Investigation regarding a 1948 Chrysler Windsor previous owner

[Thomba48]

Hi,

 

this might not lead to anything, but maybe, just maybe it does.

 

I am being offered a 1948 Chrysler Windsor for purchase, apparently only had one owner previously (a lady that was given this car as a present in 1948; great story I find), was directly sold to the current owner roughly 2/ 3 years ago (the max).

 

What I have is a rough picture; the original license plate info (Virginia; 35-044), which indicates that the car was situated in Virginia. That's it.

 

Now I would love to find out who that previous owner might have been. 

 

So again, maybe, just maybe this information does ring a bell to anyone. Would be fun, somehow :-)

 

 

Thanks for joining the not-so-much-sherlock-holmes ride.

 

 

 

 

Thom

[knuckleharley]

Thom,the US state of Virginia is a title state,and IF the person selling the car to you hasn't changed the title to his name,the original owners name and address will be on the title when you get it.

 

Many people never bother to change the title to their name when they get an old car because they either bought it to sell and don't want to pay the taxes and fees and wait for the new title to come in,or because they don't want to pay property tax,the area they live in demands all cars on the property be licensed,registered,and inspected and the car doesn't run and won't pass the inspection,or because they just don't get around to doing it.

 

Zoning and tax regulations are getting to the point in some areas where there is a restriction on how many unlicensed cars you can have on your property regardless of how many acres you own,and you can be fined and have the vehicles confiscated if you don't comply. For this reason some people are listing every car they buy and paying property taxes on them as well as buying tags. It's cheaper to do that than pay the fines. These laws are also responsible for a hell of lot of these old cars just going to the crusher.

 

At any rate,ask the seller if he has a title for the car with matching numbers. If he doesn't,don't buy it. I can only imagine what a nightmare it would be to get one through customs with no title or a title with numbers that don't match.

 

IF he has the title but never changed it to his name and it has already been notarized,you  need to have him get a clear title in his name and then put your name and address in the "new owner" box and have it notarized and sent to you so you have no customs problems picking it up. If that is the case,ask him what the name and address of the original owner are,or just have him make a photo copy and send to you so you can display it when you show the car.

 

Virginia MAY offer a title search that will allow you to trace the car back to it's first Virginia owner for a small fee.

 

If none of that works,you will have to contact Chrysler to see if they have any record. I don't know about this,but will be very surprised if a poster here doesn't make a post telling us how to do it and who to contact if it can be done.

 

Good luck. I happen to think these are very nice cars to drive and enjoy.

 

I even just bought a 2 carb intake manifold for my 49!

Edited February 18, 2016 by knuckleharley

[Thomba48]

Thanks - certainly a lof of wiser as always. Is always a pleasure engaging with you all :-)

[desoto1939]

I had contacted Chrysler Historical about my 39 Desoto to get all of the build information.  They will send you the build sheet and any info they have on the car solong as you can provide the certificate of ownership.   They can not provide you with the names of the people that purchased the car. That would have been retained by the individual dealership.  They can tell you the date when the car came off the assembly line and to what dealership it was delivered to.  So hopefully the old original certificate of registration might have the name of the original owner.  This is going to be a real search but you might get lucky.

 

Rich Hartung

Desoto1939@aol.com

[Oldguy48]

I tried to find similar information on my P15, but it seems the DMVs don 't want to divulge info about previous owners.  At least in Iowa, where my P15 was iintially sold. I guess it's a legal thing, but frustrating nonetheless  Good luck to you.

[rb1949]

Snooping found these, that an OWNER can request. You're not the owner, yet??

This page has a link to a pdf form to order a 'build sheet'.(nothing about owners).

http://www.fcanorthamerica.com/company/Heritage/Pages/Build-Records.aspx

 

This page has contacts to Dept of Motor Vehicles by state, for a 'title history'.

http://maxwedge.com/research/dmv.php

 

Happy hunting. Being the 7th owner of a '49, I was lucky. Copies of owners papers,

starting with original delivery, have followed the car all these years.

 

Here's what the 1948 Virginia plate looked like.

 

 

 

 

 

[Thomba48]

To all the supporters: Really interesting read, great insights and wonderful supports. As usual. I shall take all this on board for further investigations. Thom

[Plymouthy Adams]

^{unlike some European entities...where the tag is a cradle to grave fixture....the US varies from state to state and getting information on a vehicle except the current title /registration if in your name is not an easy task.    My last venture on this was met head on with a hang up....I had the name of the last registered owner..called and the man had just passed....I was met most rudely by the family as I guess they thought I was going to try some end run for the estate...I made my apologies at the call 's bad timing and expressed my deepest sympathies for their loss and bowed out gracefully.  After all, it is just a hunk of iron, unless it is crushed and recycled..it has no heirs..}

[Thomba48]

Thanks again.

 

As a matter of fact, as far as I know only in the UK tags are directly linked to a car and can therefore be passed on to whatever owners might happen to turn up in the car's life span.

 

Here in Germany, probably very similar to the US, each owner is required to register for a new tag after the purchase. A tag can therefore not be passed on. And each county (actually called Gemeinde. I also suspect that a Gemeinde is somewhat smaller than an US County. But let's leave it like that for the time being) has a different licence plate requirement anyway. Actually nationally the same, but the location drives the letter structure of the tag, e.g. Munich starts with M, Hamburg with HH.

 

The result - and that certainly differs from the US - we have very little personalisation freedom. That freedom stretches as far as finding an "interesting" combination within the given framework that might be of interest to you. There is no exception for vintage cars. Quite a nuisance, as these plates actually don't look nice.

 

Even the sizes are defined and very rarely changeable. So for instance, on my previous P15 Business Coupe I had to "fight" hard to receive the "honor" of not having to use a huge number plate on the rear end (almost covered up the entire rear brake light - which I actually had to deactivate anyway for legal reasons) but to be "granted" the right to go for a smaller sized frame. Looked way much better. But in order to get this I had to find a "vintage car friendly guy" in the "system" to help me.

 

Thom

[Young Ed]

Ok Thom check out how MN does it. The regular plates stay on the car if you sell. So they get transferred to the new owner. However MN replaces the plates every 7 years so there is still not a really good way to trace that. Then we also have many different types of plates: vanity, handicap, vet, DUI, and ones with hunting and fishing themes that you pay extra for. All of those stay with the owner. Confused yet?

[Thomba48]

Well - and now imagine this with an Hollywood like German accent:"This is way too much freedom for us. We need structure and order in our country. Not the kind of liberty the US offers."

I suspect though, whatever the system is it is  not being liked. But if I could choose one I would still go for your kind of flexibility. How confusing that all might be in the end ☺

Edited February 25, 2016 by Thomba48