Tracing ownership of 66 Stang
 

Thanks for the welcome.
I joined to see if anyone can help me track down the prior ownership / history of the 1966 Red Mustang GT Convertible my late father bought in 1994. We still have it. It was completely rebuilt before Dad bought it. It has never been registered in Ontario, where it has been located since '94. It may have been imported from the US. Any suggestions?

Welcome aboard.Wish i could help,but never expirienced this situation.Good luck with your search.

Long shot but I wonder if Ford can help. Not sure though

This might sound like a smartass question, but no smartassedness (I made that one up) intended - how could the car have been in Ontario for 15+ years and not been registered??? :?

Legally, if the owner resides in the province, it's their responsibility to ensure the car's registration is listed to their home address. If it was registered in the US or another province, how did the tags get renewed?

Either way, would there not have been some discrepancy? You can't tell me someone drove the car for 15 years without legal registration or tags? I would start with wherever the car was registered when you first acquired it - there has to be a paper trail to follow, unless the car was stolen or something. It didn't just magically appear - good luck either way dude - that's a bit of a strange one.

PS - welcome to the site - post some pictures and maybe someone will recognize it!! :tup

Tracing Ownership
 

Thanks for the feedback, guys.
The car wasn't driven on the road, just occasionally started and moved around on our property. It's in mint condition.
I did contact Ford US & Canada. They can only give me an explanation of the VIN - where made, options, etc.
Is there an online service that allows searches of vehicle ownership by VIN - across NA?
Thanks.

Apologies if this comes across as sarcastic, but it's tough to give a helpful answer without the whole story.

So, even assuming the car sat on your property and was not driven on the roads in Ontario for the last sixteen years, how did your father obtain legal ownership of the car without going to the Ministry of Transportation office and paying all the taxes etc on the sale of the car?

To obtain legal ownership of the vehicle, it would have been a requirement to register it in his name, regardless of whether or not it would ever see the road. Part of that bill of sale would have been the sellers information, which would be a good starting point to tracking the cars history. Not exactly sure when the Used Car Information Package Legislation came into effect, but that gives the cars history, including liens and previous buyers. Have you at least taken a wild shot and run the VIN at the MTO?

Am I the only one that's confused here? Doesn't matter if the car is mint or rusting into the ground - there should be some sort of paper trail to follow.

Tracing Ownership
 

No apologies necessary.

Legal ownership is transfered by the bill of sale and payment of purchase price. The bill of sale can be produced by the seller using his own form, ie not tied to the MTO system. Registration is now required but may not have been back then. My problem is that I can't find my Dad's purchase file so I am trying to track down the seller. I have contacted MTO. They said the VIN is valid but it has never been registered in Ontario.

Thanks for your feedback.

How about a carfax or similar that can trace the vehicles history with it's vin in the U.S where it was last registered?

Carfax search - I'll try that. Thanks!

I was just thinking Carfax. Good luck.