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Looking for info on my black 58 Belvedere convertible Moderators: big m Jump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [50 messages per page]	View previous thread :: View next thread
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henricthornsund

Posted 2014-01-01 3:29 PM (#419667)
Subject: Looking for info on my black 58 Belvedere convertible

Location: Sweden

Hi everyone! I am reasearching the history of my car, some of you might already be familiar with it since it has been discussed here several times the past years. The facts that I am aware of are the following, owners mentioned backwards from today. VIN is LP2E58363

2013- Myself
2012-2013 Mika Karvinen (Finland) Ken Burnham (Colorado)
Mid 90s-2012 John and Ruth Hollensteiner (Roseburg, Oregon)
Mid 80s-Mid 90s Leland Albee (Myrtle creek, Oregon)
?-mid 80s unknown person, Oregon.

I have spoken to Leland Albee on the phone, a nice gentleman, he remembers the car well, said it was painted black already when he bought it, she was originally canyon gold. He said he aqcuired the car locally and can not remember any names, so i have no further leads on that end. The car was built in Evansville, shipped to S.F. And sold by John Drew motors of Sacramento, CA. There must have been several mopar dealers in CA at the time? Is it likely that the car resided in Sacramento the first years? Is it possible to get info from their DMV on the vin number? Is someone here member of the WPC club in order to run a search on their website? Lots of questions

It obviously resided in Oregon for probably more than 30 years, perhaps any of you remember the car or know of anything regarding its history. Even the tinyest story is worth telling

Thank you for reading my quest.

Edited by henricthornsund 2014-01-01 3:56 PM

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christine-lover

Posted 2014-01-01 6:04 PM (#419678 - in reply to #419667)
Subject: Re: Looking for info on my black 58 Belvedere convertible

Expert

Posts: 2996
2000

Location: Sept. 1958

Henric, I have photos of this car on my computer from 2010, when I inquired about it. I'll get them out to you one of these days. I missed out on a twin to this car in South Dakota in July 2010 by a day. It was priced at $28k I think. So then I inquired about this car but he wanted much more.

Doctor DeSoto

Posted 2014-01-01 9:42 PM (#419713 - in reply to #419678)
Subject: Re: Looking for info on my black 58 Belvedere convertible

Location: Parts Unknown

As a matter of reference, I lived in southern Oregon in the late 80's and was hound-dogging cars
like this HARD. Roseburg was a regular haunt (only 30 miles away) and Myrtle Creek wasn't far away
either. Most anyone who was into old cars knew me as the finned Mopar guy, as finned cars (especially
Mopars) were not at all popular, and I got a lot of leads far and wide to go out and look for cars. In all
that time, I NEVER heard of this car. And I did some crazy-ass goose chases where I only had "word"
that such-or-such a car was seen in some area, and I'd head down there driving one of mine as reference
and ask anyone drawing breath if they knew who owned a car like mine.

Based on that, I suspect this car lived an extremely low profile life (rarely driven or not at all ?) during
that time or was not in the area at all.

Not much help, but perhaps some useful feedback for the detective team ?

60 dart

Posted 2014-01-01 11:59 PM (#419736 - in reply to #419667)
Subject: Re: Looking for info on my black 58 Belvedere convertible

Expert 5K+

Posts: 8948
5000

Location: WHEELING,WV.>>>HOME OF WWVA

everytime i see a black 58 vert , it reminds me of tincan's black & white 318 , stick , vert ----------------------------------------------later

big m

Posted 2014-01-02 12:33 PM (#419794 - in reply to #419667)
Subject: Re: Looking for info on my black 58 Belvedere convertible

Expert 5K+

Posts: 7809
5000

Location: Williams California

Henric,
Most cars sold through the local Sacramento car dealers were to local residents, so most likely the car was in the Sacramento area at least for a while, it was unlikely that someone from another area would have shopped that dealership.

---John

henricthornsund

Posted 2014-01-15 4:06 PM (#422219 - in reply to #419667)
Subject: Re: Looking for info on my black 58 Belvedere convertible

Location: Sweden

Thank you for your answers! I am thinking about writing to the DMV of Sacramento and request information about owner history. Has someone on here done that? I do not have a license plate number from the california days, only the VIN to go with. Thank you.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/contacts/contacts.htm

Edited by henricthornsund 2014-01-15 4:07 PM

Doctor DeSoto

Posted 2014-01-16 12:29 PM (#422363 - in reply to #422219)
Subject: Re: Looking for info on my black 58 Belvedere convertible

Location: Parts Unknown

I tried tracing my DeSoto's history with the full complement of info in NY and Wisconsin.
Both states purge their records over 10 years old. Not sure if California does too, but I
was disappointed to hit such a sudden dead end.

