• The Roadster Factory Recovery Fund - Friends, as you may have heard, The Roadster Factory, a respected British Car Parts business in PA, suffered a total loss in a fire on Christmas Day. Read about it, discuss or ask questions >> HERE. The Triumph Register of America is sponsoring a fund raiser to help TRF get back on their feet. If you can help, vist >> their GoFundMe page.
  • Hey there Guest!
    If you enjoy BCF and find our forum a useful resource, if you appreciate not having ads pop up all over the place and you want to ensure we can stay online - Please consider supporting with an "optional" low-cost annual subscription.
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this UGLY banner)
Tips
Tips

Original owner search for 1956 Austin-Healey

cmc140

Freshman Member
Offline
Well my next project car has made it way to my house and I tried to get some serious seat time this summer.:wink-new: However, I would very much like to track down the original owner of this car and I keep running into dead ends. I think the history is important and would really love to potentially get some pictures and just know the full story of this car.

My father purchased this car about 12 years ago from the widow of the second owner. They had purchased the car in 1963 and lived in State College, PA. She stated that it was raced at Marlboro in Maryland, by the original owner. I was able to find some information on the second owner and I thought it was most interesting, but haven't found anything that would lead me to the original owner.

The problem is that the destination was not recorded from the Healey factory. I've been told that Hambro & Co. was the biggest distributor on the East Coast, but that hasn't gotten me anywhere.

Does anyone know if it worth doing a title search for records prior to 1963? If so any recommendations on what site to use? Most that I have looked at look like a scam.

Also, does anyone know any Heeley club members from around the State College PA area that might remember the car?

Thank in advance for any ideas that you may be able to pass along.


Here are pics of the car when my dad picked it up:

Chris1AH.jpg



Here is the car now:
STBGHealey.jpg


Here is the info from the factory:
100MCert.jpg


Here is the obituary from from the second owner:
WilliamNystrom.jpg

WilliamNystrom2.jpg

 
Last edited by a moderator:

MikeP

Jedi Knight
Offline
Re: Does anyone have any ideas tracking down the original owner of a 1956 Austin-Heal

Since most states won't hold title records anywhere near that old the DMV probably is a non starter. What you might try, since you seem to know the general area where the car was kept and used look for tracks, clubs, events etc on the web from that time period. You may run across photos, programs, personal blogs and so on that provide leads. Beyond that I'm not really sure what you can do, but at least it may improve your odds.

Good luck.
 

BJ8Healeys

Jedi Warrior
Country flag
Offline
Re: Does anyone have any ideas tracking down the original owner of a 1956 Austin-Heal

As MikeP says, most states have purged their vehicle registration records older than about 10 years, and I believe Pennsylvania is one of those. There are some exceptions (my state of North Carolina is one). Besides that, the Federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994 prohibits state DMVs from releasing personal info such as names and addresses except with the permission of the person involved (there are exceptions to this, too, but generally records are not released to individuals not associated with the insurance or legal systems). Obviously, if you could get in touch with the previous owner(s) for permission, you wouldn't need the DMV. I do not know if you could hire someone to navigate through this mess and come up with a valid contact, but I wish you luck.

I would like to point out that this is one of the primary reasons why EVERYONE should register his/her car with the appropriate registry. There is NO OTHER PLACE where the ownership history of a car can be documented and preserved for the benefits of future owners like cmc140 except for the registries. Would you object to some future owner 10 years from now wanting to talk with you about the car? How will they know you ever existed?
 

vette

Darth Vader
Country flag
Offline
Re: Does anyone have any ideas tracking down the original owner of a 1956 Austin-Heal

The Pa DMV probably is a non-starter as stated. Many years ago I wanted to search the original owner & mileage to my '70 Vette and the DMV told me that they did not keep records pass 10 years. Since your new article on the 2nd owner said that he was a member of the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA), maybe you might get lucky talking to the AACA Museum Library & Archives at Hershy,PA. He may have registered the car with them and had some history with it. Since the car spent time in central pa and maybe Maryland and racing venues, maybe newspaper archives could help.
 
