Re: Original Owner Interviews.
 

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And don't forget to ask if they have any old files and/or paperwork from the car also spare parts that may still be around...those original bias ply tires Dad hated and swapped also dead alternator etc may still be in the shed?.

Good Point Pete on the parts. I remember talking some years back to the original owner of my 66 showing him some pictures. He came out with that is not the original air cleaner or tension pulley. I almost jumped and said yes they are since they were 100% 66 l-72 correct.I said what do you mean.
He said they look like the ones that were on her new but I took them off they are on the wall in the shed we will get them before you leave they belong back where they came from.
He kept them all those years and would not take a penny for them even aftre telling him what they were worth back then. I ended up mailing him a gift cert to a local restraunt. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/laugh.gif since I just could not take the idler and this air cleaner for nothing.
You never know what some people have kept off their cars.

Re: Original Owner Interviews.
 

After we bought our '69 SS396, I got in touch with the original owner. He told me that it was the best phone call that he had received in years. We later met him at the Waterdown, Ontario car show and had a great visit. He had built another '69 when the tracking down of his original car reached a dead end. Our car had about 12 previous owners and I have spoken to four of them. Never had any problems. The guy who was forced to sell his Chevelle might be a little bitter, but you never know until you call.

Re: Original Owner Interviews.
 

Hands down, the BEST original owner interview would be with a guy just like that, who is thrilled to hear from the present owner..............and he "wants" to take a trip down memory lane......... https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/laugh.gif

After I bought my one owner '62 a few years ago,(the owner had died a year earlier) I tracked down his best high school and post-high school buddy in Jersey City. I drove up there in my other '62 that I've owned since '68, picked him up and brought him back to my place to see the car again. I wanted him to sit in front of a '62 dash board again for an hour to get the old memory muscles working again. I recorded everything he could remember while he was here, either at the kitchen table with photos or in the shop walking around the car. What an experience!!!! https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/laugh.gif https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/cool.gif https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/wink.gif

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/smile.gifVerne

Re: Original Owner Interviews.
 

" I wanted him to sit in front of a '62 dash board again for an hour to get the old memory muscles working again " Boy, if that don't get you in the right frame of mind. Nice touch, Verne.

Re: Original Owner Interviews.
 

Actually Sam, it was bitter-sweet. As we were pulling into my town I got on it a little in 2nd, and he said later that he wasn't really impressed at all with the way it ran. He said "Pete's" car would have killed this car like it was standing still.

OK, I had 3.36s and a stock cam in mine, and "Pete" had the factory 4.11s and a Crower cam, not to mention a dyno tune (I have the receipt for that as well as the cam)

The results of the trip were worth the embarrassment though.

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/cool.gifVerne

Re: Original Owner Interviews.
 

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/blush.gif

I'm sure it was more than worth it! https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gif

Re: Original Owner Interviews.
 

My original owner story involved a little detective work: From speaking with the guy I bought the car from he believed the car was sold new in Virginia, Maryland, or DC back in 1969. I did title searches in all three areas and the only one that retained old records was Maryland. They sent me the microfiched copy of the title transfer from when the original owner sold the car to owner #2 in 1977. BINGO! Unfortunately the original owner's name was essentially the Hispanic version of John Smith and there were literally 10,000 of them in the area I was searching. I made a list and started calling every one. The first question I would ask when they picked up the phone was: Hi did you own a 69 Indy 500 Pace Car back in 1969?

On the second call down the list, I hit the jackpot: It just happened to be to the original owner! He was more excited than I was and invited me down to visit and even had his son scan in all the photos of the car from when it was new, on his honeymoon, when they brought their first child home from hospital in the car, etc. He also told me where he bought the car new: Bob Peck Chevrolet in Arlington, Virginia. (They've been in business for over 60 years) I went there and they actually still had the original sales invoice on file in their attic archives.

The lesson is: Never give up!

Re: Original Owner Interviews.
 

and sometimes you must be persistent,when contacting the previous owners.the second time I called the house of the second owner his mother still lived there and would not give John the message. So I told her 6 months latter that I was an old shool friend and had lost contact with him
Bingo gave me the numer. It did not produce the results I wanted in the end OH well it was worth it. maybe John E.
will some day change his mind and send me some copies of the info. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/drool.gif
Peter

Re: Original Owner Interviews.
 

I bot a car that had been bounced around pretty frequently that was quite well documented and had a copy of the original title. I decided to track down the fella and started with directory assistance with the name and address on the title. First # I got his mother answered the phone and said wait a minute and next thing I am talking to the original owner. Noone had bothered to contact him since he sold the car in the eighties. He was delighted to talk about his old ride and provided vintage pix, repair manual, speed parts, stories, and time slips. You never know... https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/dunno.gif

Re: Original Owner Interviews.
 

Sam
thats great, too bad that all people are not the same. If it was my car someone called me about i would bend over backwards to help him or her. The refusal to help someone
find the history of the car speaks volumes about what kind of person he or she is, that would refuse to help. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...thumbsdown.gif
There is a name for someone like that. I will not lower my self to their standards.
Peter