Hello everyone,

Glad to be part of this forum. I have a question for anyone who can help me. My uncle purchased a 1955 Ford F750 fire truck last year at an auction sale. He has an 11-digit serial number and a vintage plate number but needs to find the last registered owner so that he can register the truck. No such documents were provided by the consigner at the auction. The truck was originally part of a Montana fire dept. and my uncle bought the truck in Alberta (the truck gets around).

Any ideas how to go about finding the last registered owner? Thought I was pretty savy with search engines but unfortunately I've been coming up with nothing.

Thank you so much for considering my question and thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

Klo

 

Title searches anymore can be a real problem. New privacy laws in the US prevent state DMVs from releasing prior owner info. But maybe Canada is be different, that I don't know. Back in the 1980s and 90s I traced titles on a bunch of cars, but in recent years I'm been stone walled a couple times hearing privacy excuses. On one, in New York, I even knew the P.O.s name and address and was only trying to clean up a VIN but got nowhere.

 

In the U.S., auctioneers are not allowed to sell any vehicle with out proper paper work. I would check with the Alberta authorities, or go back to the auctioneer and ask for something. He should of at the very least, recieved an auction purchase statemnet which render any prior owner registration info null and void. That's how it works here in the states, so I would do some digging around and check in with the auctioneer up there. If no go there, contact the local magistrate or whatever it's called and ask questions. If need be, get a vin inspection done by the local mounties (they are still called mounties right?). Otherwise, you may be screwed (for lack of a better word), without doing a lot of paper work and hiring someone to dig up info.

 

Thanks for your replies. I'll follow up with the suggestions. I really appreciate the help!