Small break in the history search of my 68 Charger, FWIW

[bull]

I've had little success searching the history of my 1968 383/2bbl/4spd Charger but finally today I was able to locate one of the former owners through a simple Yahoo search which turned up nothing after several attempts a few years ago. This, in addition to the paperwork collected by the most previous owner, shows how quickly the poor car changed hands during the '90s but at least now I can get some details on the car's life in California.

I contacted a man named Luis Salazar today who said he bought the Charger in '90 or '91 with lost title and after getting all the paperwork filed correctly he drove it up from Canoga Park, CA to Salem, Oregon where he registered it on April 29, 1994 (I assume that's when he moved to Oregon).

Salazar sold it to Bruce Wayne Addington (no address) on July 9, 1996 for (Salazar thought) $3,000 but Bruce Addington sold it only three days later, on July 12, 1996 to Daniel Rick Barnett of Molalla, OR for $2,200 so I assume the $3k guess might be too high.

Barnett then sold it less than a month later, on Aug. 8, 1996, to Jeremy Terone according to a "Flag Entry" DMV form dated 1/6/97 (I don't know what a Flag Entry is but I have a copy of it). Jeremy Terone apparently sold the Charger to John A. Jones on or around July 21, 1997. Jones owned the car for about 6 years before selling it to me in Jan. of 2004. Jones did very little with the car other than storing it in an alleyway next to his house in Milwaukie, Oregon.

So the car had five owners in the space of about a year and then sat for six years before I bought it. And there's probably no way I'll ever find out any history prior to Salazar's ownership since the title was lost. But I'm hoping he'll find some photos for me and some more information about where and how he found it. If so I'll post that stuff here in a week or two.

Anyway, for those of you who have lots of info on your car... be grateful. Sometimes I wish mine weren't such a Mystery Machine.

[Dans 68]

Nice. I wonder about my '68's roots.... I guess I'll start with the Oklahoma plates and go thru the DMV in that state. Good find, though! 

Dan

[grdprx]

How do you research this type of stuff?  Just mail a request to the state DMV?

[The70RT]

Cool Bull. Good luck on the rest of your search. I didn't have to do much searching since the original owner found me like in 87 looking to buy it back. I told him twice as much as what he paid for it new....he went  and left.

[68rt]

good luck bull

[68rt]

How do you research this type of stuff?  Just mail a request to the state DMV?

well

[472 R/T SE]

Better than what I've found.  Chuck Hoffman owned my Charger for two days before he sold it to the dude I bought it from.  It's California life before that is unknown and Chuck can't remember who he bought it from.

I tried the Oregon DMV bit but they sent my check back telling they could go no further. 

Really surprised Jonesy sold it, he doesn't let anything go.  Did you see his burgundy Hemi Charger?

[bull]

Better than what I've found.  Chuck Hoffman owned my Charger for two days before he sold it to the dude I bought it from.  It's California life before that is unknown and Chuck can't remember who he bought it from.

I tried the Oregon DMV bit but they sent my check back telling they could go no further. 

Really surprised Jonesy sold it, he doesn't let anything go.  Did you see his burgundy Hemi Charger?

No, but he told me about it. He said it's pretty nice. Have you seen it?

I wasn't sure Jonesy was going to sell it to me either. The whole process took a couple weeks, partly due to a snow storm that January, and I think he might have talked himself out of it a few times. I still have a radiator he wanted back.

[bull]

How do you research this type of stuff?  Just mail a request to the state DMV?

You can contact the DMV but I think there's getting to be too many rules regarding identity theft so chances are pretty slim you'll get much info on people these days. Like I said in the first post I just did a simple Yahoo search for the name of the first owner I had on record thanks to some info kept by the last owner prior to all this privacy regulation. I had done that before but until now there was no information to be found and since Mr. Salazar owns a business he was much easier to find than a private individual. Other than having a couple of addresses I had no contact info so me being able to find Mr. Salazar today is a bit of a break through. However, the fact that he had to file for a lost title on the car in California tells me that I'm probably not going to be able to go back any farther than 1990 when he first came in contact with it.

[1969chargerrtse]

How do you research this type of stuff?  Just mail a request to the state DMV?

You can contact the DMV but I think there's getting to be too many rules regarding identity theft so chances are pretty slim you'll get much info on people these days. Like I said in the first post I just did a simple Yahoo search for the name of the first owner I had on record thanks to some info kept by the last owner prior to all this privacy regulation. I had done that before but until now there was no information to be found and since Mr. Salazar owns a business he was much easier to find than a private individual. Other than having a couple of addresses I had no contact info so me being able to find Mr. Salazar today is a bit of a break through. However, the fact that he had to file for a lost title on the car in California tells me that I'm probably not going to be able to go back any farther than 1990 when he first came in contact with it.

Help me out here.  So I know a John Marks of Ca near the bellflower area last owned my car, how would I look that up?  Just under the yahoo search?  John Marks  Ca ?   Ca DMV will not give out the address, just past owner name.  I am going to have a lawyer friend request it as there are forms for that on the CA DMV site.

