the WY titles have stuff like date of sale, where the person lived at the time, etc. Sounds like the stuff you are looking for.

[epashhans]

Originally Posted by mrein3

They probably don't do it any more but when I got my truck in 1994 the state of Wyoming gave my buddy photocopies of all the titles my truck had. My truck was a mutt. 1971 chassis and 1970 cab. In WY the put the K VIN number on the title because they understand trucks out there and clearly my truck is a 4x4. However here in MN, the state where nothing is allowed, they balked because the C VIN number didn't match the title. So I got all that paper from WY, went to a MN DMV inspector, had it all inspected, waited for them to run both C and K VINs to check for stolen, then finally got a legal, MN title for it.

Long story short the WY DMV lady was really nice and provided my friend all that information. Some of the titles even had "Deceased" written in pen next to the person's name. I don't think any of our fine public servants here in the state where nothing is allowed would go to the trouble.

Oh and the WY titles have stuff like date of sale, where the person lived at the time, etc. Sounds like the stuff you are looking for.

Wow, that would be awesome if I could get all that. That is EXACTLY what I am looking for. I would be willing to pay for it even. Not sure how that works anymore with privacy issues though. I will have to see when I go up to the DMV next week. In my old charger I found an old registration from a previous owner...I was thinking of giving him a call and asking him for more info...just never have.

[1968SWBBigBlock]

I did a title search on my - Indiana was pretty straight forward - one owner, paid a small fee and signed paperwork stating that I was researching the vehicle and would not sell the information or contact the owner unless it was for research purposes.
B4 Indiana the truck was a Mississippi truck - they are a little tougher to deal with - they also charge 5 per copy of title - but you have to guess how many owners and supply a separate mailed in request and money each time - if you live their you can go in and play the game in person - I contacted the owner in Indy and he said he had some pictures and other stuff on my truck when it came up from Mississippi, but I had to send him some cash and he was not looking for 20 bucks for him to cough up the information.
His story was interesting - it was bought for the son of a monster truck owner, it came up as a baby blue truck with a super charged small block.
He drove it on the street for 2 years - blew it up and parked it. It sat around for about 7 years after that.
I googled the address on the Mississippi title - the street no longer exists in Jackson - I just need to find the next owner and keep going

[MT71c-10]

If you look under the seat,in the springs, the build papers might still be there. I found mine was an original Bozeman truck sent to Don Norm Chevy in 1971, The same address as the old Ressler chevy building on main street. I would like to know if the truck has ever lived outside of Bozeman though. That would be cool to know.

[MT71c-10]

Double post.