Pink slip California car ownership history search tips ?

[trulyvintage]

California issued pink slips in the
early years in lieau of titles.
If a vehicle ownership history for an
early vehicle needs to be traced back
in California prior to Carfax, is there a
recommended way to do that
someone has recently used ?

Jim

[JayJay]

Originally Posted by trulyvintage

California issued pink slips in the
early years in lieau of titles.
If a vehicle ownership history for an
early vehicle needs to be traced back
in California prior to Carfax, is there a
recommended way to do that
someone has recently used ?

Jim

Don't hold your breath. I've tried on several occasions to trace ownersihp history, with no success. BTW, the "pink slip" is now multicolored with embedded security watermarks (but I do remember when they were pink!).

[ronn]

no state holds paperwork over 10 years.

[CarlG]

My '31 CCPU came to me from CA, and it did have a "Pink Slip". Should have made a copy of it, but didn't have that presents of mind at the time. This was in 2010.

[trulyvintage]

This is the vehicle I am researching
the ownership history of.

1956 Ford Continental Mark 2





Federal and state privacy laws prohibit
ownership history information to be
shared with the public.

It is currently located in Visalia, California.
The odds are favorable it has always been
a California car but the vin pre dates
the 17 digit modern system, the ownership
history dating back to new is of interest.
The Ford Benson Research is still closed
to the public, the phone is answered
by voicemail, no messages can be left,
staff is limited because of funding cuts,
paid research requests are by snail mail
or email only.


Jim

[JayJay]

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Originally Posted by trulyvintage

This is the vehicle I am researching
the ownership history of.

1956 Ford Continental Mark 2





Federal and state privacy laws prohibit
ownership history information to be
shared with the public.

It is currently located in Visalia, California.
The odds are favorable it has always been
a California car but the vin pre dates
the 17 digit modern system, the ownership
history dating back to new is of interest.
The Ford Benson Research is still closed
to the public, the phone is answered
by voicemail, no messages can be left,
staff is limited because of funding cuts,
paid research requests are by snail mail
or email only.


Jim

What do the plates look like? If the plates are yellow letters on black backgound they might date to as far back as 1963. The previous plates (1956-1962) were black on yellow and were surrendered to get the "new" yellow on black plates. I remember taking the black-on-yellow plates off our family's two cars and turning them in for two consecutive yellow-on-black plates back in the day. Both configurations were (for passenger cars) AAA### where "A" is letter and "#" is number.

Any newer plates, yellow on blue (which were ###AAA), blue on white (typically #AAA###), or anything else would indicate that the car possibly came in from out of state and was issued new plates.

Commercial plates are a whole 'nother thing.

BTW, cool looking car!

[Raaf]

I'm sorry I can't be of more assistance - but damn that's worth fighting for!

Wishing you luck.

[bruceincam]

There is a pretty active Lincoln club that seems to have representation from the entire country. You probably already have the contact info --- try them. They may be of some help. I'll get the contact info and post it here.

[trulyvintage]

Thanks to everyone who contributed
to this thread, ownership history has
been documented from 1984 to the
current owner by FOMOCO.

Apparently Ford Motor Company kept
records of ownership history as
information became available to them.

John Dykstra was a President of
Ford Motor Company.

It has been a California car going
back to 1984, so the odds are the
vehicle has always been in California.





Jim

[ModelA29]

CA will only search their computerized records - but privacy laws severely limit who and why they can be searched. The old paper records were hand searchable (They had them back to the 1940s) for a fee and they allowed some individuals to access them. An insurance adjuster had searched the records for surrendered titles of Cobras. He and a couple other guys built and sold up to 28 cars using fake MSOs and dead "original" buyers. When it came to light they cancelled searches of the old records.

If it has black yellow plates look at the fees paid. If there is a plate fee they are not original to the car and were added under the YOM program.
When the white/blue plates came out the state made a big pitch to change over to them for the safety of the reflective white background.


A MKII is on my bucket list. America's most expensive car at the time. Ford actually lost money on each one - such is the nature of halo products.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Mark_II


BTW - a pink slip is the title CA calls it a "Certificate of Ownership"

[Raaf]

Might be worth posting on the HAMB - huge amount of historical context over there.

...and I think they'd love to help.

[trulyvintage]

Well my research paid off …





What became of this dealership ?








Jim

[ModelA29]

BH Linc/Merc was originally owned by Bill Frolich. His son was buddies with my dad and inherited the Ford (then named Crenshaw Motors) and LM dealerships. After a couple years he retired and sold both dealerships. The LM dealer was the one on Wilshire on the card. The Western address is the 2nd location of the Ford dealership. The original is in the 1932 photo.


Just as an FYI - You need the original bill of sale not the Marti report. A Marti report lists the dealer the car was shipped to (basically who Ford sold it to. Yes, you are not Ford's customer - the dealer is and you are his customer) They may have done a dealer trade and the car was actually sold by another dealer. Ford tells the dealer what mix of cars and trucks and the trim levels they will need to pay for when the truck arrives. If you are a dealer in a working class neighborhood a top of the line loaded sedan might be a hard sell but swapping it for a Sally Rand truck from a dealer in the high dollar part of town could work out for both.

[trulyvintage]

Thanks for your post !
I found this on the internet …

Mr. Holmes Tuttle owned the dealership
in Beverly Hills, California where the
Continental was shipped in May of 1957.








Jim

[mercman from oz]

Advertisement - 1956 Continental Mark II

[mercman from oz]

Advertisement - 1957 Continental Mark II
Notice that bumper Guards are now standard fittings.

[trulyvintage]

Thanks for the posts and the messages !


Jim

[trulyvintage]

The first owner who
bought the car from the
dealer was Mr. Leonard Firestone,
the youngest son of
Harvey Firestone.

His Wikipedia page @

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonar...20until%201976








Jim

[trulyvintage]

The second owner was Edward Carter
of Bel-Aire, California. He is credited
as the father of the modern
shopping center(s) located near
freeway exits after WW2.








His Wikipedia page here …

@ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_W._Carter


Jim

[ModelA29]

The Firestone's owned two of them: https://www.markiiforum.com/database...inalowners.pdf
C56 E 2894 Firestone, Harvey S., Jr. MI
C56 S 3912 Firestone, Leonard CA
3912 = exterior D22 Med. Gray Iridescent
interior 1Q10L Lt Gray Ltr Lt Gray Ltr Dp Gray Ltr
AC, BG (ft bmpr lic guard), -DSO Pnt = special features 1 of 5 with this color/trim
Firestone, Leonard
Beverly Hills L-M Inc.

From production data, DSO designation was used whenever unique features/options were ordered.

You should go online and update the MKII registry last entry was over 12 years ago.
https://www.markiiforum.com/forum.php