Orignal owner info

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4spdragtop

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I was going thru the documentation from the cuda organizing all the paperwork(continuous job). We got a lot of documentation with the cuda and the orig owners name on quite a few of the receipts. Orig owner was in Pasadena CA. Lots of receipts from Plymouth stores in CA.
Very cool to sift thru, so I thought I would fire up the Google machine.
Well voila, I get a hit! Last name Toomath. Not a common last name, so
I thought "maybe", and do a little more digging. I'll point out most receipts are from CA, but one was from Hooper Motors in Florida(replace rear bumper)
I figured maybe he was on a trip to Florida. Well I started to piece it together with the help of Google.
Turns out Mr. Toomath worked for Cal State. And somehow associated with NASA. I'm guessing the FL receipt was because he was ar Cape Canaveral.
He contributed in one way or another about Jet Propulsion.
The one solid piece of "evidence" is Bob's notes he wrote when doing amperage draw on the cuda. He initialed the top RL Toomath.
Pretty cool! Had to share!
Thanks Bob and thanks Jim for providing/saving all the documentation. I wish Dad was alive to share this with him.

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I was going thru the documentation from the cuda organizing all the paperwork(continuous job). We got a lot of documentation with the cuda and the orig owners name on quite a few of the receipts. Orig owner was in Pasadena CA. Lots of receipts from Plymouth stores in CA.
Very cool to sift thru, so I thought I would fire up the Google machine.
Well voila, I get a hit! Last name Toomath. Not a common last name, so
I thought "maybe", and do a little more digging. I'll point out most receipts are from CA, but one was from Hooper Motors in Florida(replace rear bumper)
I figured maybe he was on a trip to Florida. Well I started to piece it together with the help of Google.
Turns out Mr. Toomath worked for Cal State. And somehow associated with NASA. I'm guessing the FL receipt was because he was ar Cape Canaveral.
He contributed in one way or another about Jet Propulsion.
The one solid piece of "evidence" is Bob's notes he wrote when doing amperage draw on the cuda. He initialed the top RL Toomath.
Pretty cool! Had to share!
Thanks Bob and thanks Jim for providing/saving all the documentation. I wish Dad was alive to share this with him.

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That's cool ! I see it though that he worked for JPL.

The house I bought in '12 was almost completely as the deceased owner left it as it was his 2nd but main home for years. I have yet to go through it all but know quite a bit about Bill, his wife, dog, nephew, businesses, career, hobbies, travel etc. The woodworking and other miscellaneous tools are priceless to me, brand new snips, drill press, etc.
Many Craftsman items in packages. I found NOS Sears and Roebuck stamped mailbox in the garage that's now out on the highway being used. Even found an expired CDL So know face size etc. This cat has books on almost any subject and was into everything. One smart cookie. Only one neighbor left that knew him and I can probably get Ol' Bill's stereo equipment for asking.
I count my blessings daily.
 
This is Jerry, he is the original owner of my Roadrunner. I am the 2nd owner. It is pretty rare to be able to talk to a person who originally owned a car, and have the car left untouched, just the way he drove it all those years ago. To be able to ask a specific question about the car and have it answered is almost unheard of in our hobby, and I feel lucky to be friends with him and be able to share the car and his memories of it with him.

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i love that old documentation.. i bought my 62 from the original owner who is i think 88 now and i got the receipt from the hardware store/plymouth dealership :)
 
i love that old documentation.. i bought my 62 from the original owner who is i think 88 now and i got the receipt from the hardware store/plymouth dealership :)
Here's the window sticker from my fastback. Note that it was sold through Hessel Implement Company, which when I looked it up, was also known as Hessel Tractor & Implement Company.

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That ad for Hessel's is from a 1947 high school yearbook (found on the internet)... that's why it has a 3-digit phone number. Can you imagine?
 
That’s really neat to be able to put some puzzle pieces together using the internet! Just think that back in the day it would have meant a lot of phone calls. Now it can be done anytime you have some spare time and using google. And if the person/family you are trying to track has an unusual last name, chances are good you will find someone related and be able to reach out to them.
 
Although I have almost no documentation for this car, I know the 2nd owner who bought it from the company that purchased it new. It was ordered by the owner of the company, Safeway Steel and Scaffolding, in Georgia, which is the name on the certicard. The boss knew what he was doing, and checked all the boxes for the Formula S goodies, but in convertible form. From time to time, I will call or message the couple who have the most info on it, they still love the car and would like to have it back, but the husband has too many cars already, although this car was actually his wife’s. I’d like to see it returned to them, maybe one day!

