Has Anyone Here Actually Searched for and Found a car they once owned?

[harrisonm]

I hear a lot about people searching for the car they had 40 (or so) years ago. They have the VIN and a few pictures. Has anyone on this forum actually found their old car, or know someone who has?
Or, for that matter, has anyone found the original engine for their car?

 

[70SwingerGuy]

A couple of months ago, a good buddy of mine just happened to come across what he thought was his old corvette on marketplace. He hummed and hawed about it for quite awhile, trying to decide if he should go look at it, knowing full well that he would probably buy it back cause it meant alot to him back then. He finally decided not to go look at it.

 

[Kern Dog]

My first car....

...Ended up at a self service junkyard looking essentially undamaged.

 

[oldkimmer]

I have found a few and got back 1. The others are not for sale. One is still under a tarp where it was parked in the back shop in 1981. 72 swinger 340 car. Kim

 

[broughj]

I was able to buy the 1969 Barracuda that was the first car I ever owned in early July. It is a B5 blue notchback, Formula S, 340, 4-speed. I bought the car in 1972 and only kept it for a little over a year. Always regretted selling it, like so many people. It really did not take much searching, since the guy I sold it to in 1973 has held onto it for all these years and lives only a few miles from me. Unfortunately, he took it off the road in the early 1980's and stored it mostly outside since then. I've tried to buy it from him for more than 30 years, but until recently he's always said no. It's pretty much all there but is in rough shape. I'm currently disassembling and documenting it to determine the condition of the body. I've found that it was hit hard in the right front at some point and poorly repaired. So, the resurrection is going to be a bit more than I originally envisioned.

 

[jeff alder]

We had a 68 Coronet R/T clone. My friend Steven Gossett and I spent countless hours transforming the 318 automatic Coronet 440 into a 4 gear 440 R/T clone. We converted everything except the dash and instrument cluster as the 440 cluster was in like new condition. This was in the late 70's early 80's. I went on a mission to find it with limited resources back then. It had perished in a garage fire. Burnt to a crisp.

 

[ProjectBazza]

Yeah, I did. But I was searching for the engine, not the car....

Back in the 1990 or so I bought an early Jon Kaase "Clevor" intake (Cleveland heads on a Windsor motor), and I had this engine in a fairly clean '69 Mustang notchback that I had to sell when I got married. (Stupid! Stupid!) Thankfully the guy I sold the car to (in Wisconsin) kept the paperwork on the guy he sold it to (in Illinois)...

But when I reached out to that guy (this was in 2008 or so), he told me that his kid took the car out at night, without permission (you know the kid, right?), and he smashed the car all to hell. Guy was so pissed that he sold the drivetrain to someone else (he said it was an emotional decision he regetted, as that was a "strong engine"), but sadly no paperwork this time around.

Car got scrapped or crushed. Whatever they do to them in IL.

 

[67Dart273]

Somebody (and twice!!) tracked me down years ago. I had had a not so nice 64 Dodge 440 (body) "gold anniversary" edition. I believe it was originally a A318 car (not an LA!!!) and when I got it had a 335hp 383 RR engine swapped in THAT HAD BEEN FROZEN. Anyway I ended up not fixing it, someone else pulled some panels off, and it ended up in a local junk yard.

Some guy called me, turns out he had an "in" with the LEO/ DMV. THERE IS some kind of "deep state" search that can be done to find cars. Again, this was long gone to junk.

The next one was even more maddening, because it involved a threatening letter from LEO. The sheriff's office sent me a legal letter that sounded VERY threatening concerning a Ford Ranger that had been abandoned and illegally parked, and no one had claimed it. Hell I had sold it about 3 years before!!! I KNEW the woman who bought it had transferred it, as in Idaho you must buy your own plates--they do not stay on the vehicle.

Anyhow I called the sheriff's office and they explained that hey are required to send these out. I said "but it has been sold, the title is no longer in my name." He explained that the state STILL has old records that show previous owners.