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Help me find my Dads 240z!


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I'll keep this to minimum, but I need some help from the Datsun community.

 

My dad bought a beautiful yellow 240z back in the late 80's. The car was absolutely gorgeous and in pristine condition, which was rare considering you couldn't give 240's away 30 years ago. He spent a fortune turning the car into show-ready condition. To my knowledge, he completely restored the car using all original parts. He ended up having to sell it around 96' to pay for a house. The car went to a classic Japanese car collector in Fort Worth Texas. Unfortunately, the car suffered from water damage from Hurricane Claudette in 2003. We were contacted by a friend of the collector who picked the car up and inquired if we wanted to buy the car back. We frantically called, and emailed but never heard back from him.

 

So here's my question, I have the VIN and our old plate numbers. What's the best way to go about finding this car? I have little hope it is anywhere near the condition it was when we owned the car, I'm half expecting it to be sitting in a junk yard somewhere in Texas. But in the off chance this car is still siting in someones garage, I'd love nothing more than to return it back to my dad.

 

Thanks,

 

Mason.

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If you go to the department of motor vehicles and talk to someone there maybe they can offer some limited help. They won't give you an address of the current owner if there is one, but they may be able to tell you if it was scrapped or has a salvage title. Here when a vehicle is scrapped the VIN is sent in. No guarantees on this but also maybe they would have some suggestions..

 

You could also do a title search and see what the status is. Something like this... http://www.vehiclehistory.gov/nmvtis_vehiclehistory.html

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Another thought is to go to your local LE agency with the VIN and ask them to run it. Don't expect them to give you a registered owner's info,but they should be able to tell you when it was last registered and if it was scrapped. They will likely have better info than DMV and a better handle on what's legal to disclose.

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If you go to the department of motor vehicles and talk to someone there maybe they can offer some limited help. They won't give you an address of the current owner if there is one, but they may be able to tell you if it was scrapped or has a salvage title. Here when a vehicle is scrapped the VIN is sent in. No guarantees on this but also maybe they would have some suggestions..

 

You could also do a title search and see what the status is. Something like this... http://www.vehiclehistory.gov/nmvtis_vehiclehistory.html

 

Went to the site you linked to see if they had the car on file. Nothings comes up with the Datsun's 10-digit vin number. Will go check the DMV and see if they can pull up the current status of the car. Thanks you.

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Another thought is to go to your local LE agency with the VIN and ask them to run it. Don't expect them to give you a registered owner's info,but they should be able to tell you when it was last registered and if it was scrapped. They will likely have better info than DMV and a better handle on what's legal to disclose.

 

Would that just be at the local police station or do they have dedicated offices?

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I'd just go to your local station and ask to speak to a patrol officer. They can run the VIN and find out if the reg is current/state of issue etc. I'd tell them your story and hope I got a car guy who wants to help a guy out. They may tell you to pound sand, but I bet a cop is more likely to help than a harried DMV employee (insert mental image of Marge Simpson's sisters). Best of luck.

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You may also send a Private message to datsunfreak on here.  He lives in Fort Worth and was already familiar with the Japanese car scene in that area back in '03.

 

I haven't met a Japanese car guy from that area yet that doesn't know him.  Love, hate, or other it seems like those guys up there all know each other.

 

Also a description of the car in question wouldn't hurt.  I've seen a few old Z's with 90s looking show parts come up for sale lately.  Maybe it's one of them.

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