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A Long Shot

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2018 2:46 pm
by Graham Kerr
Following a lengthy and involved restoration of my 356 I have just recently surfaced from the mire and red tape regarding registration of this vehicle. To cut a very long story down to a reasonable level, the car in question was bought as a damaged, rusty contender for the crusher and after a lot of welding and straightening and about everything else that a boneyard candicate could need it's saved and back on the road. The real difficulty I had was getting the beast legal i.e. legal in the eyes of the authorities such as getting a licence plate for the car and having the chassis number registered as the correct one for the car.
Anyway I have accomplished it all now and I'm loving the little car but one of the main problems with the car was that it had no history. I had no information where it came from apart from being made originally in Zuffenhausen in 1962, from then, nada. But I was able to obtain a Certificate of Authenticity on the chassis number which is 122399 and this states that the first selling Porsche centre was Porsche cars Southeast, San Antonio. So as I said this is a long shot but does anybody have any information about my 356B T6 which might have started it's motoring life in San Antonio. It was originally Oslo Blue with a black leatherette interior. I wait in hope.

Re: A Long Shot

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2018 6:45 pm
by Al Zim
You can take a real long shot. Contact the Texas Department of Motor vehicles. Or look on the internet for them. there will be a document that allows you to search for the history of your car. My guess is that if the car has not been registered in Texas for more than 10 years these documents are destroyed. In the 1960's these were as close to a hand written document as you could get. Only 56 years ago!

Re: A Long Shot

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2018 8:47 pm
by chris romney
Al,

Would you please post how to find the correct place to search? I went to the Texas DMV website and it's not immediately obvious to me. Thanks.

Chris

Re: A Long Shot

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2018 10:22 pm
by John Brooks
You have real long climb ahead. But. It's Texas so it's probably doable. I had a 59A cab stolen in Houston while I was over in Vientam, in 71. Filed all the paperwork with the police at the time. Gave up and just considered it gone. It had a hard top at the time so I still had the convertible top and side panels. Sold the OEM never installed top to a GroupNW guy 20 years ago, still have the interior panels.

A couple years ago it showed up here, in restoration and still in Texas. I sent an e-mail to the current custodian, with no reply. I am not going after it, but the current owner should have tags and a Texas title on the old rust bucket. If you can do one reported was stolen, you should be able to take your build list and get it registered. Go talk to a Ranger.

Re: A Long Shot

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2018 10:49 pm
by Martin Benade
Luckily he did get it registered already. He is hoping to find some history on it.

Re: A Long Shot

Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2018 11:23 am
by Jules Dielen
Hey Graham, what is your email? I have some info

Re: A Long Shot

Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2018 11:33 am
by Jan Kolm
I believe Porsche Cars Southeast was the regional distributor for a number of states, including Colorado, so there's a good chance your car went to a dealer outside of Texas.

Re: A Long Shot

Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2018 10:35 am
by Al Zim
During the time period of your cars manufacture, the seller was probably Porsche South West with a major facility in San Antonio.
The document that you need is the Texas VTR 275. After reading this document I have doubts that you will find any information. I can email you copies of the forms which you can pursue. If you would like me to fill them out and take them to the Department of Motor Vehicles, I can get one of my employees to do that for you. $75.00 for an hour an a half time and 10.00 for the DMV costs. Additional time will be charged at $60.00 per hour. I think the job can be done in and hour and a half.
I believe that titles are purged from the system if the car has not be registered in 10 years. I have cars like that, but with a title, the car can be easily reinstated. Let me know what you would like us to do. al zim aldwinzim@gmail.com

A Long Shot

Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2018 4:42 pm
by Tom Wavrin
Graham, consider obtaining a Porsche Kardex warranty sheet. Could be somewhat easier to obtain in the UK than it is for us in the USA. The Kardex for my '62 listed the first owners name and address in my home town that the car was delivered to. The Kardex for my '56 only listed the importer, Hoffman NY. The COA offers bare bones info. You might get lucky.

Re: A Long Shot

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 12:53 pm
by Larry Brooks
Jan Kolm wrote:I believe Porsche Cars Southeast was the regional distributor for a number of states, including Colorado, so there's a good chance your car went to a dealer outside of Texas.
I just had a Super 90 that was sold through Porsche Cars Southwest to a buyer in Boulder, Colorado.