So.Ca 0117S a barn find by M.MASSINI 2006

Again : the body is NOT a 121 LM one.

 

Call or write to the California DMV.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/contacts/international_contact.htm

Good luck man, it may take a while!

They will want to see a copy of your paperwork and all of that, so write the letter and zerox the old title and new title explaining you are a collector and want any information they have in their archives. They may have a forensic title department that can help you.

Edit:

I just realized the way the DMV works they may not send postage back to France. PM me and you can email me the inquiry and I can send it from here (Los Angeles) and they can send it back to me and I can send it to you.

I have emailed a car dealer friend to see if he knows how to chase something this old down also.
Hope that helps you.

 

I think it may be an old racing car body that was cut up and modified to fit 195 Inter chassis. The wheelbase dimensions may be (about) the same, but this seems not to be the case with the driver/steering wheel position. I still like it. Best wishes, Kare

 

On the PelicanParts forum I once read a similar thread on a 356 I think ... and there was mention about a special forensic department at the DMV that deals with this type of stuff in Sacramento. Next time I am stuck in traffic I can try and call them ... but as anyone from California knows ... the DMV is one huge ball of pain.

 

The CA DMV will provide info on cars if you can give the VIN and the Plate number. I was able to locate the last owner of my 308 (a lady!) thru the Registration Records Request form. It's a $20 fee and you get a computerized printout.

I tried for my GTE which was registered in CA in the 1970s, but they returned the request form and check as they said they had no records (and I had no plate info).

Records from the 1960s are likely in storage, but you can try!

Use this form...

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/forms/inf/inf70.pdf

 

So here is what I was able to find out .. which was nothing! Sorry! I needed to find out information on a '58 Speedster my father owned from 1958 and sold in 1998 so this thread inspired me to make the call for both of us.

Anyway .. here is some info on how it works for any others trying to find info on their cars:

This information comes from Loretta with the DMV public relations department in Sacramento at 1 (916) 657-6560. Surprisingly, my phone call was answered on the 3rd ring and this was a fairly painless process of discovery which took about 15 minutes.

Since 9/11, the records would need to be subpoenaed through a lawyer as all the records are confidential now. I explained the owner was in France, and getting a subpoena would be fine, but before he went through the effort, could she tell me if there were in fact any records in her computer for the vehicle worth subpoenaing.

(If anyone calls this number they will tell you if there are records, but will not reveal what they are ... but at least you can find out if there is anything in the file worth chasing after.)

I gave her both license plate numbers provided, the vin and the certificate of ownership number. She looked up all of these numbers but unfortunately no records exist in the computer for this vehicle.

I asked her if she thought further examination by a lawyer to subpoena any records may produce any results and she said that she did not think so. She said she had worked at the DMV for "100 years" and that she understood what I was after but she simply did not think it existed for this vehicle. Once the car is removed from the system, it is gone for good according to Loretta.

There may be a possibility that Loretta may not know everything, but she seemed very knowledgeable about finding the records. There is a possibility a lawyer could find more, but I would doubt it. A few hundred dollars for a lawyer may turn something up if it is an actual subpoena however .. you never know. Maybe someone on here that is a lawyer could help you!

Anyway .. cheers!

 

Anyone have any idea if the Motto body still exists?

 

I have a booklet called "How to Find Cars & Owners", dated 1992. Even then (16 years ago) it says that archive records in California for title and registration searches only go back as far as 1976.

 

I tried to track my '57 Corvette as far back as possible when I bought the hulk in the 80s. The Arkansas DMV had a copy of the California registration from sometime during the 60s. I found out then that nothing is available from California that far back. And it's worse today because of the Driver Protection Safety Act which prevents the states from revealing personal info on DMV records unless your have a court order, are a cop, etc, etc.

 

True. But even if the records did exist, you would need a court order or a have to be cop before they would release anything with personal data. This is all because of the implimentation of the Driver's Protection Safety Act which was passed into law after actress Rebecca Schaeffer was murdered by a wacko who obtained her address from a private detective who got the address from the California DMV. This is now a nationwide law. http://www.franksreelreviews.com/shorttakes/shaeffer/shaeffer.htm

 

I looked up Peter Helm in my Motion Picture Guide index, and apparently he appeared in only two films, "The Longest Day" (1962), and "Inside Daisy Clover" (1965). He isn't listed in my old encyclopedia of television shows and actors.

 

The DMV will still give you a name, the rest can be found elsewhere....

 

I believe ya Wayne, but here's a blacked out copy of what I got from the DMV. The previous owners name was listed next to Prior R/O.
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