Car's personal history

[DavidH]

I purchased a 1937 Pontiac sport coupe a little over a year ago that is in great condition. I'm very curious regarding the history of the car.  The gentleman who owned it prior to me had passed away and I purchased it from his wife who knew nothing about the car. I'm aware that cars this old do not have a standard VIN, but there is an identification number on the title. Does anyone know if I can obtain the car's personal history based on this number?  Any help would be appreciated.

thanks,

David H

[Frosty]

A lot of states allow you to take a vehicle's VIN and do a title search (for a fee) thru your local DMV. The amount of data you get from the title search will vary based on every states Personal Identifiable Information privacy laws (PII). So you may not get things like previous owners name or address, but you will probably get at least city/state and the date/year it changed owners. Otherwise you have to track down each previous owner yourself by whatever clues you have, which can be time consuming. This also assumes that the previous owners are still alive.

You can also contact Pontiac Historical Service Online, provide them with your VIN and money, they will produce for you all the information about the car as it left the factory and tell you what dealership it was shipped to.

http://www.phs-online.com/