Be it cruising down main-street on a warm summer night, showing off for friends by doing burnouts, turning wrenches on the weekend, or blasting down the highway whenever you had gas money in your pocket and the urge overtook you, we all have powerful memories of cars we’ve loved and lost. Some of us would like to relive those times in those cars, or at the very least, provide the closure derived from knowing what became of them.
My recent post about finding my 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge 23 years after I sold it sparked discussion and led some Hemmings Daily readers to wonder what happened to their previously-owned nostalgia machines. To that end, we’re providing a few ideas to aid anyone who would like to reconnect with a car that they once owned.
Please bear in mind that this is a very broad topic with myriad investigative avenues. Because there’s no way we can cover every possibility, we welcome your input and encourage you to share with us your search ideas and/or anecdotes of long-lost cars that you would like to have back.
Getting Started. Information is power, and the more you have regarding your old car, the easier the task of finding it will be. Answer these questions first: Do I have the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN)? Do I have a license plate number? Do I have a clear photo of the car?
Having the VIN will, of course, help a great deal. Even if you think you don’t, you still may and just don’t realize it. The VIN appears not just on the title you signed over, but also on the registration and insurance card, as well as loan papers.
You received a new registration and insurance card each year (generally speaking) and the expired ones sometimes have a habit of finding their way into an envelope or folder and being stored with important papers. Go through yours, even the envelopes that you wouldn’t think had them. If you lived with your parents back then, ask them to search through their important papers. If there was a loan involved and they co-signed or even if there wasn’t and they didn’t, there still may be some document they have with the VIN on it.
Though it’s a longshot, you can check with the insurance company you had at the time to see if it has records that go back to the car you’re looking for. The same goes for the bank that held the loan, if you had one. Again, a longshot but it may be worth a try. If your car went to a dealership, a mechanic or a body shop for repairs back in the day, there is a chance that the VIN was written on the receipt. We all saved receipts, right? Sometimes, we forgot to provide them when we sold our cars. See if you can locate one.
Also, not to bring up bad memories, but if your car was involved in an accident when you had it that was serious enough to generate a police report and insurance claims, it provides a whole new list of documentation, which possibly features the VIN, that you may have filed away.
More VIN Search Ideas. Because not having the VIN to begin with makes the search more difficult, we attempted to ferret out other possibilities if your home search comes up empty. We surmised that if you have photos of your car, you may be able to see the license plate number, so we asked our local Department of Motor Vehicles agency (In this case, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation) if a VIN can be retrieved by looking up an old plate number to access the old registration. We were told that it’s possible for more recent plates only.
The reason in this instance is that Pennsylvania changed its plates around the early 2000s, so PennDOT can trace a plate number to see what car it was registered to from the changeover forward, but it can’t do it for prior years because the database was purged of the old plate numbers. Therefore, the possibility of acquiring your VIN from using your old plate number is very dependent upon the state in which you are searching and the depth of its database.
We were also curious as to whether or not a search can be performed by the DMV for past registrations using your driver’s license number. We learned that, at least in Pennsylvania, there is no cross-reference for that.
If you already have the VIN, can the DMV help you locate the car? Many of you have probably heard stories over the years about people tracking down their old rides through favors done for them by a “friend” who worked for the DMV or in law enforcement. The friend had access to DMV records and was able to run the VIN the ex-owner provided. We confirmed through PennDOT that its policy is not to give out that information without proper authorization. According to The Lost Car Registry, this rule stems from the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1994. It contains specific regulations regarding how the DMV is to protect drivers’ private information, which agencies and individuals can lawfully be granted access to it and under what qualifying circumstances. Details for the guidelines are posted in the “resources” section of the website. Not surprisingly, “I want to find my old car,” is not one of the accepted reasons for you to be provided with the latest known address of your lost car’s present owner. It was said that licensed private investigators could still be granted access to that information, if you want to get that serious about your search.
Another speed bump regarding VIN searches for vintage cars has to do with the VINs themselves. According to DMV.org, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) required all vehicles to use a standard, 17-character VIN beginning in 1981. The problem with trying to hunt down information on a classic car built prior to that year using its VIN, is nearly all sites (says DMV.org) that provide vehicle history reports, only work off of this 17-digit standardized VIN.
Information for a Search Story. Because most people will be forced to venture beyond the DMV and vehicle history report websites and appeal directly to the people, let’s discuss the information available to share. Depending upon the venue, you will be providing a short and simple ad, post, or possibly, a story. Avoid writing the great American novel, however. Tempting as it may be, most people won’t read all 27 paragraphs about the life and times of you and your car. If you are going to add a story to the descriptive items provided below, make it just one – preferably a funny one – if you have it.
What you should include, though, are a catchy headline or title – one that will grab attention yet remain simple enough to instantly be understood – the car’s year, make, and model; the car’s VIN (if you have it); its color inside and out, but be careful about using the factory name for the color (How many people aside from Pontiac fans will know Carousel Red is actually orange?); its drivetrain, including engine, transmission, and rear end; its options, including those that stand out – factory racing stripes, spoilers, ram air, vinyl top, A/C, etc; and its specific characteristics – did it have a blower poking through the hood, was it painted purple metal-flake, did it have aluminum slots and N50-15s that stuck out of the wheel wells in the rear, etc. Your intent is to jog dormant memories.
It would also help if you included what years you owned it, what town and state you lived in when you owned it, the name of the person you sold it to and when, what town and state that person lived in at the time, and any information that you learned about the car after you sold it – for example, I heard it was restored, or it was turned into a race car, or it may have been in an accident, or it may have been repainted red etc. And, of course, don’t forget to include your contact information.
Once you have a focused and comprehensive write-up, you can decide where you want to post it and where you want to perform regular searches for your car.
Modern Search Methods. You’re reading this online, so we know you can access a search engine. Periodically load the VIN into all the search engines that are available to you online — Google, Bing, Yahoo etc. – and see what comes back. For a more precise search, just list the VIN, not the make and model. Don’t forget to let your fingers do the walking, either, and check phone directories, both new and old. Or, if you remember the name of the person you sold your car to and at least recall the state he or she was from, you could try any number of online people search and public records search sites.
Another group of online alternatives are sites like the aforementioned Lost Car Registry and AutoCheck’s Check My Ride you can set up a profile page and list all the cars that you are looking for with VINs, photos, stories, and your contact info. Because sites of this type are designed to help people find their cars, those who are drawn to them will be more likely to keep an eye out for yours.
In addition, you can check national club and local chapter websites that feature your type of car, post your story on every enthusiast message board that features subject matter about your type of car, search the archives of some of the larger auction houses that list the VINs of the cars they offer, or even share your story with your Facebook friends and email contact list (or Twitter/Pinterest/Instagram/Tumblr followers) and ask if anyone has heard or seen anything about it in the years since you sold it.
Or, if you’d like to go with more analog methods, you can always place a wanted ad in car club newsletters or in Hemmings Motor News, or you can post a sign or wear a sign with information about the car you’re looking for at car shows.
And keep in mind that for each specific website mentioned in this blog, there may be one, five, 10, 100, or more that provide similar services, so shop around and spread the word on any of them that you decide are worthy of your effort. Happy hunting, and let us know if you are able to find your old car.
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