Advice on tracking down previous owners

[Chippa]

Guys and Gals,

I'm trying to find out more information about the life of my 69 Charger...the vehicle came with quite a few receipts on parts,emission tests,etc etc last known place it was registered from that was Illonois i know the name of the person and the registration plate.
I am just curious about it and trying to find out some more info on the car, and  that i might be able to make contact with someone...
Any help appreciated........or am i just wasting my time....

[Ghoste]

Patience is a biggie.  If its nearby and you have an address, sometimes it helps to go to those places and ask the neighbours.  If you have a town but no address, take the car to any shows in that town and hope someone recognizes it.

[Chippa]

Ghoste...I have the possible last owners name,address,ph Number and personalised plate.....Bit hard for me to take it around town and shows etc CAUSE I LIVE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA!!!!! HAHA 

Looking at some of the receipts the car only travelled about 900 miles a year...and going off receipts he had owned it for many years...

[Ghoste]

Another continent does complicate things somewhat doesn't it?  Well, I did have the caveat about being nearby.  

I think your only option is to find a kind soul in the locale where that car formerly spent time.

[Chippa]

Cheers Mate, maybe if i put up the name on the license plate someone might recognise it but were talking 10 yrs ago...i tried punching the details into google but not much luck but it looks like the car has spent its entire life pretty much in the same area..

[doctor4766]

Hi Chippa.I wondered about the same thing.
Im guessing that the license plate isnt much use to me unless someone knew someone in licensing over there.
How's the car coming along?
Would love to have a look some time.
Paul

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

You could also check to see if there are any registries for your particular year & make. You never know what they might have on your car.

PS---- this answer was for others in general as the OP already checked with the 69 Charger Registry

[lloyd3]

If you have the previous owners name and old address, (this is a long-shot, I'll admit) try a letter to the old address.  It is the cheapest, low-tech approach and it might get you a response. Even if this person has moved, on the chance that there is still a forwarding address on record, you might get something back from the postal service about it. A more probable attempt would be to contact the Illinois DMV (department of motor vehicles) for current information on this individual (these are supposedly public records and police, prosecutors, and insurance companies do this all the time). In the old days (pre-9/11) a nice letter would suffice. Now the contact might need to be by phone first to inquire about how their system works in this new age of "security". There will likely be a charge for the service.  There are also fee-based search-engines you can use on the internet to find someone, but it helps to have a fair-amount of information on the individual available to help sort out the flood of names the results will give you.  Recognise that lots of things can have happened since this person owned your car.  

In my case, the person I believed to be the original owner died before I could find and talk to him. Darn him. I wanted to find out why he ordered it stripe-delete.  All I got back was a letter from the postal service saying that he was "deceased" and trying to track down any surviving family members seemed a bit wrong, so I let it go at that.

[bill440rt]

Earlier this year I managed to track down the original owner of my '70. I have every bit of paperwork on this car since day one, & the names/addresses of previous owners are on them.
I just did a google search of his name, the address was different but the name is unique so I thought I'd give it a shot. Lo & behold, found him on the first phone call. He & his family were elated to hear the Charger still existed. We became good friends & have been in contact ever since. It was his first car he bought new.
I know the owner still that I bought it from, but there are two owners in between I have not been able to track.

[stripedelete]

I agree, if you have the address, send a letter.   

Also, check the population of the town (or the town on the parts receipts) if it's small enough (under 10K or 12K),   call the town hall and tell them who you're looking for.   Don't laugh.  Just pre-internet a WWII vet from the west coast, wanted to let the family of his buddy know how he had died during the war (before he himself died).   So he called our town hall and inquired.  He spoke to a family member 10 minutes later.

Again, if it's small enough you might try the Amercan Legion, Am-vets, VFW halls.  He may have been a Veteran.  Or,  find out the name of the local high school.  They may have an alumni web page.   

Study the receipts for anything.  Maybe there is something in the receipts that can help you "triangulate".   I was in the same spot with the common name (original owner), until I noticed one work order with her sister's uncommon first name.  With that I found the original owner, with certainty, via the internet, in an evening.   

Remember the whole "six degrees of separation thing".  If you want to meet the president,  you need to find some one who knows a senator, etc, etc. 

Good Luck.

[bull]

Make friends with a cop who lives in the US. Have him run the history on the old plates for you.

[irish_in_ny]

I was lucky enough to track down my cars original owner. The guy I bought my car off, had all of the paper work of the car since it was new. I typed the owners name into a facebook search oddly enough and guess what, his wife had a facebook page! The disappointing part came to be when I wrote her and told her I had the car that her and her hubby bought new in '73. She could have cared less and her response she just wrote" yeah, that was me and my husband that bought the car new." She also mentioned that she had a photo of the car in 73 but she never sent it to me :/

Oh well

[Leonidas Rex]

Why not try Illinois Secretary of State? They maintain records of licenses and registrations issued. I think the website it www.cyberdriveillinois.com. I know you can get current records for a fee.

Good Luck.

[Chippa]

Thx for the input everyone, yeah i found that cyberdrive website and i might see if i can send them an email...if any of you  live in the area maybe i can forward on the info i have ....that might assist me some more i'm hoping the personal plates that were stated on the receipts might help track it further...

Grayslake, IL 60030 ?? this is the suburb i'm assuming

Cheers Chippa

[Brock Lee]

3 of my cars previous owners are on Facebook.

[Aussie R/T]

Did you try phoning or is the number not current.I would phone after taking into account the time difference.Thought they might get a kick out of a call.If I had the prison officer's number I'd call never know he might want to buy mine off me.