OP
cmc140

cmc140

Freshman Member
Offline
Re: Does anyone have any ideas tracking down the original owner of a 1956 Austin-Heal

Since most states won't hold title records anywhere near that old the DMV probably is a non starter. What you might try, since you seem to know the general area where the car was kept and used look for tracks, clubs, events etc on the web from that time period. You may run across photos, programs, personal blogs and so on that provide leads. Beyond that I'm not really sure what you can do, but at least it may improve your odds.

Good luck.

I feel like I have spent hours crawling the internet, but just can't seem to find anything. I will continue to look though.

As MikeP says, most states have purged their vehicle registration records older than about 10 years, and I believe Pennsylvania is one of those. There are some exceptions (my state of North Carolina is one). Besides that, the Federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994 prohibits state DMVs from releasing personal info such as names and addresses except with the permission of the person involved (there are exceptions to this, too, but generally records are not released to individuals not associated with the insurance or legal systems). Obviously, if you could get in touch with the previous owner(s) for permission, you wouldn't need the DMV. I do not know if you could hire someone to navigate through this mess and come up with a valid contact, but I wish you luck.

I would like to point out that this is one of the primary reasons why EVERYONE should register his/her car with the appropriate registry. There is NO OTHER PLACE where the ownership history of a car can be documented and preserved for the benefits of future owners like cmc140 except for the registries. Would you object to some future owner 10 years from now wanting to talk with you about the car? How will they know you ever existed?

Thanks for the input.

As MikeP says, most states have purged their vehicle registration records older than about 10 years, and I believe Pennsylvania is one of those. There are some exceptions (my state of North Carolina is one). Besides that, the Federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994 prohibits state DMVs from releasing personal info such as names and addresses except with the permission of the person involved (there are exceptions to this, too, but generally records are not released to individuals not associated with the insurance or legal systems). Obviously, if you could get in touch with the previous owner(s) for permission, you wouldn't need the DMV. I do not know if you could hire someone to navigate through this mess and come up with a valid contact, but I wish you luck.

I would like to point out that this is one of the primary reasons why EVERYONE should register his/her car with the appropriate registry. There is NO OTHER PLACE where the ownership history of a car can be documented and preserved for the benefits of future owners like cmc140 except for the registries. Would you object to some future owner 10 years from now wanting to talk with you about the car? How will they know you ever existed?

The Pa DMV probably is a non-starter as stated. Many years ago I wanted to search the original owner & mileage to my '70 Vette and the DMV told me that they did not keep records pass 10 years. Since your new article on the 2nd owner said that he was a member of the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA), maybe you might get lucky talking to the AACA Museum Library & Archives at Hershy,PA. He may have registered the car with them and had some history with it. Since the car spent time in central pa and maybe Maryland and racing venues, maybe newspaper archives could help.

Thanks for the idea. I had emailed the AACA, but they said they didn't have records.

Thanks again as I do appreciate the help.
Chris
 
OP
cmc140

cmc140

Freshman Member
Offline
Re: Does anyone have any ideas tracking down the original owner of a 1956 Austin-Heal

You could try to find some programs from Marlboro during the period it was raced (usually they show up on eBay) and look for Healey drivers from State College.

Awesome idea. I hadn't thought of that. I did dig through the following site https://www.racingsportscars.com/
However, I couldn't find the vin and was obviously unsure of the name. Maybe I'll dig through it again.
I really don't know if the car was originally from State College, only that the 2nd owners lived there and bought it between 1960-1963.

I also went through this site with no luck. https://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/
 

HealeyRick

Yoda
Silver
Country flag
Offline
Re: Does anyone have any ideas tracking down the original owner of a 1956 Austin-Heal

Awesome idea. I hadn't thought of that. I did dig through the following site https://www.racingsportscars.com/
However, I couldn't find the vin and was obviously unsure of the name. Maybe I'll dig through it again.
I really don't know if the car was originally from State College, only that the 2nd owners lived there and bought it between 1960-1963.

