Technical Classic Car VIN history?

All the websites I search cant use an old VIN prior to 1981.

The car Im looking at is a 56 cadillac sedan deville VIN# 5662098347

I know the 56 is year, 62 is series, although sedan devilles are supposedly 6219 and this is 6209. Not sure there. Just mainly trying to find history on it. Suggestions?

 

1981, no history before computers......
If you know the state it was registered in, you MAY be able to track the ownership, unless it was a "historic" vehicle and had documented history i.e.: magazine coverage or celebrity ownership it won't tell you anything.

 

Ah ok. Thanks

 

56 is year
62 is model/series
098347 is the engine number, I believe

If you look on the front of the engine block this number should be stamped into it.

 

It wasn't computers in 1981 that made the difference, it was the introduction of the Federal standard 17 digit VIN that rationalized vehicle tracking.

In earlier decades about as many, or more, States used the engine number instead of a vehicle serial number, for titling and registration. Also, in some cases, the year in which a vehicle was first sold became the 'year model'........though most of that has been eliminated over the years. And then, there are the States that do not title vehicles after they reach a certain age or if they were made before a certain year.

While a vehicle's history can be interesting to a subsequent owner, most, if not all, States will not reveal prior owner's names. Even the major vehicle history sites, like Carfax, only can provide events and change of ownership date and location, registration renewal, etc., not owner's personal information.

Unless a car was "famous" for some reason......racing history, criminal use or show car history, what does it matter, really? For most old cars, what you see is what you got.

Ray

 

Similarly, I have a car that I believe may have belonged to my friends father back in the 70s. Bob Sr. Passed away young, and if there was any way to find that my car used to belong to him, I would offer to sell it to Bob Jr. Wouldn't sell it otherwise, but I'd love to have one of my dad's cars from back in the day. I've read stories where people said they tracked down an old car, but they most likely had some records and I'm sure my friend doesn't as his dad passed when he was a kid.