Good morning everyone. This is an attempt at researching any history that may pertain to a '69 Cutlass convertible that my daughter and I are restoring.
We are located in Ulster County NY. We purchased the car last year in Rosendale NY from a man that had owned since the ,mid 90's He had no old paperwork, (other than a proper transferable registration of course) that pertained to any prior owner(s). The only detail that he recalled was that he purchased it in Kingston NY from what he remembered to be a retired Police officer.
The car had a rough life at some point and took a fairly hard hit to the right rear 1/4 panel.
It is and was originally Nassau Blue paint, Dark blue convertible top with blue bench seat interior.
P/S, P/B, A/C, 350 2bbl, T350. It also appears that it had a trailer hitch at one time.
The mileage appears to be low and original at 66k.
Maybe, just maybe, someone here recalls a neighbor, or an uncle who had a car like this, in NY......
I thank you in advance

 

Privacy laws have made tracing a car's history difficult, and some state DMV have purged those records past 30 years old.

About the only people who can get previous owner history are law enforcement and insurance companies. Are you on friendly terms with either? It helps.

Real estate transactions require a title search. With the money involved on some of these older vehicles, why not vehicles?

 

I ran into this problem years ago when I decided I wanted to research original selling dealer, original owner, etc.

My state didn’t keep records past a certain point. Since my dad technically owned my car before I did (couldn’t title it in my name until I was 18, or 21, or whatever the law was at the time) I already knew who the previous owner was.

Whoever bought my car ordered it to play. The transmission code is for the 310hp 350 (the sequence number matches the car) no power steering, no power brakes, 3.23 posi, factory Rally Pac, console, and not much else. I would love to have a photo of the early years.

 

Good luck in your search!

I got lucky with my 71. The original window sticker, receipt and protect-o plate were in it when I bought it.

 

Well I wish you good luck on this, I was semi lucky in my quest for vehicle history , I had selling dealer information and owner information type written in a provided space on the inside page of the owners manual/pamphlet so I know the original owner name and address and the dealership name and address, I Googled the orig. owner address and found the house still there and quite beautiful ! this made me happy because i Immediately envisioned a 1956 black and white photo of the old girl sitting in the driveway all sparkling new. I was able to find one Photo ( and one photo only) of the selling dealer a tiny suburban Chicago dealer. I was not real interested in subsequent owners although the # of owners would be interesting, I was however interested in the dealership as in when it opened and when it closed etc.. the photo I found was circa 1964. the photo I found was published by the suburbs historical society so I sent a pleasant E-mail to them with a request for information on the photo or any other information they may have on the dealership NO RESPONSE , I have since sent 2 more request also with no response, there is a phone # for the Historical society , I called no answer, left a voice mail message no response, on the website it also says there is a park district museum I sent them the same E-mail no response so I have hit a dead end, I sincerely hope you have better luck !!

 

Short of doing a past title search, many states will not do them, then you can only go by clues in the car if any. Look under the seats and under the carpet for anything that can give a clue. An old pay stub, name tag, store receipt, registration.... If you have an original owners manual then flip through every page and hope they stuck a registration in there or maybe wrote something in it. I was able to find the original owner of my old W-30 just by a name tag with a business name on it. Found it under the carpet. This is as much fun to me as restoring the car is.

 

And NY wasn't a title state for vehicles prior to 72 so the OP wouldn't have any luck even if he could find a way to search....

I have the same problem. I bought my car in the Boston area in 03. It had last been registered in 96. It had passed through at least 3 different owners since 96. By shear luck I found out the guy that purchased it shortly after 96 but he couldn't remember the person he bought it from.

 

Good luck in your quest. The only history I have ever had with run of the mill cars is what I do with them.