Anyone ever track down cars you've owned in the past? How?

[Bottom_Feeder]

I've been feeling very nostalgic lately, especially regarding the V8-powered '78 Malibu two-door sedan I had right after high school. It was big and 'powerful' and fun, but in the new world of FWD econoboxes, it just seemed very 'old' so selling it at the time was not a big deal. I sold it to a friend but eventually lost track of both the friend and the car.

Has anyone ever had any luck tracking down cars they've owned, presumably using the VIN? Are there people or services out there that do such things?

 

[FADEC]

I've been feeling very nostalgic lately, especially regarding the V8-powered '78 Malibu two-door sedan I had right after high school. It was big and 'powerful' and fun, but in the new world of FWD econoboxes, it just seemed very 'old' so selling it at the time was not a big deal. I sold it to a friend but eventually lost track of both the friend and the car.

Has anyone ever had any luck tracking down cars they've owned, presumably using the VIN? Are there people or services out there that do such things?

Following. I'm also somewhat nostalgic about my old cars. Some were good, some not so good. Always wondered where they went.

 

[Duffyjr]

If you have the vin you can give it a try, there are a ton of free vin websites out there.

I don't really care about my old vehicles, I sold them because I no longer wanted them.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

All my cars ended up as little cubes after bring sent to the junkyard

 

[Lubener]

Every car I ever sold, I made a copy of the signed title. I then had the VIN of all those cars. In my state, I can do a free VIN search off the BMV's web site and I can see basic price and title transfer information. No detailed information like names but I don't care who owns it, just want to know if the car still exists, selling prices and county.

 

[Passport1]

Anyone ever track down cars you've owned in the past?​

I have not. But if anybody has seen one like this and the cute, fair haired girl that sat frequently in the passenger seat let me know please. I want to go back there.

 

[eljefino]

I found my first car, a 1989 mazda 323, in the junkyard I turned it into months later. It was complete, save for a marker light.

I found my 94 Mazda B4000 in my favorite junkyard, years after I owned it, covered in NRA stickers and with 60k more miles.

Saw my old volvo on the streets of Portland, ME. It had studs for license plate attachment and I broke one off, but finagled something to keep my plate straight. New owner didn't care and had a crooked plate.

Saw my old saturn wagon-- a car I had for 11 (!) years-- in a walmart parking lot 15 months after I dumped it because everything was going bad at once. Good car, had cold AC forever without needing attention.

I brought a 93 Cavalier up from NC, it was a stripped model with no rear window defroster. I don't even think they're legal to sell up here, or maybe dealers 100% order them now. But I saw it on Craigslist a few years after I was done with it.

 

[simple_gifts]

Saw my 84 Impala on the streets of Middletown CT a few years after i sold it to someone for $200; It had an ANG sticker on it, so i knew it was mine.

By the time I got rid of it, it had 220K+ miles and I had a 89 Caprice to replace the Impala and i wanted it gone.

Sold the Caprice years later to a guy @ work whose mother needed a spacious car since she was on crutches; his sister got bombed, stole the car and drove it up a guardrail.

Most of my cars are in the junkyard because of me; the above being the notable exception.

 

[Gyro Gearloose]

Back when car fax was unlimited for a month I would look up old cars using title copies or old insurance cards for the vin. A couple were wrecked but most just disappeared.

The last car I traded was an 11 year old but still very nice 50th anniversary impala. A couple months later I googled the vin to see if it was on a used car lot somewhere. A salvage yard pic popped up. Somebody with questionable driving skills had crashed it only 2000 miles after I traded
it. I would have kept it if I knew that would be its fate. I had really liked the car but didn't need 3.


it . it.

 

[WylieCoyote]

I e-mailed State Farm a few months ago to see if they still had my '93 Sundance VIN. They did! But I got zero internet hits on it. It's probably long gone to a crusher.

 

[Kira]

I watched Sis' '99 XJ go off to college in the hands of a young, female third owner.
I had indirect connections to the family.
Since they lived on a road parallel to a county road, I commonly drove past the Jeep I had, for 7 years, so dutifully cared for.

Haven't seen it for a while.

 

[Dinoburner]

Would like to find the 66 GTO my wife to be was driving when we met.

 

[atikovi]

Has anyone ever had any luck tracking down cars they've owned, presumably using the VIN? Are there people or services out there that do such things?

I've only done it after buying a car and wanting to know the ownership from the person I bought it from, backwards. Finding out who owned it after selling might be more difficult. Assuming your friend titled it in your state, you can check if that DMV can issue a vehicle history report, but the chances of a 45 year old plain Jane sedan still being on the road are pretty slim. Would be interested to know if some of the cars I sold 30 or 40 years ago are still on the road. I still have all the paperwork. 64 Corvair, 67 Toronado, 56 Packard, 59 Cadillac....

