Stuck on car history, Any advice?

[unionjack1940]

So, I managed to trace my car's history back to the second owner according to recent vehicle reports. However, he cannot remember the name of the person he bought the car from. I have a title number for this mystery owner, but no name due to the law restricting release of personal information. How can I go about decoding my car's past? At this point, the farthest I have gotten is a title number for a John Doe in Grand Rapids, MI. What should I do?

[moparite]

Where did you get the current info from? Depending on the state you live in you may try the dmv.

[unionjack1940]

got it from background information websites and long nights of research. Need this last piece of the puzzle.

[phatdak18]

This may have already been asked over the years but...

How do you accurately trace VIN history?

Ive only recently sparked an intrest in know more about my vehicles history. I understand this is a vauge question, so i hoping maybe someone can point me in the right direction. Help me get started. My car was nowhere near original when i bought it and certainly nothing special. But i still think it might be cool to know more about it and perhaps eventually talk to previous owners.

[unionjack1940]

Start with the VIN and fender tag if you have it as well as the person you bought it from. With the vin and fender tag you can know where the car was assembled. From the person you brought it from, you can go back through owners unless you get stuck like me.

[rradar71]

Since I bought my car new, history of it is pretty easy. One pretty cool thing that happened two years ago, I was traveling in Tennessee and met the son of the dealership owner of where I bought the car.

[71bird]

Where did you get it?

[rradar71]

St.augustine, Fl. We were just passing through Tn., had a conversation with this guy, one thing led to another and discovered it.
Recently, I thought about trying to find the yellow car, but have no idea what the vin is.

[phatdak18]

I bought my car from Dayton Ohio. Will the DMV release VIN history to just anybody or has privacy become too much of a factor nowadays? Has anybody pursued the DMV route with any positive results?

[moparite]

Here is an article about it, I read one years ago that said the same thing. I never traced the history on any of my cars but they do move around sometimes. What i do know is my 68 charger was was sold new in north Jersey stayed here most of it's life. Then the previous owner i got it from moved to Florida for some time and eventually moved back here when he sold it. It still had the title from Fla and it took a few days for dmv to transfer it(this was in the 80's). My Challenger had a sticker under the hood from a company in Ohio but i bough it NJ. I have no idea the history on my Runner other than it was repainted a maroon color(original FJ6/Green Go-Sassy Grass) and it was raced as a track car at some point. Air grabber along with all the drive train was gone when i bought it. If i had the chance to speak to the previous owner that painted it i would have to ask, Wtf where you thinking? Strobe and all badging was gone. If you do get any info from DMV keep us up to date. Love reading about the history of cars. I may get this done for mine as well. I'd like to know where my original air grabber went.

http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/189.cfm

[phatdak18]

Ok so heres a few updates on my search....

Ive contacted my state's BMV and learned how to file for title records and/or registration records. So that paperwork and fees are in the mail...we'll see what comes back from that.

Ive decoded my vin and fender tags. Nothing really cool here however. Just your run of the mill 72' Satellite, 318ci, GY4 Honeydew paint, yellow vinyl roof, yellow vinyl bench, and a bunch more boring details. St. Louis MO plant.

My build sheet is a different story (although not too uncommon from what ive come to understand). The build sheet i was given does NOT belong to my car, the production sequential numbers do not match. They do share a lot of common features (based on fender tag decode) including color!

I'll keep ya posted as more information is revealed. anticipate questions haha.....