How good is Department of Motor Vehicle documentation?

[Patrick T.]

I have a lot of documentation on my '67 but most of it comes from the DMV's in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Shown below is the original selling dealer, Ideal Chevrolet in Hamlin, West Virginia. This is an application for a title for new '67 Corvette.

At the top is the owners name (which I had to white out), a description of the the car with the VIN, the trade in value for a '66 Chevy, the GMAC loan amount, etc. His signature is at the bottom left, (which I whited out). I have loads of this type of docs which are still in the state DMV envelopes with my address on them.

How would you rate this type of documentation? Good, bad, ugly, indifferent? Thanks for your serious comments. PT

[Rick A.]

Re: How good is Department of Motor Vehicle documentation?

Patrick,

all VALUABLE docs to have!

[Patrick T.]

Re: How good is Department of Motor Vehicle documentation?

Thanks Rick. Anyone else????

[Tom H.]

Re: How good is Department of Motor Vehicle documentation?

Real documents that record the real history. Great stuff in my opinion. What more could ya want !!

[Brian M.]

Re: How good is Department of Motor Vehicle documentation?

Top notch stuff, I have the same for my car. It's the real deal.

[Chuck S.]

Re: How good is Department of Motor Vehicle documentation?

Thanks Rick. Anyone else????

Patrick, aside from a proclivity of civil servants for misspelling, and the total lack of initiative to fix errors, what could be wrong with DMV records?

Unless the records from another car are falsely doctored to represent a car as more "documented", such documents are the official record of when ownership changed hands. I would probably prefer the full official registration record as provenance to written owner statements.

About the only way such records could really be in error (besides the angle already mentioned) is if a change in ownership was deliberately not reported or delayed by a purchaser to avoid paying sales taxes. I've seen this done by cheap azzes, but it was/is a lot less likely when a third-party dealer was involved in the tranaction.

[Darrell S.]

Re: How good is Department of Motor Vehicle documentation?

Outstanding paper work

[Joseph K.]

Re: How good is Department of Motor Vehicle documentation?

I have a lot of documentation on my '67 but most of it comes from the DMV's in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Shown below is the original selling dealer, Ideal Chevrolet in Hamlin, West Virginia. This is an application for a title for new '67 Corvette.

At the top is the owners name (which I had to white out), a description of the the car with the VIN, the trade in value for a '66 Chevy, the GMAC loan amount, etc. His signature is at the bottom left, (which I whited out). I have loads of this type of docs which are still in the state DMV envelopes with my address on them.

How would you rate this type of documentation? Good, bad, ugly, indifferent? Thanks for your serious comments. PT

Patrick,

My 69 comes from PA. How did you follow the trail to get this info. The tank sticker was not legible enough to get the dealer and location and zone.

Joe

[Tom A.]

Re: How good is Department of Motor Vehicle documentation?

Patrick
I got all my documentation of ownership and dealer from the NC DMV. For a cost of $5.00. I'm the 5th owner of my 1965 conv. I also talked to the previous 4 owners. Plus I also got the name of the gentleman that sold car new and met him at the NCRS Regional at Lowes Motor Speedway.

It does'nt get any better than this......JT

[Patrick T.]

Re: How good is Department of Motor Vehicle documentation?

Patrick,

My 69 comes from PA. How did you follow the trail to get this info. The tank sticker was not legible enough to get the dealer and location and zone.

Joe

Joe, fortunately for me my tank sticker was in good shape and very legible...I could clearly see that it was Zone 40 Dealer 203. Way back in 1999, when I bought the car and before all these privacy laws came into effect (at least from WVA), this kind of information was still available. I called the WVA DMV and asked them how far their records go back. The NICE lady said about 50 years. This would be unheard of anywhere except WVA, they don't seem to be in a rush with anything.

Anyway, I asked her if I could get some information (for historical research only) on my car. She said sure, just download the application, fill it out with your VIN # and $10 and we will give you all the information we have on the car.

Well, I was lucky enough to hit a gold mine here. I got the envelope in the mail and it was FAT, that's a good thing. In it was all the documentation on my car in WVA from 1967 to 1974, with subsequent owners and what dealer the car was traded to etc. I have talked to the original owner several times on the phone and he confirmed that was his new car he ordered back in '67.

These days, most of the DMV's only go back 10 years on their files, including Pa. and NJ. I was able to track all of these owners and some of them sent me letters with the newspaper ad they found my car and then bought it. I am missing a few years from the late 70's and early 80's but I have most years covered. The important thing to me is that I got the first four owners in WVA. These days though, with the privacy laws, I would think that this kind of info would be hard to come by. Seems many owners here do not have much luck with getting the previous history of their car. I always had the feeling that WVA was a step or two behind the rest of the world.

[Patrick T.]

Re: How good is Department of Motor Vehicle documentation?

Thanks to all of you guys for your opinions. I've had all these docs for many years and although I've always thought it was good stuff, I've never asked other members what they thought and that's what is important. PT

[Patrick T.]

Re: How good is Department of Motor Vehicle documentation?

Patrick, aside from a proclivity of civil servants for misspelling, and the total lack of initiative to fix errors, what could be wrong with DMV records?

Hey Chuck, I guess maybe you noticed that the "shift" key on the typewriter was not working very well. All the capital letters on the first document shown are raised up, as well as missing information that was hand written in by pen. PT

[Chuck S.]

Re: How good is Department of Motor Vehicle documentation?

Hey Chuck, I guess maybe you noticed that the "shift" key on the typewriter was not working very well. All the capital letters on the first document shown are raised up, as well as missing information that was hand written in by pen. PT

Actually, I didn't examine your title application closely.

I just remember back in those days, the clerks at the Hamilton County, OH DMV would quick time slam keys on those old mechanical typewriters, with the carriage banging up and down, and the bell ringing...if they got my name and address spelled correctly, it was more of a case of a million monkeys on typewriters collectively typing the greatest novel of all time.

Such careless treatment of a legal document caused me some consternation until I realized it was just "bidness as usual".

[Gene M.]

Re: How good is Department of Motor Vehicle documentation?

Patrick,
Your Corvette Order Copy is interesting. I have not seen one with something lined out and replaced with something else. I could understand it as tire/wheel swap is easy to adjust for. I would not believe it if it was and engine change.......

Change had to be made prior to body drop to be on tank sticker. Is it on shipper paper too?

Do you know if the car was ordered with red lines and later amended prior to delivery with wsw?

Could this have been a dealer floor plan car?

I'm assuming the original owner received it with wsw.

[John H.]

Re: How good is Department of Motor Vehicle documentation?

I have not seen one with something lined out and replaced with something else. I could understand it as tire/wheel swap is easy to adjust for. I would not believe it if it was and engine change.......

Change had to be made prior to body drop to be on tank sticker.

Gene -

Line-outs for substitutions were quite common, most frequently seen for tires; all had an "RN" number (note the "RN1593" on Patrick's sheet) written on the sheet with the initials of the individual who authorized the deviation, which was done after the Corvette Order was printed.

The "RN" number referred to the local deviation written to correct the plant's inventory records to show that a different set of tires was installed vs. those printed on the sheet. If you had access to the inventory records in the Production Control office file cabinets, you'd find a deviation notice with that number on it, written to cover the tire substitution on that particular car.