I also went through this site with no luck. https://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/

The programs will only show the driver's name, hometown and car driven. There won't be any mention of a VIN.
 

drambuie

Jedi Warrior
Offline
Maybe i should not advise this but....If you have a close friend in law Inforcement maybe they will run your vin tag for you, I had cops copy my vin and plate numbers when stopped for speeding tickets when i was a spirited lad! Chances are the original owner received a speeding ticket or two with that cool bomb! I just don't know how far back they can check?
 

CLEAH

Jedi Warrior
Country flag
Offline
cmc140,

Some good suggestions here. As someone who does lots of historical research (mainly as it relates to old houses), I can tell you that this process is all about following every bit of information you can. The important pieces of data you have are the date (year) it was purchased by the second owner, as well as a few possible places. Key reference materials are newspaper archives (look though the classifieds) and city directories or phone books. Our major newspaper in Cleveland has been digitized back to the 1880's, making searching classifieds easy, but in the absence of that there is always the microfilm. Cross referencing names and hometowns from the race programs with the city directories could also lead you to the owner. Fun stuff this historical research, but also tantalizing and frustrating. You at least have a few bits of information. In my own case, my BJ8 has been in the family since 1978, and I recently tracked down the fellow my dad bought the car from (his name was on the paperwork). Unfortunately, he could not remember anything about the circumstances of his purchasing the car. Good luck.
 
OP
cmc140

cmc140

Freshman Member
Offline
Maybe i should not advise this but....If you have a close friend in law Inforcement maybe they will run your vin tag for you, I had cops copy my vin and plate numbers when stopped for speeding tickets when i was a spirited lad! Chances are the original owner received a speeding ticket or two with that cool bomb! I just don't know how far back they can check?

Thank for the idea drambuie. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone in law enforcement.
 
OP
cmc140

cmc140

Freshman Member
Offline
cmc140,

Some good suggestions here. As someone who does lots of historical research (mainly as it relates to old houses), I can tell you that this process is all about following every bit of information you can. The important pieces of data you have are the date (year) it was purchased by the second owner, as well as a few possible places. Key reference materials are newspaper archives (look though the classifieds) and city directories or phone books. Our major newspaper in Cleveland has been digitized back to the 1880's, making searching classifieds easy, but in the absence of that there is always the microfilm. Cross referencing names and hometowns from the race programs with the city directories could also lead you to the owner. Fun stuff this historical research, but also tantalizing and frustrating. You at least have a few bits of information. In my own case, my BJ8 has been in the family since 1978, and I recently tracked down the fellow my dad bought the car from (his name was on the paperwork). Unfortunately, he could not remember anything about the circumstances of his purchasing the car. Good luck.

CLEAH, thank you for the ideas. I never even though of that. Too be honest I'm not used to not finding what I need with google, go figure.

Anyhow, thanks again for all of the ideas.
Chris
 

drambuie

Jedi Warrior
Offline
I have to wonder, Where did they get there spare parts from back then besides the dealers? I think Moss Motors was founded in 1962 or 1963 Maybe Moss motors can help you with this! What other major spare part supplyer would the original owner get his parts from in that era..... That are still around today? What about insurance companys of the day?
 

Patrick67BJ8

Obi Wan
Silver
Country flag
Offline
I have to wonder, Where did they get there spare parts from back then besides the dealers? I think Moss Motors was founded in 1962 or 1963 Maybe Moss motors can help you with this! What other major spare part supplyer would the original owner get his parts from in that era..... That are still around today? What about insurance companys of the day?
Fred Drapers parts source which is I believe was, AH Spares. I used to occassional buy parts from him but the wait was too long for some parts needed asap to get my car back on the road. No internet with credit card payment. No email, had to use Airmail for orders and to see if he even had the parts. Fred always took time to "hand write" a response! Phone service...lots of static and weak connections.
 

