Tracking a vehicle's history
Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2015 8:54 am
I have a question and no idea where to ask it. I just bought a 1963 IIa 109 5-door in New Mexico and am having it shipped to me next week. Actually, I’m having it shipped to Vermont, and I’ll be driving it across the border to Montréal myself.
The vehicle was restored in 1992-3 in Vermont or New Hampshire and sold to Wayne. Wayne sold it in 2005 to Judith, and Judith (RIP)’s estate sold it to me two weeks ago. I have a fair amount of documentation that dates from Wayne’s first Vermont registration in 1993 to the present. Before that, zip, nada, bupkis, rien, nuthin’. The man who sold the car to Wayne told him it had originally been imported into Canada. That man has since passed away, his business has gone to others, who no longer deal in or restore Land Rovers, and who have no records dating back further than 10 years.
I have put in a request to the British Motor Industry Heritage Centre for a certificate that, working from my VIN, will give me build date, chassis number, engine number, options fitted by the factory, etc. But most importantly, they’ll give me the name of the dealer the car was sent to. From the name, it seems I can find said dealer in a world wide list of LR dealers. With whatever info I can get on that dealer, I may be able to learn something more about my vehicle. Or maybe not.
My question is: is there some kind of registry of Canadian Land Rovers? Some sort of consultable archive that I could go into with a VIN or chassis number and come out with something more than dusty hands? I would love to pull together a complete history of this vehicle.
Thanks very much for any advice you can give. (I attach a boudoir shot of the glamorous beastie herself.)
The vehicle was restored in 1992-3 in Vermont or New Hampshire and sold to Wayne. Wayne sold it in 2005 to Judith, and Judith (RIP)’s estate sold it to me two weeks ago. I have a fair amount of documentation that dates from Wayne’s first Vermont registration in 1993 to the present. Before that, zip, nada, bupkis, rien, nuthin’. The man who sold the car to Wayne told him it had originally been imported into Canada. That man has since passed away, his business has gone to others, who no longer deal in or restore Land Rovers, and who have no records dating back further than 10 years.
I have put in a request to the British Motor Industry Heritage Centre for a certificate that, working from my VIN, will give me build date, chassis number, engine number, options fitted by the factory, etc. But most importantly, they’ll give me the name of the dealer the car was sent to. From the name, it seems I can find said dealer in a world wide list of LR dealers. With whatever info I can get on that dealer, I may be able to learn something more about my vehicle. Or maybe not.
My question is: is there some kind of registry of Canadian Land Rovers? Some sort of consultable archive that I could go into with a VIN or chassis number and come out with something more than dusty hands? I would love to pull together a complete history of this vehicle.
Thanks very much for any advice you can give. (I attach a boudoir shot of the glamorous beastie herself.)