-
Hi Guest!
You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
There are some perks with a member upgrade!**Upgrade Now**
(PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
but were afraid to ask: 
STOP!! Never post your email address in open forums. Bots can "harvest" your email! If you must share your email use a Private Message or use the 
smilie in place of the real @
Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
Trying to Find a Family Heirloom
- Thread starter mfisher
- Start date
Share this page
Unbelievable News!
Thanks to information suggested or provided by many of you, and of late by Geo Hahn, I got off the phone about an hour ago with Mr. G. He is the Dallas, Texas car dealer that Mr. B. sold Dad's TR3 TS34522L to in 1977. And Mr B. bought the car from my Dad in 1972.
If you've been following this thread (please see my first post and all that follow), my Dad sold his TR of 10 years in '72 because he needed the money to take care of his young family. And now I'm trying to find it to buy it back for my Mom and Dad.
He called me tonight as a result of the letters I sent out to all the people Geo Hahn suggested as possible relatives. Of the seven letters I mailed, one of them reached the right person who called Mr. G, who then called me.
I'm still excited from the call. He dealt with British sports cars back in the '60's and 70's. And while he could not remember Dad's car specifically, he said his wife has chastized him many times over for not ever throwing away his old records! He still has everything in storage!
He has the engine, body and serial numbers from me and will go through his records, hopefully tomorrow and call me back. You may recall I sent a title search to the Texas DOT and have not heard back. And they may not honor my request since I don't have one of their officially-recognized rationales for releasing such information to a private individual.
But Mr. G. said he still has many contacts from his days as a dealer and can find out if the car is still registered and to whom. Or he can find out the last registered owner if it isn't current.
Granted, he said this is a long-shot as Dad's car may have been wrecked, burned, rusted away, or left the state. But it's worth a shot and he was really excited to be of help in the search.
Amazingly, I have now spoken with the two people that suucessively owned the car immediately after Dad. When this started a few weeks ago, I could have only hoped to still be progressing. Thanks so much to you that have helped. I would have never made it this far otherwise.
I'll keep you posted when I hear from Mr. G. or the State DOT.
Thanks again,
mike
Thanks to information suggested or provided by many of you, and of late by Geo Hahn, I got off the phone about an hour ago with Mr. G. He is the Dallas, Texas car dealer that Mr. B. sold Dad's TR3 TS34522L to in 1977. And Mr B. bought the car from my Dad in 1972.
If you've been following this thread (please see my first post and all that follow), my Dad sold his TR of 10 years in '72 because he needed the money to take care of his young family. And now I'm trying to find it to buy it back for my Mom and Dad.
He called me tonight as a result of the letters I sent out to all the people Geo Hahn suggested as possible relatives. Of the seven letters I mailed, one of them reached the right person who called Mr. G, who then called me.
I'm still excited from the call. He dealt with British sports cars back in the '60's and 70's. And while he could not remember Dad's car specifically, he said his wife has chastized him many times over for not ever throwing away his old records! He still has everything in storage!
He has the engine, body and serial numbers from me and will go through his records, hopefully tomorrow and call me back. You may recall I sent a title search to the Texas DOT and have not heard back. And they may not honor my request since I don't have one of their officially-recognized rationales for releasing such information to a private individual.
But Mr. G. said he still has many contacts from his days as a dealer and can find out if the car is still registered and to whom. Or he can find out the last registered owner if it isn't current.
Granted, he said this is a long-shot as Dad's car may have been wrecked, burned, rusted away, or left the state. But it's worth a shot and he was really excited to be of help in the search.
Amazingly, I have now spoken with the two people that suucessively owned the car immediately after Dad. When this started a few weeks ago, I could have only hoped to still be progressing. Thanks so much to you that have helped. I would have never made it this far otherwise.
I'll keep you posted when I hear from Mr. G. or the State DOT.
Thanks again,
mike
Silverghost
Yoda
Offline
Six degrees of TR nation.....I knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy...... :laugh:
foxtrapper
Jedi Trainee
Offline
pjsmetana said:
And using street view in Google maps shows it to be a residential neighborhood. No sign of any car shop along the road or in the back yards, no LBCs to be seen.
Minesweeper
Senior Member
Offline
foxtrapper said:
Good idea! Using satellite view shows what appears to be quonset hut at that address with several vehicles scattered about it -- could be or could have been a shop. I live in a rural area and most of the repair shops in my neighborhood are nothing more than detached residential garages or ag buildings.
Pete -- take a cue from Mike and send a letter to that address asking whether there was a shop there or nearby. I would find it hard to believe that someone would fabricate an address for "British Toys Motor Sports" and then have it listed in a business directory.
Mike -- that is amazing news! I'm sure your diligent search will turn up even more information and, hopefully, that long lost TR3. I've had my father's TR6 for 27 years which I inherited at the age of 19. My wife and I just celebrated an anniversary of our first date (which was a trip to the ice cream stand in the TR6 on June 2, 1986), and when I take my daughter for a drive she sits in the same seat I sat in thirty-plus years ago when my Dad took me for a drive. You are doing a good thing -- in some ways, you can go home again.
Best wishes -- Scott
I teared up reading your story because it brought back memories of Dad driving me around and made me think of taking my wife or 12 year old daughter out on dates right now in our working Jensen Healey.