Editor_Reid

Moderator
Staff member
Platinum
Country flag
Online
Patrick is correct. Fred Draper was the parts manager at the Donald Healey Motor Company, and when they folded - in 1972 I think it was off the top of my head - Fred opened his own parts business and named it AH Spares. Essentially AH Spares is the Parts Dept of the Donald Healey Motor Company.

By the mid-1980s, Moss and others were going strong, and when I visited AH Spares several times in the mid-80s, I saw containers full of parts bound for the USA. That's why AH Spares didn't advertise in the USA: they would be competing with the very businesses that they were supplying.

However, there was a time from about the early 70s to the early 80s when the parts supply for Healeys was grim. Doing business with AH Spares, mostly via mail, was awkward and often slow, plus you occasionally got jammed with customs fees. That's why so many Healeys were "parted out" in the 70s: it was about the only way to keep at least some of them going. We lost a lot of cars back then, strictly for lack of spares.

Nowadays we are very fortunate to have so many businesses supplying parts for Healeys. Certainly sometimes those parts are imperfect, but like they say in the mid-West, don't curse farmers with your mouth full!
 
Last edited:

drambuie

Jedi Warrior
Offline
I find that very interesting! What a shame so many Healeys got parted out for lack of part supply to its U.S customers, Austin Healeys main export country. I have to wonder if the American dealerships also had such problems getting parts for there customers even before Austin Healey folded. I found a old Moss catalog in the glove box of my 1967 BJ8....its printed on green paper and only 4 pages. At the bottom is reads....Prices are subject to change without notice.... they sure have! But i am very glad they are still around!
 

Patrick67BJ8

Obi Wan
Silver
Country flag
Offline
I find that very interesting! What a shame so many Healeys got parted out for lack of part supply to its U.S customers, Austin Healeys main export country. I have to wonder if the American dealerships also had such problems getting parts for there customers? I found a old Moss catalog in the glove box of my 1967 BJ8....its printed on green paper and only 4 pages. At the bottom is reads....Prices are subject to change without notice.... they sure have! But i am very glad they are still around!
AL Moss built a good parts supply company in Goleta, CA and were even open on Saturdays. I seem to recall a MGTC sitting in the main lobby/counter area. I used to drive from Oxnard, Ca to Moss to buy parts when I needed them. A little known thing to do back then was to go to Dealers and buy there parts inventory out for 10 cents on a dollar. The trouble with that is you ended up with so many "never to be used/sold" parts and if you weren't in some Healey parts supply business you never could get rid of them. The same is true for most other independent European parts supply places wanting to get rid of their Healey inventory but they wanted a lot more than 10 cents on a dollar for their stuff. Lucas used to scrap parts that weren't selling and they would be required to take a hammer to the parts and smash them up. I know this for a fact because I was friends with a guy who worked at a Lucas warehouse distributor.
 

drambuie

Jedi Warrior
Offline
That is typical.... We had to destroy many very expensive parts from the printing industry as well... they would rather destroy them then pay for storage! What a sin...just not natural.
 

PAhealeyfinder

Freshman Member
Offline
Hello! I am the great nephew of Bill and actually been tracking down this car. I can give you about any information you want about this car. Any other contact information?
 
OP
cmc140

cmc140

Freshman Member
Offline
Hello! I am the great nephew of Bill and actually been tracking down this car. I can give you about any information you want about this car. Any other contact information?

Hi PAhealeyfinder, I sent you a private message through this website with my email. Or else you can use this one I just don't check it as frequently.
xkone40@gmail.com. I'd very much like to speak with you to learn anything I can about Bill's car.