56300B

Posted 2014-01-16 2:24 PM (#422375 - in reply to #422363)
Subject: Re: Looking for info on my black 58 Belvedere convertible

Extreme Veteran

Posts: 480
100

Location: The Great Northwest

Henric,

I lived in California until the early 90's and the DMV stopped providing any owner information years earlier because of some 'stalking' crimes. Dealers may still be able to make inquiries for a fee.

scooter0910

Posted 2014-02-11 1:34 PM (#426830 - in reply to #419667)
Subject: RE: Looking for info on my black 58 Belvedere convertible

Veteran

Posts: 157
100

Location: bountiful, Utah

This car with its Oregon plates, suddenly appeared at a large automotive swap meet at Thanksgiving Point, a well known spot south of Salt Lake City in May of 2012. It was being shown in the swap meet area by an auctioneer from Oregon who was showing it to drum up business for an auction a few weeks in the future. The Plymouth auction, as well as a bunch of farm equipment and other cars, was held at a property located in the small western town of Tooele, Utah. The auctioneer was very chatty and told me that he expected to get from $10,000 to $15,000 at the auction held just a few weeks in the future. I suggested that it might do significantly better than that. I attended the auction where it was purchased by Ken Burnham for around $22,000. One of my good friends, a muscle car lover fell in love with it. He bid it up and was the only other bidder at the end. Ken was originally planning on driving the car back to Colorado. I do not know if he did that or not.
The car went to Colorado where several of the members of this site met up with Ken and saw the car.
I hope this little tidbit of information helps.
Scott in Utah

Doctor DeSoto

Posted 2014-02-11 9:56 PM (#426900 - in reply to #426830)
Subject: RE: Looking for info on my black 58 Belvedere convertible

Location: Parts Unknown

If memory serves, the car showed up via eBay auction from Coos Bay, Oregon prior to that.
Then it went to Utah, Colorado, and Texas, before going overseas.

henricthornsund

Posted 2014-02-12 3:12 AM (#426934 - in reply to #426900)
Subject: Re: Looking for info on my black 58 Belvedere convertible

Location: Sweden

Thanks for sharing the information, i was aware of some of it. I bought the car from the owner second to Ken, and shipped the car myself from Texas to Sweden. I have spoken to Ken a couple of times and he passed the Oregon plate in the photos to me. The plate i think, is a special interest one, issued in the eighties. I have no further leads than that, i guess the only option is to give the widow a call

henricthornsund

Posted 2014-02-18 6:26 AM (#427816 - in reply to #419667)
Subject: RE: Looking for info on my black 58 Belvedere convertible

Location: Sweden

I did not think the dealer script on the trunk lid had anything to do with the car until i googled the script today and found this pic. It reads Way motors, Vancouver, Washington. Apparently they sold DeSoto and Plymouths. Did the dealers put such scripts on used cars as well? Would be fun to know if the script really "belongs to the car" and it sold as a used car in Washington.

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big m

Posted 2014-02-18 2:29 PM (#427868 - in reply to #419667)
Subject: Re: Looking for info on my black 58 Belvedere convertible

Expert 5K+

Posts: 7809
5000

Location: Williams California

Some car lots DID install their dealer nameplates on used cars as well, but generally the premium cars rather than the 'back lot specials'

---John

Doctor DeSoto

Posted 2014-02-18 11:08 PM (#427940 - in reply to #427816)
Subject: RE: Looking for info on my black 58 Belvedere convertible

Location: Parts Unknown

A friend owns the Way Motor Co. dealership sign.

henricthornsund

Posted 2014-04-08 3:30 PM (#435099 - in reply to #419667)
Subject: RE: Looking for info on my black 58 Belvedere convertible

Location: Sweden

Got these pics two weeks ago from the gentleman who owned the car during the eighties. He bought the car for $1500 in 83. Stripped paint photos taken at Tom Muse workshop in 84. Latter photos with the cool cabin taken at a car show and outside a "photo shop"