Tracing California Car History

[ken_z]

I've had my car since 1983 and am finally getting around
to try and trace it's history. The story I got was it
was purchased in San Francisco and I picked it up in Santa
Rosa(Northern Ca for those who don't know). So it's been
in the SF bay area it's whole life.

I have a form from the CA DMV which looks like it could
do the trick. DMV form INF 70R. It is a request for VR/
Vessel Record Information. One of the choices is Ownership
History. Has anyone used this form? Had good luck with
it?

I was also trying to find out Chevy dealers in San Francisco
in 1969, but google can't seem to help(or I can't help
google :-)). I figured if I can get a list of dealers, I'd
start calling and see if there might be any records.

Would anyone have an idea on finding dealerships? I'll
start with the one dealer I know (Ellis Brooks) who has
been in business a long time.

Thanks
Ken

[Rainer]

I have a car that was sold new in Anaheim per the build sheet, so I sent in the form you're referring to. Unfortunately, the reply I received indicated that there were no remaining records for my car. Good luck.

[ChevyThunder]

One of my POP's in the " Authorised Selling Dealer Plate Imprint" section on the back of the new car warranty reads ..

Holiday Chevrolet
740 Taraval Street
San Francisco 16 , Calif


Did a search and this is all I found on Holiday.. a post on the Nova site.. maybe you can email this guy and see if he knows anything about this dealer... though I am not sure if that would help your quest any but you never know. Ironically posted today..

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:W9ab...us&ie=UTF-8


Also.. if you give me a description or some info on the car I can ask all the guys I know in the City.. I have two friends who were original 69Z owners and I have contact with the guy who originally bought the Z from Holiday..I can ask him if he knows your car. A lot of these guys hung out at the Great Highway and Brotherhood Way where all the street racing was done.. Half Moon Bay Dragstip was 15 min south of SF and closed in late 1969 so maybe they know the car from there... by the way Jim McLennan who founded the drag stip and the owner of Champion Speed Shop in Colma just passed away in February.

[68SSCamaro]

I mailed in this form last year for my car. I've owned it since 1990. The printout they sent back mostly lists the registrations from about 1999. There were some interesting fields that I couldn't figure out. I finally sent them another letter a few weeks ago asking about them. One interesting field is PREV LIC. My car has the blue plates and I figured they were from the late 70's. The date on this is in 1979 so it's the date the new plates were registered. There are 6 letters after PREV LIC. They don't make sense so I hope the DMV will tell me what they mean. That's all I got. Still no info on the car for the first 20 years.

[TMagda]

I bought a new Mazda RX-7 in CA in 1983 (Marin Mazda??) and it came with blue plates with yellow letters.

[tirebird]

Holiday Chevrolet is long gone. I lived about three blocks from the dealership and used to pick up old transmission bearings from the Chevy mechanics for my street coaster. Anyway, it's been a grocery store for the past 30 years of so. Ellis Brooks is the only Chevy dealer left in San Francisco. Stewart Chevrolet has been around for several decades but they're in Colma, just south of the City.

[hubleyman]

A couple of my 1967-68 Camaros were purchased from the following Chevy dealer in SF (earliest date I have is 8/2/67, according to the POP stamping):

Geer Chevrolet
3855 Geary Blvd.
San Francisco, Calif. 94118

According to some of my 1969 POP's (earliest recorded date I have is 08/19/69, latest is 10/19/70), it became:

David Varner Chevrolet
3855 Geary Boulevard
San Francisco, Calif. 94118

[SuperNovaSS]

My 65 Nova SS was purchased at Gateway Chevrolet in Daly City(South San Francisco). Another possibility?


Jason

[ken_z]

Thanks to everyone for the information. The DMV form
went out today, hopefully I'll get something useful.
I'll be hitting a phone book as well for numbers for the dealers offered up.
The library may also have old phone book or two.

Ken

[tirebird]

Thanks everyone for the trip down memory lane. "Geer" Chevrolet was Geary(named after the street)and is now a Toyota dealership. Gateway Chevrolet closed several decades ago. It's a microcosim of the automobile business. A city with several domestic dealerships now has only 3, one for each of the major manufacturers. One of my biggest regrets was looking at a 1987 Buick GNX sit unsold on the showroom floor for two years at the Buick Dealership, from 87 to 89. The car was finally sold for 30K to a local roofer who drove it to his garage and kept it there until 4 years ago when he sold it for 60K. It had 1800 miles on it. Oh well, 30k was a lot of money to me in 1987.