Steve, I encourage you to pursue the original owner of your car before it’s too late, I did a search for the couple who owned this car from a registration I found in the glovebox. I found info, but nothing to contact them directly, but I did reach out to a friend of theirs that was active online. I explained my desire to talk with them about the car, and a few minutes later the husband called me. He was a wealth of info, and I was really stoked about filling in the gaps of its history.

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Our cars are timepieces in and of themselves. When you can add in all the history going back to the original owner, well....that's just too cool.

Good investigating Steve, and others. I wish you luck in filling in the blanks!!
 
Bought my 66 in 1975, never cared about past history. Fast forward to 1990’s, had an old gas purchase slip from June 66. A friend tried numerous times to locate the name on slip, as the internet grew he finally contacted the original owner in California. We talked on telephone and he asked if he made it up to Minn if he could look at it. I told him “ hell you can drive it”
 
This is really cool stuff. I'm happy I'm the second owner of my Scamp. I do see the original owners son sometimes at cars shows. He always says when I'm done with it I can bring it back. I never got to meet the old man he was in a home when I spotted the car in an old run down lean to two blocks from where I worked. We got to talking, he really didn't want to sell it but after the old man passed he bought a new HD and it just sat there. We made a deal because he knew he would never get it running again. He made me promises I wouldn't cut it up or use it as a parts car. This car was complete, damage to the left rear quarter but not bad. Very little rust. He told me the old man ordered it brand new with every option he could get because it was the last car he was going to get. I have stuck to my word and it's been over 25 years. The only thing I didn't put back on was the vinyl top but I do still have all the parts. I have some of the paper work but not much so I just made a big old book of it being resurrected. It still wares it's OEM color too.

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When I bought my 1970 Swinger in Kentucky I went by the DMV office in the state capital on the way home and asked what they had as far as documentation goes. They were happy to copy what they had for the price of the copy fee. That's how I got copies of the dealership bill of sale to a local college, and the dealership bill of sale 6 months later to the old lady I bought it from. They sold it to her as a new car for $400 more than the college paid - some deal. I never have figured out what Austin Peay State University did with it for 6 months, but you could see where they put 6 inch round decals on the doors and then had to repaint the lower doors when they returned it.
 
I think this old paperwork is really cool too! I bought my 71 Demon 340 from the original owner in 1984 with 34k miles on it. His mother had ordered it for him in March 1971 (great mom!!). I've had it all these years (and it now has only 37k miles on it as it just sat many years in my garage while we raised our family and got them through college.)

Here's the hand-written order form....can I please just increase the quantity of this order from 1 car to maybe 10???? Can't you just see the cigarette-smoking salesman in the plaid jacket across the desk from her as she ordered this car!!!! Gotta love the high-impact paint for $11.60 (FJ6) and the Tuff wheel for $24.20!

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Then it got built and delivered in early May 1971 and here's the invoice dated May 7, 1971:
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The original window sticker is around here somewhere too but he had written on it some when he peeled it off the window.
 
It's cool to be able to put the pieces together like that!

My Belvedere II came with all of the original paperwork. Using that info, I was able to track down who I thought was the original owner (he has a very common name), because he had to have been a certain age to buy the car and I knew two of his old addresses because of the paperwork. So I sent him a letter at the address I hoped was correct. I included a picture and my phone number. 3 days later, he called me. It was super cool to talk to him about the car.
 
I bought my 1968 GTS in August of 1981 as a trade in from a local wholesaler and became its 2nd owner. Fast forward to 2020 and I start to search out the original owner who, unfortunately passed in 2018 but find his son and and brother.

I meet the son at a local car show in Torrington, CT and he tells me the last time he saw the car he was 9 years old. Brought a couple old photos, they were all he had of the car, it was great.

Cliff Ramsdell

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Thanks George, that's pretty cool! I'm going to try and get in touch with original owner. One document referenced was dated 2013, so hopefully he is still with us.
County property tax info is public domain. If you have addresses, maybe you can find him.
 
I love tracking down info / history on things. I researched my d100 as all the papers were in it. I’m the third owner. Other two deceased. I also always pay for the history letters of colt and smith and Wesson firearms to see where they shipped to. The history of tools/vehicles/ etc is interesting to see what life they lived before we became their caretaker. That’s why I hate seeing things parted out
 
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