Well never give up looking. All I knew was he had a tire store in Atlanta in 1970. No name of owner or store.I got an email today from the original owner of my 70 LT-1. Very brief but told me to call him after 4pm or tomorrow. He said "yes that was me " Said he bought it at the dealer that I had an emblem for and he had the sales reciept and Vette club poster. What is a Vette club poster? What else came with a 70 other that POP and window sticker?
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Re: Woopee, found original owner
Congrats Keith! I have talked to 2 of the 3 previous, but have not spoken to the 1st to buy the car. Pretty tough when all you have is "he had a Polish last name and was from Jersey".
Jeff -
Re: Woopee, found original owner
Great news, I'm sure he will be able to fill you in on some interesting stuff. There were several other items that can with the car on delivery to the first owner such as the key envelope, trim ring card, dealer checklist and so on. Keep us posted.Jack Corso
1972 Elkhart Green LT-1 Coupe 43,200 miles
Top Flight 1994, 2018 & 2021Comment
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Re: Woopee, found original owner
It took me 10 years to find owner #1 of our 67, congratulations.Comment
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Re: Woopee, found original owner
Congrats!.....I am now starting on this path. All I have is (of course) the guy I bought it from and he told me he bought it from some brothers in Virginia about 6 years ago..........of yeah.....it is a 59. What is the best way to approuch this??
Tim Allen (46673)Comment
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Re: Woopee, found original owner
I just got off the phone with him. Nice guy. Said he was at the dealership and about to leave and "heard something clacking" . He looked around the corner and they were backing It off the trailer. He went back to the sellsman and said " I want to talk to you about that yellow car". He traded a 69 vette on it. He found a sells reciept and the Vette poster when He moved a couple years ago. Had forgot about them till then. He said he got the poster and a membership card in the mail. And got a magizine for a while.He didn't remember ever seeing a window sticker.Comment
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Re: Woopee, found original owner
Congratulations, Keith. Nice find.
On my '67, I know of owner #2, #3, and #4, I bought it from, but haven't found #1 yet.
Your story teaches us to never give up looking. Ridge.Good carburetion is fuelish hot air . . .Comment
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Re: Woopee, found original owner
Hi Keith,
Boy, I'll bet that call really made your day!
How long had you been searching and through how many owners?
Regards,
Alan71 Coupe, 350/270, 4 speed
Mason Dixon Chapter
Chapter Top Flight October 2011Comment
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Re: Woopee, found original owner
I have only been looking for about a year. I am the 5th owner. I did a title search in S.C. and got the 2nd and third owners names. Got third owner by white pages in same town it was titled in. Charleston SC. I Had the name of the 2nd so owner three told me he was about twenty and worked for his dad at a tire store. Searched name and found a match who was president of a tire store chain in Charleston area. Had trouble getting him on the phone but talked to his secretary a couple times. He didn't respond to emails but the sec had already told me she asked him if he had the yellow vette. He said yes. Finally got him on the phone. He told me he put the headers on the car and bought it in Atlanta from a tire dealer he was selling recaps to for his dad. Thats all he told me. So I searched for tire stores in Atlanta and went to their website and checked to see how long they were in business. Only some I could say for sure were there in 70. So I started with the ones closest to central chev which was the emblem still on the car. Dekalb Tire was only down the street from the dealer. But was sold about 7 years ago. I knew the owners name at that time from googleing the store and finding artical about a law suit between the owner and Michelin. The only thing I could find out from the tire store was they thought he lived at a golf club. I couldn't find any info on him in any records after he sold out. In the meantime I contacted several other stores and struck out. So I went back to looking for him again still not knowing if he was the guy who bought the car. I searched for the name of the club and emailed the gen manager. He forwarded my email to food and bev manager who said he recognized the name and he would ask around. A week later I got the email from him saying he was the guy. I started hollering and my wife in the next office and my secretary thought I was crazy when I told them why.
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Re: Woopee, found original owner
Congratulations! Very cool Story! I'm going through the same process on my 72. Hope my search turns out as well as yours.Comment
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Re: Woopee, found original owner
OHHHH WELLLL JUST THANKS A LOT! (just kidding)
Ain't that just my luck, on the day someone with a 70 LT1 scores a victory a friend and I are digging through a bunch of my part boxes trying to find a a beautifully rebuilt AIR pump I bought for my 70 LT1 a few years ago for an exhorbitant amount of money and he asks me to describe what it looked like so I do....and he says "Uhhhhhhh well, about that pump"....seems when he was helping me move one time he thought it was an old alternator core and chunked it out! RATS!!! Do you laugh or cry when that happens?Last edited by Wayne B.; March 12, 2009, 06:56 PM.Comment
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Re: Woopee, found original owner
When I bought my car it came with all the paperwork back to the original owner, I had always desired to talk to the original owner on a few things he did - most I wanted to know why he took delivery at the plant. Tried for 4 years to locate him to no avail, a friend of mine who is really into computers took what info I had and started looking. With-in a day he found the owner, still lived in the same town but had moved to a new address years ago. I wrote a letter to him and about 3 weeks later I got a letter from his daughter who lived near by him. He was in his 80's and not in the greatest of health, so I kept in touch with the daughter. Long story short I took the car to bloomington and his daughter drove her Dad down from Wisc. along with all his grand children. He had not seen the car since he sold it in 1979 ( we are talking 2005 ), spent a great afternoon with his family - took pictures of the kids behind the wheel once we got Grandpa out of it. It made me feel good to hear him say it was in better shape then when he bought it. I sent him all the back issues of the magazines the car was written up in ( all mentioned his name ) and though I thought I had all the paperwok his daughter sent me the original order copy from the dealer framed. She found it looking through his records, what I thought was the order copy turned out to be a special form used for cars to be picked up at the plant. Sad to say that the original owner Dr. Richard Jones passed away at the end of Nov. 2008, I still stay in touch with his daughter and family. I am happy to report that his daughter says he spoke of Bloomington quite often and kept his grandchildren up to date with all his vette stories. I can only hope you have as many good times as I had talking to prior owners. Enjoy.
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Re: Woopee, found original owner
Nothing beats tracking down the first owner and having a postive experience. The original owner of my car has been cordial but somewhat cool to my inquires. He did send me 3 photos shortly after taking delivery in Charlotte,NC in July 1967.
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Re: Woopee, found original owner
Yeah its great to find old owners , here is a photo of my L88 in CA.
from the 2nd owner in 1977
Last edited by Tom M.; November 9, 2011, 09:10 PM.Comment
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