Hi all,



I know this is going to be a long shot but figured I would start here in this forum. My father in law is looking to see if he can locate his first car which was a 442. He has lived in Queens NY for most of his life. He said he sold it back in 1977 to a person who was in his 20’s and he believed the person was in the Vietnam war.

A little about the car-


The car was a 1968 442 that was Willow Gold and he had put a Chrysler Hood Scoop on the car. Attached is a picture of the car.



Like I said I know it’s a long shot but had to start somewhere.



Thanks, Steve

 

The majority of the 68 442s are destroyed. You would not be able to know the car without a VIN. That hood is distinctive and may be the only identifying factor. Does he remember the buyer or have an old document with the VIN? 77 is long ago enough it could have been destroyed by now. Most of the old cars in good shape from then that made it into this century have made it over the hump and are not neglected enough to rot away now, but, in 77, it was just a 9 year old car.

 

a 68 442 being driven and parked on the streets of Queens in the sunshine and in the snow would have taken a toll on that car. being from New York myself, and seeing what the salt can do to a body makes me shutter to think what could’ve happened to that car.
I’d be interested in hearing if anyone else knows about this car.
good luck!

 

Well, that giant A12 scoop sure makes the car easy to pick out of a crowd, anyway.

 

Even if the car is still around it might have a different hood on it or a new coat of paint. Definitely need more information.

 

I grew up in NJ in the early '70's and we were close enough that we'd fairly often travel into NYC. That city was not, and is not, a friendly place for automobiles. Everything, and I mean everything, gets treated poorly and beat to $hit. Cars are only basic transportation to New Yorkers, regardless of make/model/etc. I can't imagine anything from '77 surviving today.

 

Find a similar car, either together and running, or as a project from the southwest. One will be miles ahead with solid structural components.

 

I think OP wanted information on the specific car pictured, unlikely as it may be to locate. I don't believe he was looking for a random project.

 

Thank you everyone.

My father in law has a 442 that he owns today. He was just seeing if it was possible to locate something with today’s technology.

 

Sure. Check out the 2026 Corvette.

 

The technology to search for any licensed driver or any vin or any plate has been around for about 20 years when all the states linked up databases, but it is not available, out of privacy concerns, for the average citizen and is restricted to law enforcement agencies.

 

Yep the California stalking / murder case, really put the kibosh on doing VIN searches to find one's "old" car.

 

Whats the story behind this? I didn’t know there was a specific case that resulted in all the extra privacy/security. Or maybe I am and it’s just not ringing a bell.

 

Saw it in Chicago last week.
it is still green.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Schaeffer

 

I do remember that.