Hey folks, Technically speaking I guess the car in question may be considered "off topic", but just barely. So I hope you all are willing to make an exception to help a friend (Jack) locate his dad's old car. The pictures below don't show much of the Chevy II, however Jack does provide some info. which may be helpful in locating the car's whereabouts. Any help would be very much appreciated!! Tommy Here are the details as written by my friend.... Back in 1965, my father (Billy D. McCauley) bought a brand new 1966 Chevy II Nova SS. It was deep blue with a black interior, and to hear him tell it, a super short rear end ratio that made it leap off the line like a scaled cat. He kept it until around 1979-1980, when he felt it was just another old car and sold it. The car briefly ended up in the hands of the man who would be my stepfather (Jerry G. Webb), and was then sold on again sometime before 1984. I believe the car was purchased in Houston, Texas and it spent the time from 1971 to at least the time my stepfather sold it in Vidor, Texas. My father lived at 4255 Hatton in Vidor, Jerry Webb lived at an address on Doty road in Vidor at the time he owned the car. My stepfather claims he saw the car running and driving around Vidor as late as a few years ago. It is possible he's mistaken though, as he does not remember who he sold the car to nor did he know who was driving it. Knowing what I know of Vidor, I highly suspect the car has never left the town and if it has, is probably in one of the surrounding small towns. I do not know the VIN. I have three photos of the car, none fantastic, but in one the Texas license plate is visibile and reads: JTT-627. This would have been approximately March or April of 1975 and I believe the car had that plate at least up until my father sold it. [FONT=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif] [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]As far as options to the car, I really don't know. I remember it not having air conditioning when I was a kid, but I don't know if that's because it never had it or if it was just broken. I suspect the former. I know about the special rear end ratio only because my dad talks about it. I know it had manual windows, but I think all 66 Novas did. Other than that, I suspect it had minimal options, because my father is just that kind of guy. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I called the insurance company I am 98% sure my father was with at the time -- I know the company my family used from the mid-80's to the mid-90's, and I think they used that company the entire time they lived at the address where the Nova was registered. As I suspected, they only have computer records to about 1999. However, I explained my predicament to the agent on the phone, and she said she'd forward the information to the historical records department and see if they can dig up the VIN for me. If they can, they'll send it to me in the mail. I would say score one for Farmer's Insurance Company, except that was over a month ago and there's been no word. I think they don't have the records. [/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif] [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, sans-serif] [/FONT]
Looking over Steve's Nova Site now, but anyone else thinks they can help, it would be appreciated. Thanks!
New updates. I posted on a couple of forums, including Steve's Nova site, but no leads have come of it yet. However. I managed to get down to the DMV today. Lucky for me, I live in Austin, so I was able to visit the main headquarters office, not just some hokey-ass local substation. Amazingly, the offices were clean, nice, modern, and there was no line. I walked in and explained my situation to the guy behind the counter. Showed him the picture, told him I was trying to locate the car so I could buy it again, and said, "all I've got is the original owner's name and the license plate number ... from 1975." He says, "ok, let's have it and I'll see what I can do." He types for a few, scratches his head, types some more, then says, "1966 Chevy, right?" My eyes lit up because prior to this, I'd not mentioned exactly what the car was. He tells me he has a VIN number and last owner and bunch of other stuff and just "hang on a minute". He prints out a sheet of paper, comes back, runs a few more searches and says, "this is all I've got and don't tell anyone I gave it to you" and slides the printed out piece of paper over to me. No charge. Here's what's on it. The good news is, I have an owner, an address, and a VIN number (118376N140714). The bad news is, the last time this car was registered in Texas was 1992. That's almost 20 years ago and a lot of time for a car to sit, go missing, or go to the junkyard. I've been able to verify that [redacted] is still alive and living at the same address according to DPS, but I still don't have contact information for him other than the address. I checked the VIN number and it comes back as valid and matches to the description of the 1966 Nova SS Coupe my father owned. 1 Line Chevrolet 18 Series Nova SS 8 Cyl. 37 Body Sport Coupe 2-Door 6 Year 1966 N Assembly Norwood, Ohio 140714 Serial 140714 I cannot tell you how excited I am right now. Time to start beating the bushes and see what shakes out.
Sounds like you're on the right track, but beware, this is where you're either going to luck out, or go home heartbroken. I'd say you're 2 most probable situations are A)He's got it sitting in his backyard/garage or B) it's long gone. If the title is still active that should mean that it's not crushed, but it might have been sold for parts or as a race car long ago.
I wont post another mans phone number on the net, but if you go here, type in Bobby's name and home town, you'll have his number. http://www.whitepages.com/10583/?s_...e|7276482542&gclid=COO1otXMwqcCFQprKgodEGWw4w Sharp car.
You are an idiot,,, post the mans information for all the world to see and it just could get the man at the DMV fired,,and he ask you not to say anything and you told the world! I would be pissed! HRP
I appreciate that. I had trouble posting the guy's info as it was, but it's all public data anyway.... I'm not going to call just yet. I have some contacts in that area that know everyone worth knowing, so I'm going to see if they can follow up for me and see what they find. I figure I'll get better results that way than just some random phone call. Too bad carfax only works on 1981 or newer vehicles. Fair enough. Redacted. I was just trying to shake out whatever I could, and I was excited. I really didn't think about what I was doing there.
Well, I finally got a hold of the guy. The car is long gone. He sold it "a long time ago", which I suspect was probably around 1992. He gave me the name of the guy he sold it to, who lives in Bridge City, Texas. I'm trying to find his phone number now. That guy sold it to someone in Houston. The guy knows this because the guy in Houston contacted him "oh, about a year ago" to change the title over. Apparently, he never bothered to actually do it. On the other hand, the previous owner told me when he sold it the car was fine and intact other than some rust in the footwells. Something tells me the guy in Houston was thinking about selling it, then changed his mind. So, anyone know of a 66 Nova in Houston matching the VIN: 118376N140714?
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