To me the cars themselves are great. And it's fun to learn about them and work on them. But even greater are the memories that flood back when you just look at one.
mike
To me the cars themselves are great. And it's fun to learn about them and work on them. But even greater are the memories that flood back when you just look at one.
mike
Silverghost
Yoda
Offline
This is the sister car to the one I used to ride around in with my Dad, my first exposure to British cars, little or other wise:
https://www.coachbuild.com/index.php?opti...ageViewsIndex=1
It is chassis # S184PM. As of last year, it was undergoing a full restoration. I'd like to have it back for my kids but the 7 figure price tag is gonna be hard to handle. That's what lottery tickets are for I suppose!!!
https://www.coachbuild.com/index.php?opti...ageViewsIndex=1
It is chassis # S184PM. As of last year, it was undergoing a full restoration. I'd like to have it back for my kids but the 7 figure price tag is gonna be hard to handle. That's what lottery tickets are for I suppose!!!
Silverghost
Yoda
Offline
Any updates??
T
Tinster
Guest
Guest
Offline
Wow Peter!! Your folks had a grand automobile indeed.
My family were share croppers in Herndon, Virginia
and could not afford such a wonderful automobile.
One year a crop of turnips came in pretty good and dad
was able to purchase a small, used family automobile.
Oh but my brother and I did enjoy driving to church
on Sunday with mom and dad in that little buggy.
It sure beat the ten mile trip by buckboard!!
Dale (Tinster)
My family were share croppers in Herndon, Virginia
and could not afford such a wonderful automobile.
One year a crop of turnips came in pretty good and dad
was able to purchase a small, used family automobile.
Oh but my brother and I did enjoy driving to church
on Sunday with mom and dad in that little buggy.
It sure beat the ten mile trip by buckboard!!
Dale (Tinster)
Well, there's little new to report. I've been out of town and returned to find a response from the state of Texas from my title search request. They have no record of Dad's car all the way back to when they computerized decades ago.
And the gentleman who resold the car in 1977 from a car lot in Dallas thought he had saved all those records, but so far has been unable to locate any of them. He says he'll continue to look, and let me know if anything turns up.
I also e-mailed every registry and state and local clubs to see if any of them had the car number in their membership rolls. Nothing there either.
So, my excitement from last month when it seemed the trail was moving along has waned some. I went into this knowing it was a longshot, but really thinking there might be a chance I could find Dad's old car.
While there may still be some information coming, I have to accept that Dad's car may have left the state, the country, or simply been retired toa barn or a filed a long time ago.
Thank you very much to those of you who have been involved and helped with the research. I very much appreciate it.
Thanks again,
mike
And the gentleman who resold the car in 1977 from a car lot in Dallas thought he had saved all those records, but so far has been unable to locate any of them. He says he'll continue to look, and let me know if anything turns up.
I also e-mailed every registry and state and local clubs to see if any of them had the car number in their membership rolls. Nothing there either.
So, my excitement from last month when it seemed the trail was moving along has waned some. I went into this knowing it was a longshot, but really thinking there might be a chance I could find Dad's old car.
While there may still be some information coming, I have to accept that Dad's car may have left the state, the country, or simply been retired toa barn or a filed a long time ago.
Thank you very much to those of you who have been involved and helped with the research. I very much appreciate it.
Thanks again,
mike
NickMorgan
Jedi Knight
Offline
Have you tried the TR Register in the UK and other parts of the world? Quite a number of TR3 were re-imported in the 80s and 90s.
On Bobby G guest, he operated in Dallas form 1971 or so u till 1979 when he restructured as Bob Guest Sport car center on Lemmon Ave.he bought and sold lots of Euderapean sports cars in. Those days.
he pasted away about a year ago. They had an auction in Crawford in May
he pasted away about a year ago. They had an auction in Crawford in May
2liter4cyl
Senior Member
Offline
What a great thread! Even makes me want to go looking for the '59 I sold in '70. For what it is worth, Bill Piggott's book:" Original Triumph TR2/3/3A" Puts that commission number in June of1958. The first title can then be 1959.
Brinkerhoff
Jedi Knight
Offline
Any time something is lost it makes sense to go back the the last place it was seen and fan out from there.
CJD
Yoda
Offline
I don't know...he gave up over 5 years ago on the search. One of the biggest problems is that the TR commission numbers do not fit into the modern "standard" format. Most state computers spit them back out as "not valid VIN". The clerk then has to manually override the system to get them titled. The end result is that most states are impotent in tracking our commision numbers. Add to that the fact that the cars were randomly titled by commission #, Engine #, or state installed VIN plate.
I have always been one to buck the odds and tackle huge jobs, but I think futile is the best term for tracking down a particular car.
The best chance is to follow the owners...but even then we are pushing 50 years, so a lot of owners are simply NLWU.
Kleykamp
Jedi Trainee
Offline
Sorry I can't help, but brought up some stories about two TR3's I have owned. Because of the old title in one and a service receipt in the other I was able to track the owner of each car to the days when they were on the road as daily transportation. The first one was owned by a college student in Maryland in the 70's and previously by his father. I called him and discussed the car. He was somewhat interested and relayed a few stories, but was less than enthusiastic. The second( which I have now) was a more enthusiastic gentleman and offered up some history about buying the car with the hopes of restoring it but life got in the way and it was stored in a storage facility since the 70's after he stopped driving it. He did not recall the prior owners name but did know that it was in one family prior to his purchase. He was excited that it was mostly restored and I sent him photos. He enjoyed the trip down memory lane and said it looked just like what he had hoped to accomplish back in the 70's.