Tracing a car's history

[mmcporter]

Car is a 1972 Buick Skylark GS455 Convertible. An older couple bought it new in 1972 and registered it with the plate that's currently on it. They traded it in to the selling dealer recently, who never flipped the title. The old people lost the title so the dealer titled it in the dealership's name. He sold it to a local guy, who promptly resold the car to me. Dealer's pissed that local guy resold another car he sold to local guy at the same time, so he cut off communication with local guy. Local guy never knew original owner's names. In California, license plates permanently stay with the car, so since the car was always in California, it stands to reason that it's wearing the original license plate. Someday I may be able to go to the dealer and ask the questions, but right now it doesn't seem worth creating the waves. Thought there might be a riteous way to go thru the DMV to get the information.

It's confusing, but now you probably can understand why this "one owner" car isn't so easy to trace.