original owner's "questionaire"

[E S.]

Hi all-
I am the 3rd owner of an original,unrestored '62.I bought the car 7-97 from the 2ond owner,who bought the car 3-20-64, from R.T. Ayers Chev; in Yukon,Okla.
I know the complete history of the car since 3-20-64,and did a title search to find the original owner. To make a long story short,I finally found the original owner's name,and recently was able to contact him.(indescribable experience-I did'nt think I would ever find and speak with him) Anyway, I now know the complete history of the car. Someone mentioned I should get a notorized statement,or description of events as part of the car's history.
I have asked quite a few questions in our conversation,but he wants to drive up to see car,and deliver any docs. or old pics. of car that he has.
In the meantime-I thought I would come up with a "questionaire" about his experience with the car.Any suggestions? Thanks-EJ

[Stan E.]

Re: original owner's "questionaire"

How did you find the original owner? Thanks

[Rick S.]

Re: original owner's "questionaire"

E.J.

Video tape it and no question is a dumb question.

[Rick S.]

Re: original owner's "questionaire"

I forgot to add, after I talked to the original/first owner of my car, I called his office (he is a physican) and asked his office manager what his favorite restaurant was and then purchased a $100 gift certificate for him. He followed up by sending 3 photos taken shortly after delivery.
Rick

[E S.]

Re: original owner's "questionaire"

When I did a title search at ks. DMV, I got a copy of the title transfer (when 2ond owner moved from okla. to ks.), and on this document there is a line for the name and address of" who previously owned vehicle".
The name was mis-spelled,however,and I could'nt find any info. on him.
I was reading a post recently about finding previous owners,and the member suggested an alternate spelling to the previous owners name,found the phone# for me,and after 2 or 3 calls,I was speaking to the original owner.-EJ

[Bill M.]

Re: original owner's "questionaire"

I would ask him if he took it back to the dealer for any problems, what were the problems, and did they get fixed.

[E S.]

Re: original owner's "questionaire"

Bill- Good question- Thanks
During our phone conv; he was telling me about the dealership, and said "I only took it back for that one thing", but did'nt mention what it was. (It was hard to think of everything I wanted to ask,and I basically just listened) Now maybe I can come up with a "list"-EJ

[E S.]

Re: original owner's "questionaire"

I forgot to add, after I talked to the original/first owner of my car, I called his office (he is a physican) and asked his office manager what his favorite restaurant was and then purchased a $100 gift certificate for him. He followed up by sending 3 photos taken shortly after delivery.
Rick

Rick-Great ideas-ThanksSomethig like that will be great if I can make it work out. I would like to include the 2ond owner too,as he owned the car from 3-64 to 7-97 without changes or damage,and he lives within 25 mi.(P.S.-Great pic of your '67; hope my story turns out as well)-EJ

[Mike E.]

Re: original owner's "questionaire"

If you approach the experience with the attitude that "here is his chance to relive the experience and enjoy it" rather than "this is about me, and I'm going to pump him for all the information I can get", you'll very likely have a much more mutually-satisfying experience. Give him the opportunity to tell stories, because as he unfolds them, he'll think of other things, and will give you additional angles for questions after he completes each story.

[Steven B.]

Re: original owner's "questionaire"

Mike has a great suggestion. When I spoke with the previous owners I started with tell me about the first time you saw it, how did you come about getting it, did you take tripsin it, etc.? I found that it was taken on a trip to Sebring to watch the race, camped along the way, was street raced extensively while in college, the car was sold/traded between friends, etc. The stories bring out alot about the cars, the people, other interesting cars and people. Make notes of questions and ask after the discussion if not covered duuring it. Video is a great idea. Each year I spend about 12 hours with the fellow I bought my '57 from and each year I learn something new and have something new to track down. I look forward to that time more than any event of the year.

[Stewart A.]

Re: original owner's "questionaire"

Am I a bit slow here. But I think there is a small business opportunity for someone to find the original owners. There must be thousands of people willing to hand over payment to be in contact with the original owners. I for one would be willing to pay. If it hasn't been tried someone should give it a go. Stewy

[Mike E.]

Re: original owner's "questionaire"

There are several "how-to" articles in past Restorers. Owners have been looking for original owners the entire 35 years I'ved been involved in the NCRS.
It's gotten tougher because of privacy laws and states not wanting the expense of keeping old records.
There was a guy (David Reisner) who did this for a while about 20 years ago--didn't make a go of it. There are now PI's who will take your money and take a stab at it.
Believe me, if there was a good way of finding this info, there wouldn't be as many ads in every Driveline--some entrepeneur would have grabbed at this and run with it. It's time intensive, very expensive, and often fruitless.

[William G.]

Re: original owner's "questionaire"

I hope I'm not violating any Forum rules, but I am the member who helped E J find his original owner. I own a company called AutoAncestry.com and my ad is on page 12 of the current Driveline. You are correct that federal and state privacy laws are a tremendous hindrance but there are other ways to find these former owners. I do it all the time as well as reunite original engines and documents with cars, find cars, etc.

[Steven B.]

Re: original owner's "questionaire"

I hope I'm not violating any Forum rules, but I am the member who helped E J find his original owner. I own a company called AutoAncestry.com and my ad is on page 12 of the current Driveline. You are correct that federal and state privacy laws are a tremendous hindrance but there are other ways to find these former owners. I do it all the time as well as reunite original engines and documents with cars, find cars, etc.

What is the industry average price for finding owners, engines, documents? I assume it is very labor intensive. Do most in the industry charge if they cannot locate?

[William G.]

Re: original owner's "questionaire"

There is no industry standard because there is no industry. Recently I found a complete set of GM original documents for someone within my one hour basic search. But that is a rarity. I was able to reunite an original protectoplate with the current car's owner with three hours work. Last week I reunited an original engine with the current owner of the car in three hours . I was able to help EJ find his original owner rather quickly when I did a simple statistical analysis of how many people exist with the surname Choles. It turns out that is a very rare name so I asked EJ to look at the document again. There was on overtype and the surname turned out to be Chiles who I found rather quickly.

Yet I have researched my 66 roadster back six owners to 1983 and am stuck there on my own car. It depends on how many owners are involved and what leads are available. Some searches are futile and some are easy.A simple answer is that it can take from an hour to many many hours to go back as far as one can on any particular car. I take a systematic approach to the research with darn little help from any DMV due to federal and state privacy laws. But it can be done in many cases.