 

[RedSpider]

I had a 240sx convertible I drove for over 20 years. Less than a year after I sold it to my daughters co-worker I was going through some old junk in my desk at home and found an old insurance card for it, so I searched on the vin. Found some records that showed it had been totaled a couple months before and sold at a local auction. Did a search on the local pull and pays and found it sitting in a junkyard about 10 minutes from my house. Broke my heart. Lots of good memories in that car. Picture the day I sold it, and the day I found it:

 

[doublebase]

Anyone ever track down cars you've owned in the past?​

I have not. But if anybody has seen one like this and the cute, fair haired girl that sat frequently in the passenger seat let me know please. I want to go back there.


View attachment 106924

This^^is probably the post of the century right here. Well done sir!

 

[doublebase]

I would love to know if a few of my previous cars are still on the road - I think that’s something a lot of car care fanatics would be interested in...to see if all that maintenance and care kept them running. Christ, I had a Lexus LS460 that I traded in with 179,000 on the clock, was starting to consume a bit of oil and needed a few bigger ticket items. Wish I still had that thing! Bet I could have gotten another 100,000 out of it. Wonder if anyone else did.

 

[PF52]

I tend to keep mine until they're no longer driveable and go straight to the junkyard; my Nova for example was so rusted out the leaf springs no longer could keep the rear axle situated straight and square under the car. It got crushed. My next car was rear-ended at speed which pushed me into the truck ahead of me.... There was no point fixing it because it had 300+K miles already and had lots of rust also.

I had a Jeep CJ-7 for a couple years; I suppose I could search online for it.

On the other side of the coin..... A friend had a Bronco II for a few years and it very nearly bankrupted him with its frequent expensive repair needs.... It needed a new transmission, a new rear axle, a new fuel pump (on a road trip three states away), etc, just to name a few examples I can remember. He finally got tired of throwing more money at it every couple months and traded it in on something else. Then a guy near my workplace bought it and I would see it several times a week for about the next decade. That 'ol Bronco went on to a long and useful life with its new owner.

 

[Slow Car Sport Mode]

Following. I'm also somewhat nostalgic about my old cars. Some were good, some not so good. Always wondered where they went.

Same. I know I can share a little.. one, when I had to part with it, instead of just letting it get auctioned off or crushed after the junker was done with it (when you need a car sold NOW you call the junk place so they can give you a small fraction of money on what nobody else otherwise will want to buy) I threw a Hail Mary pass on Facebook. Much to my surprise, I found an enthusiast that was willing to give it a second shot at life. Drove it to where it needed to go, running on 5 cylinders with a hole in the exhaust because, love and enthusiasm. This almost a decade ago now. Saw it on Craigslist a few years ago (yes I do go look, not quite the same as it was but ai do go look) and saw it with the back cut off (SUV turned into an Offroad Only Use vehicle in PA) and I suspect the loss of one cylinder finally made it be kind of a hassle. May or may not have ever been junked, I've no idea.

The one I really want to know, I never will. Had for a brief time 20 years ago. Then stolen. Saw on a closed up car lot a year or two later; this one, I memorized the VIN. It was probably repossessed, fixed, and may or may not still be around. Long enough now that it could be anywhere, sitting in either a garage or a boneyard, cannibalized.

Bitten by the nostalgia bug pretty heavy lately, I've done more than my share of giving back to the parts and salvage community and my Uncle has helped thin out our fleet on two vehicles that showed their age.

And this is why I will look to older vehicles for quite some time, possibly forever. Sometimes people have to part with cars that may not have been ready to go.

And, even with a VIN. I don't think anyone can get a car owners name and address, outside of maybe a police officer with a license plate.......................

240sx

RedSpider that one of the best cars I ever had. If I saw the front I could tell you if it's a 89-90 or a 91-94 (93?) That's an S13.

I would drive to Georgia to buy one mint, which is the last place I saw one being sold years ago, mint, $2500. An S13.

 

[MCompact]

I bought my first BMW-a 1973 Bavaria-in 1983. I performed a rolling restoration and sold it to a friend in 1990. He sold it on several years later and that owner sold it on to a gentleman who later contacted me on the 2002 FAQ forum. He still owns the car and it was featured in a Petrolicious article on The Vintage :

 

[SlavaB]

Carfax Car Care allows you watch any car by VIN or license plate https://www.carfax.com/Service/
Only carfax's service records are available, but it gives you a basic idea of where the car is and what's the mileage
Not good for DIY owners obviously