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Post by stirlingmg on Nov 17, 2019 20:17:45 GMT
As with most classic owners, I am very interested in the history of my car. With this modern day data protection you can no longer use the DVLA history search facility, which I have used to great effect in the past. So how do I find all 7 previous keepers of my car when there is very little in the way of history with it? Well...........I believe I have traced 6 of them. One was the chap from Bristol who I bought it off, the previous keeper to him was a guy from Sidmouth (now deceased) who moved to France in 2013 & registered the car out there, then re-registered it in the UK in 2017, by my reckoning this accounts for 2 more keepers. (I have photographs of the car on french plates) One other small clue was an old insurance certificate from the owner previous to him, so I googled the lady’s name & contacted her via her website. She was delighted to hear about the car & was very helpful in working out a little more of the car’s past. She had owned it from the 90’s up until 2013 when she sold it to the guy who took it abroad. So that accounts for 4 keepers so far. However when she first got the car it got registered in her partner’s cousin’s name....so that’s 5 keepers.
One small but helpful thing that has managed to stay with the car is the good old passport, this told me the supplying dealer & obviously the first owner, a brewery in Manchester. I contacted them a number of weeks ago and hadn’t heard anything until the other day I received an email from the current chairman whose father had bought the car new. Now this is the bit that blows my mind a little bit, he told me his father was born in 1891😯 & had bought the car as it was considered a nice big safe car for him to finish his driving days in & be driven in thereafter. He told me the purchase price was £2949 back then. Mad to think my parents house was only £700 more than that 2 years earlier. So that is 6 keepers. According to the lady who owned the car there was a load of history with it that was passed to the Sidmouth/France owner but sadly most of that seems to have been lost either in his ownership or by the dealer who got it from his widow & sold it to the chap in Bristol, my next plan is to email the widow & see if there’s any chance she may still have it. Just keeper no2 to find now.
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Post by Phil Nottingham on Nov 18, 2019 9:15:23 GMT
A nice tale - pleased you got so far. I have quite a lot of history with our current P5B which was owned by the same family (father and son) since it was a year old. We have had it since 2002
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Post by stirlingmg on Nov 18, 2019 10:11:56 GMT
I know it doesn’t make the car any better but it’s nice to have that folder full of paperwork to go with it
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Post by Warwick on Nov 18, 2019 11:10:30 GMT
I agree. I was lucky with paperwork too. One document in particular, I found interesting. Mine is a 1970 Coupe and it's fitted with air-conditioning. The picnic tray has been moved under the passenger's glovebox to make room for it. I've had some purists point out that it's not original, which is true. But I have the paperwork that shows it was installed for the original owner, prior to the Rover importer/dealer in Melbourne delivering it to him. So to me, that makes it as original as a dealer-fitted towbar or radio.
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Post by stirlingmg on Nov 18, 2019 14:56:26 GMT
I would agree with you on that
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Post by Brendan69 on Nov 18, 2019 16:03:31 GMT
I was gonna suggest the local cemetaries but you seem to have done very well so far buddy. LOL
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Post by Sam Bee on Nov 18, 2019 19:09:46 GMT
Warwick, mine is the same as yours with tool tray on the passenger side, except it was in England and it went to 'Hoopers of London' with 167 miles 'on the clock' and I have the Frigiking aircon guarantee and instruction paperwork, before delivery to the customer by the agent in Eastbourne. That first owner had it until 1990, with complete service record in 2 Rover Service booklets. It then passed to a young lad, who sold it to me in 1994.
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Post by stirlingmg on Nov 19, 2019 7:33:28 GMT
I love stuff like that, I once had a very late registered 2200TC which had been bound for Sweden but either never went or came back unsold & was partially converted back to uk spec so it had stuff like twin brake servos & an enormous washer bottle which was for headlamp wash wipe, things like the side/headlight switch was slightly different. It all adds to the charm.
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Post by johnwp5bcoupe on Nov 19, 2019 8:52:04 GMT
I traced the original owner of my car he was a Dr Plumb at one of the Cambridge Universities when I spoke to him he said "I am now a Professor and I had lots of cars and I cant remember it" he then put the phone down! he must have been a old fella so hey ho
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Post by Warwick on Nov 19, 2019 9:59:23 GMT
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Post by Brendan69 on Nov 19, 2019 10:35:11 GMT
I traced the original owner of my car he was a Dr Plumb at one of the Cambridge Universities when I spoke to him he said "I am now a Professor and I had lots of cars and I cant remember it" he then put the phone down! he must have been a old fella so hey ho Bob to his mates John and maybe he wasn't on the level that day. LOL
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Post by stirlingmg on Nov 19, 2019 14:15:10 GMT
Got some more feedback this morning from the widow of the chap who took it to France, she said all the history went with the car when they sold it, so looks like it’s down to the trader who had it before the chap I bought it off. I also contacted Hurst Park Automobiles as it passed through their hands in the 90s & he sent me a picture and said “that’ll be this car then” 🙂 obviously with Gdpr he is limited as to what info he can give me but he said he will dig out what he can, what a nice man🙂
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Post by stirlingmg on Nov 19, 2019 14:17:56 GMT
A pic of my car when it lived in France
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Post by stirlingmg on Nov 19, 2019 14:19:16 GMT
And another
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Post by stirlingmg on Nov 19, 2019 14:22:35 GMT
And the one from Hurst Park
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tonys
Rover Fanatic
Posts: 419
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Post by tonys on Nov 19, 2019 17:04:28 GMT
A pic of my car when it lived in France That would have been a very rare sight in France. I know there's at least one member on here who lives in France but I've been going there regularly since the early 80s and have only ever seen one French registered one on the road; a coupé, same colour as yours but LHD, in Paris in about 1981! I still have a picture of it somewhere but it certainly stood out from all of the 2CVs, Renault 4s and Simcas of the time. You've certainly struck gold in ascertaining as much history as you have, great result. eta, if you're not aware, Dept 36 is Indre, approximately middle of France level with Vendée
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Post by stirlingmg on Nov 19, 2019 18:26:47 GMT
I can imagine it would be quite rare across there.