[Orange_Crush]

I'm glad I bought mine from the original owner...makes it a lot easier to trace the history when I can  dive 5 minutes to his house

[SFRT]

my research and 'hands on archeology' when i stripped the car down give me this history:

car was ordered by a Navy guy and was delivered as an 'export car' to him upon his return from Vietnam to Hawaii. Car was Sunflower Yellow with a black top. Original owner took car with him to the Seattle area.
Sometime in the late 70's car was sold to someone in Oregon. Around that time car was repainted (badly) metallic blue, top was removed and some bodywork was done. and the engine was replaced with a modified 440. the Dana and transmission where left untouched, but got beat to hell. all evidence points to a backyard 'hop up'. airshocks, etc. Car was last registered  in Oregon in 1984, and apparentley, stoppped being driven around then. That guy sold it to a guy down here last year, a flipper, and I bought it from him. so, the thing sat for 25 odd years, which caused some rust and the loss of a lot of little components on that late 70's early 80's fix up, but everything else was basically undisturbed. it had pretty much an untouched wiring system, original radio and so on.

[bull]

How do you research this type of stuff?  Just mail a request to the state DMV?

You can contact the DMV but I think there's getting to be too many rules regarding identity theft so chances are pretty slim you'll get much info on people these days. Like I said in the first post I just did a simple Yahoo search for the name of the first owner I had on record thanks to some info kept by the last owner prior to all this privacy regulation. I had done that before but until now there was no information to be found and since Mr. Salazar owns a business he was much easier to find than a private individual. Other than having a couple of addresses I had no contact info so me being able to find Mr. Salazar today is a bit of a break through. However, the fact that he had to file for a lost title on the car in California tells me that I'm probably not going to be able to go back any farther than 1990 when he first came in contact with it.

Help me out here.  So I know a John Marks of Ca near the bellflower area last owned my car, how would I look that up?  Just under the yahoo search?  John Marks  Ca ?   Ca DMV will not give out the address, just past owner name.  I am going to have a lawyer friend request it as there are forms for that on the CA DMV site.

Of the five people I listed above I was able to find the contact info on one, mostly because he had a unique name and owns a business. I already have contact info for Jones because I bought the car from him. If you can't find the info easily you have to be willing to either cheat, pay money or both. To cheat you ask someone with power and connections to do it for you, someone like a cop. The other option is to either pay a lawyer as you mentioned or pay one of these online companies like US Search to dig up the info for $30 or so.

[1969chargerrtse]

I'm glad I bought mine from the original owner...makes it a lot easier to trace the history when I can  dive 5 minutes to his house

What's he live in the ocean?

[1969chargerrtse]

How do you research this type of stuff?  Just mail a request to the state DMV?

You can contact the DMV but I think there's getting to be too many rules regarding identity theft so chances are pretty slim you'll get much info on people these days. Like I said in the first post I just did a simple Yahoo search for the name of the first owner I had on record thanks to some info kept by the last owner prior to all this privacy regulation. I had done that before but until now there was no information to be found and since Mr. Salazar owns a business he was much easier to find than a private individual. Other than having a couple of addresses I had no contact info so me being able to find Mr. Salazar today is a bit of a break through. However, the fact that he had to file for a lost title on the car in California tells me that I'm probably not going to be able to go back any farther than 1990 when he first came in contact with it.

Help me out here.  So I know a John Marks of Ca near the bellflower area last owned my car, how would I look that up?  Just under the yahoo search?  John Marks  Ca ?   Ca DMV will not give out the address, just past owner name.  I am going to have a lawyer friend request it as there are forms for that on the CA DMV site.

Of the five people I listed above I was able to find the contact info on one, mostly because he had a unique name and owns a business. I already have contact info for Jones because I bought the car from him. If you can't find the info easily you have to be willing to either cheat, pay money or both. To cheat you ask someone with power and connections to do it for you, someone like a cop. The other option is to either pay a lawyer as you mentioned or pay one of these online companies like US Search to dig up the info for $30 or so.

I'd pay 30 bucks.  Interesting, thanks.

[tan top]

awesome stuff Bull  ..................................

[jb666]

How do you research this type of stuff?  Just mail a request to the state DMV?

You can contact the DMV but I think there's getting to be too many rules regarding identity theft so chances are pretty slim you'll get much info on people these days. Like I said in the first post I just did a simple Yahoo search for the name of the first owner I had on record thanks to some info kept by the last owner prior to all this privacy regulation. I had done that before but until now there was no information to be found and since Mr. Salazar owns a business he was much easier to find than a private individual. Other than having a couple of addresses I had no contact info so me being able to find Mr. Salazar today is a bit of a break through. However, the fact that he had to file for a lost title on the car in California tells me that I'm probably not going to be able to go back any farther than 1990 when he first came in contact with it.

Help me out here.  So I know a John Marks of Ca near the bellflower area last owned my car, how would I look that up?  Just under the yahoo search?  John Marks  Ca ?   Ca DMV will not give out the address, just past owner name.  I am going to have a lawyer friend request it as there are forms for that on the CA DMV site.

Of the five people I listed above I was able to find the contact info on one, mostly because he had a unique name and owns a business. I already have contact info for Jones because I bought the car from him. If you can't find the info easily you have to be willing to either cheat, pay money or both. To cheat you ask someone with power and connections to do it for you, someone like a cop. The other option is to either pay a lawyer as you mentioned or pay one of these online companies like US Search to dig up the info for $30 or so.

I'd pay 30 bucks.  Interesting, thanks.

I would too, absolutely... I just wish it were that easy!!