Anyone have a recommendation in determining the original dealership a vehicle was sold from? I bought my olds in Northern Va. in 1978 and thus assuming it was sold from a dealership in that area. I'll give a shot at contacting VA DMV for the info, who knows I may get lucky with a clerk having a good day, but was wondering what others may have tried with any success.

Thanks.

 

There's a complete thread on that - use the search button.

 

Ok, thanks. I always do a search before I ask a silly question but didn't locate anything. I'll try again.

 

Thread you want is titled dealer codes.

At that time Stohlman and Olmstead were two of the larger Olds dealers in NoVA. You had Paul Bros and Congressional in the DC area.

Good luck getting a VADMV clerk interested in something like this. They used to be real helpful about a title search, but not so much now. Add in what privacy laws have done and it's a real gamble tracing a car's history. You got a cop buddy or insurance agent willing to help?

 

If you can find the car's build sheet, assuming there's one somewhere in it, it would have the code number for the dealer the car was originally delivered to. At least my '75 Delta 88 had such a code on its build sheet, and I'm guessing that was true for the 1972 models.

With that code, the GM Heritage Center ought to be able to tell you who the dealer was. Someone on here might be able to as well.

 

Well I got a warm body on the line at VADMV and I have to say that the lady gave an honest effort. She tried to be helpful and looked up several types of reports she thought might have the original dealer info but they didn't. What helped is that I actually had it titled in VA up until the late 80s so she thought we might get the info from that angle. She then talked to a supervisor and the answer is that they don't have any automated records via VIN numbers that far back.

So it was a deadend but she made me feel good about the effort so that's something I guess!

I remember Stohlman's well and thanks for recalling Olmstead and the others for me. I tried to buy a new 84 Hurst Olds from Stolhman's but they were all sold before I was able to ****** one up. Ended up buying one from an Olds dealership in Phoenix.

Lots of old 'cop' buddies down there since I myself was in law enforcement for 28 years. Though like me all retired at this point.

Its not that big of a deal really, just something nice to know I guess, but for no good reason! Thought it might be a good exercise to try and find out.

Thanks.

 

That's a good tip but mine's a Lansing car and thus, apparently, no build sheet.