Thanks in advance,
Chris
 
Similar threads
Thread starter Title Forum Replies Date
Rob Glasgow Found Original Owner Austin Healey 2
NutmegCT For Sale My 1953 MG-TD - Original, one owner 1953 to 2017 MG Classifieds 13
S TR6 Very nice original one-owner TR6 for sale in South Carolina Triumph 0
J TR6 '73 TR6, Wiring Question. Original Owner Triumph 5
HealeyRick Original Owner BJ8 Austin Healey 5
M Original Owner Factory 100M Austin Healey 31
HealeyRick Original Owner Story Austin Healey 1
glemon My Brother got an original, one owner Frogeye Spridgets 12
PAUL161 MGB-GT Wana seea sharp GT! Original owner to boot! MG 28
G TR6 TR6 for sale original owner Triumph 2
Don Elliott MGB Original MGB Owner - How Much should he ask ? MG 25
Basil Possible to track down original owner? Other British Cars 10
S TR2/3/3A WTB a tr2 original grill Triumph 0
S Wanted tr2 original grill Triumph Classifieds 10
L For Sale original Bugeye SU H1-1 1/8 Carbs Spridgets Classified 0
Editor_Reid TR2/3/3A Original Knock-Off Hammer Triumph 14
P General TR What color is original for engine parts? Triumph 7
EWD For Sale ‘74 TR6 original wheel trim rings Triumph Classifieds 3
EWD For Sale ‘74 TR6 original radio Triumph Classifieds 0
EWD For Sale ‘74 TR6 original starter Triumph Classifieds 0
EWD For Sale ‘74 TR6 original steering wheel Triumph Classifieds 0
T For Sale Excellent Original 1968 TR250 Frame with Engine & Transmission Triumph Classifieds 6
Popeye For Sale Original TR4A windshield - with crack Triumph Classifieds 1
CJRams For Sale 1974 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow - low mileage, all original Other British Classifieds 0
PAUL161 T-Series Original transmission sold MG 2
T For Sale TR3A Original Radiator Triumph Classifieds 3
N MGB Not original to my 70 MGB? MG 18
C For Sale BJ8 original dash Austin Healey Classifieds 3
PAUL161 T-Series Original 1955 MGTF Photos MG 6
A For Sale '74 TR6 original seat frames Triumph Classifieds 0
W Wanted Servo for BN4 has to be original 1957 or before any condition considered. Austin Healey Classifieds 11
K TR2/3/3A Is a 25 AGC fuse equivalent to an original 30 amp fuse? Triumph 10
J Wanted Original BJ 7 speedo Austin Healey Classifieds 0
R For Sale TR6 RADIATOR ORIGINAL STANPART Triumph Classifieds 0
R For Sale TR6 TONNEAU COVER ( FACTORY ORIGINAL ) Triumph Classifieds 4
R Wanted Looking for an original AH 3000 Mk1 Drivers Manual 1102B. Austin Healey Classifieds 1
LAW75 Concours: Original Gas Hose Austin Healey 12
57 Healey For Sale Original top (hood) frame for BT7 Austin Healey Classifieds 8
R For Sale Original AC Ace/Cobra seats. Early 60's, hand made Leveroll by A.W. Chapman, London Other British Classifieds 12
T TR2/3/3A Wanted - Picture of TR3A original firewall layout Triumph 5
Rob Glasgow Finally Found It (Original License Plate Number) Austin Healey 3
Hamish Racing 1963 original racing film British cars doing their thing Racing 0
B Bugeye Original Engine Compartment Sheet Metal. Act Fast! Spridgets Classified 0
S TR2/3/3A restore my original air filters Triumph 5
T Original Door Pocket Spridgets 14
G Original clamps for Petrolex hose Austin Healey 9
J For Sale Triumph TR 2/3 original brake/clutch master cylinder Triumph Classifieds 2
I TR6 Thickness of original TR6 dash Triumph 2
DerekJ Original steering wheels Austin Healey 1
S TR2/3/3A copied an old original interior piece and carpet pad Triumph 6

Similar threads

Top