Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Hi,


I'm in a search of some backgrounds of my '56 Packard Clipper.


I have the Certificate of Title for my car and I was hoping trough this way to find some info about the previous owners in the USA, bought at which dealership, service station, pictures, ...


The title was at name of David J Lattimer, 229 Sprucewood St, Pittsburgh PA 15210. The date of issue is 11-26-84.
The car has been exported to Belgium in 1989, the last owner was still David Lattimer.

The car has still parts of the tax tags on the window of 1988, issued by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

The service station, where the car has been maintenanced was Ed Smorey, GULF Service, Rt 19 Cranberry Town, phone 724 776-9972

The phone number seems nowadays to be from a nailshop.

Is there a way that I can take to get more information with these facts?
I like to make contact with the previous owner(s) to learn some things from the past, maybe to collect old pictures of the car when it was still in the States.

Thanks !

Xavier

try contacting Ed Smorey. That's your best possibility of getting more info.

Have you tried the Studebaker Museum in Southbend, In. They may have a copy of your build sheet.

Also since you know the name of a previous owner, you may try goggling the persons name and hist last know city. I was able to get my owner history this way and contract him. He then gave me the name of who he bought it from and that led to another google search and so on until I was able to trace the history back to the early 70s. My trail grew cold as I believe I hit a point where the previous owner is no longer alive. So the prior history died with him.

Espirit80,

Try going to your state's DMV or MVD (Motor Vehicle Division). Here in Arizona I was able to get copies of all previous owner documents etc. when I made the request. I had to pay some nominal fees for copying etc, but I eventual got information on the first owner from Arizona.

Due to privacy\stalking laws in California, DMV will no longer give you information about previous owners. People were using this information to track other people down.

Quote:

Same deal in NV.

In order to get a clear title on one of my Firebirds, according to the NV DMV, I needed to send a certified letter to the previous owner, but I did not know who the previous owner was. After personal conversations with local DMV and letter correspondence with Reno (state) DMV, they would neither give me the name & address nor forward my letter to that person. But, without the name, I could not complete my paperwork. A Catch 22 for sure. I eventually gave up and parted it out.

Craig

Thanks for the advice.


I'll search further on the net to find some backgrounds.


Meanwhile, this is the most recently made picture of the car:

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beautiful - is it original paint? mine was repainted once I think. Same color bottom and top, white roof added later.

Roger,

The car has been repainted wheen it was still in the USA ( before 1988 ), you can see it at some places where the paint is located at some of the rubbers.

The lower parts has to be redone because of rust which begins to come, we will plan a restoration for the car, but I want it to be done completely at once. So when we do some metal sheet repairs, the car must be repainted in the original color and the chrome must be redone also.

The car is mechanic OK, it passes the technical control for daily use, so I like to drive some time with it before work starts.

Here in Belgium an oldtimer can have access to the traffic at 2 ways:
- Oldtimer ( > 25 years old car ) with a license plate starting with an O ( eg: OAA-111 ), you never do have to go to the technical control anymore but there is a limited use of the car ( only at daytime and within a radius of 25 kilometer from your home )
- Oldtimer Daily Use ( > 25 years old ) with a regular license plate (like mine), gives you unlimited access to traffic, you need to go every year to the technical control, the car must be conform to the national laws of dept of transportation.

Xavier

Condition appears to be almost identical as well.. I have a very small amount of rust bubbles beginning at the bottom of one front fender and rear 1/4s in a couple places. The floors and trunk and frame are virtually perfect however. Your doors appear to fit better, mine stick out a bit above the rockers on one side, and i'm not sure quite how to fix it.