Anyone know how to find out where a car has been titled? I have a 57 super 88 built in California and would like to trace its history.

Thanks

 

I would write or call the last state Department of Motor Vehicles the car was titled in and go from there. Some states have a charge for this service. Someone with Carfax might be able to run a history on the VIN and get that info from them.

 

What you want is something all of us who have cars with an unknown early history have wanted. I have two cars that represent the extremes of this. One is a '73 that I bought in 2010 from the original owner's family, so I know everything about its history and have every piece of paperwork. The other is a '67 that I bought in 2009 where I only know that the previous owner had it for two years and that it has had at least a half-dozen owners just since the mid-1980s.

Contacting the DMV office where the car was last titled is a good start, but be prepared to hit dead ends everywhere. Privacy laws being what they are now, they might give you general information like where the car was last titled, mileage at the time, etc., but it's unlikely that any state office would release the name and contact information of prior owners.

Carfax is probably not going to be of help because this car pre-dates the existence of carfax by several decades. I seem to recall hearing that carfax is only good on cars no older than the early 1980s.

The fact that it was built in California probably doesn't mean much because cars were sent all over the country. I had a '75 Delta once that was built in Kansas City and originally sold new in New Jersey.

Your best best bet is to avoid the government altogether and contact the person who sold you the car and ask who he bought it from. Then contact that person and keep going backwards. Unless the car has had many owners, you might get lucky and find someone who owned it for many years and might know something about its early history. On the other hand, with the car being now 55 years old, it's very possible the original owner is dead and/or that it's had a dozen or more owners.

Good luck. Let us know if you find out anything.

 

Thanks for the info. What I know is the person I bought it from said he owned it for about 20 years. He said it was a California car but he bought it in Michigan from the previous owner who was in Michigan. The under carriage is rock solid the frame has only a little surface rust on it. The last owner kept it in a barn with a sand floor and it has been off the road for the last five years. I am curious as to when it came to Michigan. I have found that it was built in Southgate California.

Thanks again

 

As I mentioned, it might very well have been sold new in Michigan initially. Cars were and are shipped all over the country. Just because a car was built in a particular place in the country doesn't mean that it will be sold in that area.

 

As mentioned, you're going to have one heck of a time in doing this, as a car that age could of had ten owners or so. Keep in mind, it was rare for cars of that era, to last even 5 years, and there wasn't much in the way of record keeping. Your best bet, would probably be contacting the Oldsmobile museum in Lansing, MI, as maybe could at least tell you the dealer that originally sold it.

 

Not a chance, unfortunately. You're referring to the R. E. Olds Transportation Museum, and they never had these kinds of records.

Prior to 2003, you could write to the Olds History Center in Lansing, and they would send you what information they could, which turned out to be nothing specific to your car if it was made prior to 1977. They couldn't even tell you the selling dealer. For Oldsmobiles made after 1976, they could give you an original selling invoice, selling dealer, and window sticker, I believe.

For a car from the 1950s? Not a chance.

In '03 the Olds History Center shut down and was absorbed into the GM Heritage Center in Detroit. But there are no new records available.