Trying to trace the history of a classic import

[Caballero83]

Hey all,

Here in case anyone has any knowledge/ideas, but appreciate i'm barking up a particularly difficult tree....

Recently purchased a '67 Camaro at auction, which was originally sold in France (manufactured in the US and shipped out for the export market). It's showing a remarkably low mileage, which I suspect might be original and want to confirm it if I can.

It has UK paper MOT's going back to 1984, so can at least trace it to then (I don't know if the DVLA keeps records prior to this, but they certainly don't online). But what I wondered was if anyone knows if the DVLA keep a record of the original foreign reg of imports when they're issued a UK plate? Or even when they're imported?

With that I might have half a chance searching it out in France, but without it I reckon i'm probably at a dead end. Any help gratefully appreciated!

[Scrump]

Caballero83 said:

Hey all,

Here in case anyone has any knowledge/ideas, but appreciate i'm barking up a particularly difficult tree....

Recently purchased a '67 Camaro at auction, which was originally sold in France (manufactured in the US and shipped out for the export market). It's showing a remarkably low mileage, which I suspect might be original and want to confirm it if I can.

It has UK paper MOT's going back to 1984, so can at least trace it to then (I don't know if the DVLA keeps records prior to this, but they certainly don't online). But what I wondered was if anyone knows if the DVLA keep a record of the original foreign reg of imports when they're issued a UK plate? Or even when they're imported?

With that I might have half a chance searching it out in France, but without it I reckon i'm probably at a dead end. Any help gratefully appreciated!

In response to part in bold:
If the car has been imported to the UK then the V5C usually shows the date of registration as a much later date than the date of manufacture. This date of registration is when it was registered in the UK.

[tapkaJohnD]

"Chevrolet Historical Services has Chevrolet build and dealer delivery information for all U.S.- and Canadian-built Chevrolet cars produced from late March 1947 until 1972."

https://www.autoweek.com/car-life/classic-cars/a18...

I should ask them!
JOhn

[Caballero83]

tapkaJohnD said:

"Chevrolet Historical Services has Chevrolet build and dealer delivery information for all U.S.- and Canadian-built Chevrolet cars produced from late March 1947 until 1972."

https://www.autoweek.com/car-life/classic-cars/a18...

I should ask them!
JOhn

Unfortunately, this is an April Fool’s joke (as per the bottom of the article). Wouldn’t it be great if true though!

[aeropilot]

Caballero83 said:

But what I wondered was if anyone knows if the DVLA keep a record of the original foreign reg of imports when they're issued a UK plate? Or even when they're imported?

With that I might have half a chance searching it out in France, but without it I reckon i'm probably at a dead end. Any help gratefully appreciated!

You won't get anything import related dated pre-84 out of DVLA.

Other than trying to trace the first UK owner after it was imported to UK from France, and these days that very hard as DVLA won't provide past owners details anymore like they used to.

Best bet would be to post the reg number and details on the Yanks section here, and somewhere like Rods n Sods or NSRA forum, to see if any of the old gits remember the car or who owned it when first imported to UK.