Old car chain of possession/title

[Sonny Calhoun]

I recently bought a 60 Coupe.  The car had two owners, the last owning it eight years.  The gentleman that he bought it from was in his 80's and he cannot remember his last name.  All I know is that his name was Bill and he lived in Sarasota, FL.  I am trying to find a source to trace the chain of owners so that I can locate Bill or his family.  The car has a personalized liscense plate on the front that has Bill and his wife's name that appears to have been there for many years and I was going to send it back to him or his heirs as a keepsake.  Does anyone have a source that would help me find the chain of ownership of an old beauty like this one?

Thanks,
Sonny Calhoun

[Dennis DiNorcia #19071]

I recently discovered that in my state (New Jersey) you can fill out a form for a title search and they will search the history of the vin number.  The first catch: they took my $10.00 search fee and returned me a copy of my own title and the previous owner's title which was in New Jersey as well. When I called them to ask why it did not go back further they advised me they can only do a search of the vehicle within the state it was titled in. They do not do a countrywide title search, so if the car was removed from the state, or came from another state they cannot locate it. I guess you will have to know every  state the car was titled in. If it is only one state, they can do it. The second catch: they cannot go back further than 25 years so no records will be found if it is over 25 years. This was not mentioned on the form that they only go back 25 years. I don't know what state you are from or if they do this as well. Not sure, I think the historical society may be able to help. I requested to do this for my 1968 Plymouth Road Runner from the Chrysler Historical Society, and they would have helped, except that all the records for 1968 were destroyed in a fire. So much for that. I hope this helps you.

[Charles]

If it were originally a Florida car....

http://www.hsmv.state.fl.us/data/past.html

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

I recently bought a 60 Coupe.  The car had two owners, the last owning it eight years.  The gentleman that he bought it from was in his 80's and he cannot remember his last name.  All I know is that his name was Bill and he lived in Sarasota, FL.  I am trying to find a source to trace the chain of owners so that I can locate Bill or his family.  The car has a personalized liscense plate on the front that has Bill and his wife's name that appears to have been there for many years and I was going to send it back to him or his heirs as a keepsake.  Does anyone have a source that would help me find the chain of ownership of an old beauty like this one?

Thanks,
Sonny Calhoun

Sonny:

About all states play by the same rules as NJ does.  They only keep records for
vehicles registered in their jurisdiction, do not have any means of crosscheck
with other states and throw the records out after 20 years or so.

Cadillac Historical (the Corporation and the Clubs's affiliated C&LC Museum & Research
Center) keep no such records.  Not even the dealer whom the car was shipped to
is recorded anywhere, just the "zone".  In other words, I have a car the the build sheet
shows "LA" -- meaning shipped to the Los Angeles zone which at the time had a
number of delearships.

In short -- there is no quick & easy or any sure way to research this.  Your best bet
is to talk to the former owners, try to discuss the car with a few dealers in the city
you know it was shipped to (if they stilll exist).  Somebody may remember the car
and / or the former owner.   Good luck,  Mike