How to trace your Mopar's history?

Hi,

Wasn't sure where to post my question, so I hope the restoration forum is the place.

I bought a '68 Super Bee in 2013 near Reading, PA. The guy I bought it from said the previous owner had some documentation "somewhere," but didn't know where he had stashed it. (This might have included the build sheet, which I have not been able to find). I should have asked right away if he could find the guy's contact info for me so I could contact him myself and, if necessary, offer a small monetary incentive for anything he might come up with.

After putting some money into the car over the next few years and discovering that most, if not all the numbers match (the last one to confirm is the trunk lip, which almost filled in with paint), I thought it would really be worthwhile having the paperwork. Understandably, 4-plus years after the deal, the previous owner didn't seem too motivated to look for the guy's contact info now.

My question is whether there is a way to "start from the beginning" instead of working backwards to at least learn what dealership originally sold the car and. if possible, the name of the original owner? The Bee was previously titled in New York state before coming to Pennsylvania and titled here in 2004.

I'd greatly appreciate any ideas and advice. Thanks.

Jim

I'm the 2nd owner of a 66-300 that my Dad used to carpool to work in, and the owner of it and his wife would join us on T-giving. Sad, that I have no Doc's except a few pics of him, and I can't find the build sheet either. How's that for cool?

Have you tried looking up your VIN on superbeeregistry.com

Fervantmender said:

Have you tried looking up your VIN on superbeeregistry.com

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Thanks for the suggestion, but I have looked at the registry. No luck.

I dont think there is anyway to find the history of any mopar. Was told the place they kept all the records burnt down. Some how ford and chevy doesnt have that problem. I am in the same boat as you are. It SUCKS

Not gonna happen.

Weren't fca decoding and ibm card infor?

Think back tracking is about the only way. Privacy laws unless you've got a cop buddy and a state that doesn't track police inquiries into who owned the car.
There is some hope, you can get lucky. I met original owner of my car in 1982, looking for the gas cap. He gave it to me. Now jump to 2015 cruise up to see if he still lived there, yes he did. Stopped and talked he showed pictures of the car when he owned it. Off hand asked if he had any paper work, think so was the answer. Hunted a little and a folder of all original paper work window sticker. Only he didn't have the cert a card, lost it in an upstairs fire.
You have a tough road but you don't look you don't find.

Superb— extreme luck probably only way. At least put it in registry to help the next guy.

oldbee said:

Superb— extreme luck probably only way. At least put it in registry to help the next guy.

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Thanks for your thoughts, guys. Unfortunately, I'm not Jim Rockford, with a buddy on the police force. New York's beyond my usual territory for car shows, so the chance of running into the original owner -- even if he happened to be at a show -- is just about nil. Guess I'll have to reconcile myself to no paperwork for the car.

Just start talking, you never who you’re talking with and/or what they’ve heard. Only good thing about a Mopar(other than the best!).

Officer Higgins said:

Weren't fca decoding and ibm card infor?

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They used to do it but only had the info for '67 and earlier cars. The later records were destroyed in a fire, I believe. As recently as January of 2017 they were still doing it, but I've heard they've stopped. I think they might still make photo copies of the IBM card and will send it to you, but they won't decode them anymore. In April of 2018 I exchanged emails with Danielle, there, and this the reply what she sent to me.

Unfortunately, we do not have the actual build cards. These records were put on microfilm many years ago. Nothing further was ever passed along to the archives. We can only provide a copy from the microfilm file.
I believe the Historical Collection section of the FCA website was modified recently and our build card service may not be displayed on there at this moment. Since the service has been changed for now, we had the order form and details taken off the site until we can offer this again. You may pass along my email or mailing address if others are interested. We only require a copy of the title or registration and a mailing address to send the build cards. If anyone happens to have any questions, I would be happy to help.
Thank you.

I've heard that when they did decode, they sometimes had incorrect info in the report they sent to you. I was lucky and had both my '64 and '66 processed by them before they stopped doing it. If you can get a copy of the IBM card, Fastback Jon from the '66-'67 Charger Registry will decode and make reproduction cards. Even if it isn't a Charger. He did my Satellite for me. Again, this is only for the '67 and earlier cars.

Working backwards is really the only way, and anymore, it's probably going to be next to impossible to get anyone in LE to run a VIN. That would only give you the current owner, anyway (at least that's how WI is). The DMV may be able to go back farther, but they won't do it because of legal/privacy reasons. Plus, I think they'd only have access to their own state's records, anyway. If you know your car has only been registered in your state or the states it has, that would be the only possibility for running the VIN and getting anything helpful, but the odds are that you wouldn't be able to get anyone to run it anyway.

Thanks