past history of 69 camaro

[eddie1951]

I have a 69 Camaro that I bought 3 yrs ago and know very little of its past history,  regarding past owners. Is there any way to find out the previous owners of my car ?
Where it sold new at ?

[77thor]

Not really.

[Vince]

If you have by chance the warranty booklet that came with the car originally it would hopefully have the protecto-plate still attached to it which should have the original owner's name and address.  Even if the metal protecto-plate is missing, the warranty booklet should have the selling dealership's imprint in ink on the rear of the booklet. 

[william]

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

If your car has been in the same state since new it is possible you can go back 5-10 years or so. The last owner of record may have owned it for some time; they may remember who they bought it from. Past owners sometimes still have paperwork. You will never know if you do not try.

In 1987 our business acquired a ZL-1 Camaro. Since we bought it out of state I had immediately requsted a title history from that state. I received copies of all transactions back to 1979 when it was brought there. But for a long time that was where the trail ended. In 2002 I was contacted by an individual that knew its' history from the time it was re-assigned from Gibb Chev to a dealer in PA through 1974. Still had a gap from '74-'79 and despite having a name I could not locate one owner. Eight months ago I left a message for someone by that name on a professional networking site that turned up on a Google search. Yesterday he finally noticed my message and contacted me; he is the guy! He bought it in '74 from the guy who bought it from the original owner.

It took me 22 years to learn all this. Start now.

[Oregonjam]

Eddie - If it is a Canadian built Camaro start with the documents that would be available from the GM Vintage Vehicle Services in Canada.
Do a search on this site for more info on Canadian Camaro Research. If it was built in the US you most likely will need to trace the ownership ancestry the hard way as William has.

William - Good job getting that last bit of info. I hope he has some vintage pics for you too.

I recently recieved a photo album of a few hundred photos of cars that my family had in the 60s and 70s. I wish they had VINs written with them. There are a bunch of 55 Corvettes and some Camaros in there etc.  The current owners would love them, just no way of connecting them...

[tim69camaro]

If the car is was ever in North Carolina you can still get a history from DVM for $13. The information is only about North Carolina, but will indicate prior State if a transfer occured. My brother's 1971 Chevelle SS and my 1967 c-10 custom truck had complete history back to the original dealer. My brother found the original owner and obtained some good information from him and his wife. Unfortunately, after visiting the dealers, they had no records remaining. It can be some fun detective work, but does take a lot of time and patience.

[william]

Things have changed quite a bit since the '80s. Many states have enacted privacy laws and no longer provide info. Some will comply but also provide your contact info to the owner of record. When a car leaves the state some states return the previous title and alll records are purged. #4 was titled in AZ '78-'79; by '87 they had no record of it. 

Something I found to be common was open titles. A car is sold, sometimes more than once, but the new "owner" never titles it. A recent ZL-1 "discovery" was on an open title for over 20 years. Too bad; maybe if he had tiltled it he would have found out what it was before he sold it.

Last time I checked [years ago] several Gibb ZL-1s had not been located despite having live titles. Happy hunting!

[77thor]

Wow, this is very interesting... I had no idea...

[lakeholme]

Be very polite, stress historical research/restoration to the state people, and do not be afraid to ask.  My state gave me the state of origin; and then, I found the complete history of my 68 with three letters and a phone call in less than two months.  I realize I was lucky....  Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

[eddie1951]

Thanks for everyone's input. I do live in Texas, which has privacy laws that will not give any information on prior owner's of the car. I know the car was bracket raced for several years and changed hands a couple of times on a open title. I have spent the last three years getting the car street legal again. The car has no historical value, I know it started life as a "plain Jane" six banger. I just thought it would be nice to know where it started life, as there was no paper work with the car when I got it. I guess I should be happy I at least know where the car ended up at, and knowing that we are doing all we can to make the car better than it was new.

[77thor]

.... I do live in Texas, which has privacy laws that will not give any information on prior owner's of the car. ...

I guess that does it for me.  Because my 69 Camaro was brought up from Texas a few years ago.

[Oregonjam]

Texas will provide a list of approved reasons to release information. If you do not have a reason on the list provided select information pertaining to market research. You can also be very polite and request a VIN search to confirm the vehicle was every registered in the state before paying the fees etc. Even without a reason they will confirm its existence for you in this state. I just did this in Texas a few months ago. They will not release information via email except to confirm its previous registration.

Hope taht helps, but don't give up.

Cheers,
John