I think I’ve done very well so far with my investigation work considering what I had to work from, and have decided I need to amend my list of owners, I think our man in France was actually only the 5th keeper & not both 5th & 6th as I previously thought, I think the person I thought was a trader was actually keeper no 6. Just going off what I was told earlier today.
The car lived in Ceaulmont when it was in France
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Post by Steed on Nov 21, 2019 14:40:54 GMT
Haha.....very good!
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Post by Phil Nottingham on Dec 10, 2019 10:22:48 GMT
You have done very well!
GDPR is a very pernicous raft of legislation that can even limit freedom of information access which may suit some purposes. It is certainly used as good excuse to tell enquirers to go away, through fear of legal action, heavy fines or other useful purpose.
It is doubtful that Hurst Park even have a legal right to still be holding personal data for long past sales. They have no right to approach the former former owner either unless they permission, to ask if it is OK to pass on details. That individual is in their right to request sight of what is held and that it is deleted. GDPR applies to all electronic and hard copy personal data of living persons.
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Post by stirlingmg on Dec 10, 2019 21:54:04 GMT
It’s all a bit silly really isn’t it?
As I say he is limited as to what he can tell me but he has managed to produce a copy of their stock list showing what we think is my car, the dates tally with the entries in the service passport and the mileage is there or thereabouts. If we have found the right car then this confirms it had only had 2 owners up to that point, I know the 1st one but not the 2nd though I have been able to work out approximately how long they had it & how many miles it covered in that time. It’s just nice to be able to put a story to the car’s life.
I did a similar search with our vintage Bedford at work, though this was more to try & retain its original registration number as the DVLA required evidence, sadly I was unable to prove the mark ever belonged to the vehicle despite having a certified record of issue of the number in 1951 by Herts County Council, it shows the dealer the number was issued to (former Bedford agent still in existence) & the purchaser (The British Tabulating Machine Co) but no actual vehicle details, after that I can only pick up the vehicle’s story from the early 2000s when purchased & restored by the now defunct Bradworthy Transport Museum, i then know they sold it at auction to another museum in Moretonhampstead in 2010 where it was in storage until 2017 when we purchased it, I’d love to find out more about it but so far have drawn a blank
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Post by Brendan69 on Dec 11, 2019 15:19:50 GMT
It used to be great when you could send £5 and a form to the DVLA and get your cars entire history. Sadly the doo gooders of this world put a stop to it.
I blame Labour. LOL
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Post by stirlingmg on Dec 11, 2019 18:30:03 GMT
It used to be great when you could send £5 and a form to the DVLA and get your cars entire history. Sadly the doo gooders of this world put a stop to it. I blame Labour. LOL I’ve used that service before, I enquired about one of my P6s and the man on the phone said we might not have a great lot of history for it as a lot of old records were destroyed, I gave him the reg number & asked him would I be wasting my fiver, he said it would be money well spent as they had details going back to the beginning in 1967
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Post by Eric R on Dec 12, 2019 10:56:39 GMT
Tracing previous Owners:
I refer the Gentleman to the reply I gave earlier when this subject was raised and to which he contributed viz: Under the Data Protection Act 2018 it is unlawful for an organisation which holds information to pass it out to third parties. This law was made by Parliament which at the time was under a Conservative administration and not a Labour one and the DVLA is subject to it just like other organisations.
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Post by Sam Bee on Dec 12, 2019 13:31:23 GMT
Correct, but explanation is adrift. In fact it did not matter who was in office as it was a Directive from the EU, Parliament had to do what Brussels directed them to. Sorry about the politics chaps but facts are facts.
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Post by stirlingmg on Dec 12, 2019 19:24:35 GMT
Can people not just be happy that I’m showing an interest in my car’s history? I’m aware of data protection & nobody has divulged any information about the car that they do not have permission to do, I have approached people who appear in the small history I have for the car & they have all been perfectly happy to talk about it to me including the dealer who sold it in the 90’s and all I have from him is a copy of his stock list at the time and a photograph of the car, there has been no personal information given out about either the people he bought it from or sold it to
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