California, please help trace the provenance of USA Elan

PostPost by: holywood3645 » Thu Nov 03, 2016 4:44 am

Lotus West has been gone for many many years,
Looked up the long beach address... nada
There are companies who will search, for a fee!
I suggested in buying the DMV plates and then using a DMV transfer contact I have to hunt down.
Either way I think the California DMV would be the best approach as they keep official records.
I have tried everything else I can think off!
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PostPost by: HAIRY » Thu Nov 03, 2016 10:10 am

Thank you Ted, Roger, Bud, Tim, James and Dan for your interest and advice.

James, thank you again for your active help. Do please PM any contact information you have uncovered.

James, I do have the certificate you mentioned.

Dan, I appreciate your efforts too and look forward to hearing any information that your contacts may discover.

In the meanwhile, I take the thrust of your collective advice, that I must broaden my search.

Harry
PS: I am currently stripping the car for a 'nut and bolt' rebuild. Last week I found a mouse that had made its home in the heater, and made its last resting place in the nozzle of the dash-board passenger-side air vent . Unfortunately it was completely mummified and not able to throw any light on my quest! I have yet to establish whether it is a US mouse or a Norfolk mouse being repatriated.
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PostPost by: HAIRY » Thu Nov 03, 2016 10:13 am

Correction:
Tim, I do have the certificate you mentioned, and thank you.
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PostPost by: Bud English » Thu Nov 03, 2016 4:44 pm

holywood3645 wrote:Either way I think the California DMV would be the best approach as they keep official records.

Actually they don't unless the car either actively registered or declared non-op yearly. After a period of time, and I'm not sure what that is, the records are purged. After declaring mine as non-op for years, I let the non-op status lapse. When I went back years later for a replacement title, they had no record that the car was ever registered in California. Luckily I still have the import paperwork from the seventies, the California plate, and the letter from the DMV stating that they don't have the records. With those I can get a Nevada title when I'm ready to license the car.
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PostPost by: holywood3645 » Thu Nov 03, 2016 6:42 pm

I remember seeing a pretty recent set of CA tags on the license plates from his car. I thought they (CA plates tags) could be used to find the previous California owner. However, this would require a person to physically go to the DMV with the plates and question the official to find a contact address for the person the car was purchased from. I think 'Hairy' bought it through a dealer in the US.

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PostPost by: The Veg » Sun Nov 06, 2016 3:59 am

HAIRY wrote:Last week I found a mouse that had made its home in the heater, and made its last resting place in the nozzle of the dash-board passenger-side air vent . Unfortunately it was completely mummified and not able to throw any light on my quest! I have yet to establish whether it is a US mouse or a Norfolk mouse being repatriated.


Mine looks too recent to have been a UK mouse, which leaves Florida, Utah, and Georgia as possibilities. At least these mice have good taste in cars.

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PostPost by: holywood3645 » Fri Jan 06, 2017 7:57 pm

Well Hairy, great result. I have found the owner and just got off the phone with his sister. Her brother Dave is living with her in Riverside. Unfortunaily he some medical issues. She gave me a run down on the car and a breif history. You can contact her by calling or email. She said if you email put Daves Lotus in the subject line.
Her name is Dena and phone number is (951) 315 7163 and e-mail is [email protected]

LMK how it goes

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PostPost by: trw99 » Fri Jan 06, 2017 10:46 pm

Well done that man! Good on you, Dave!

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PostPost by: HAIRY » Fri Jan 06, 2017 10:54 pm

James,

That is very exciting news. Well done and thank you.

If you have a minute, do PM me what she told you.

In the meanwhile, I will keep you posted.

Harry
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PostPost by: holywood3645 » Sat Jan 07, 2017 12:43 am

Do you have a cell phone i can text. Send me a quick text to 760 277 7153
and I will givw you the info she told me.
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PostPost by: HAIRY » Thu Jan 12, 2017 11:54 am

Amazing! James has done a great job. His research and efforts have put me in contact with the previous owner who owned the car between 1977 and 2015. From my contact with his family, they seem keen to help and have promised to search out any records they hold. Assuming I also get answers to my extensive list of questions I am optimistic that I am well on the way to finding out a large proportion of the car's history in California.

The attached picture shows the car starting its return journey from Long Beach to the UK in 2015.

James, thank you again.
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015.jpg and
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PostPost by: HAIRY » Sat Apr 22, 2017 12:15 pm

I have struck gold! I am currently rebuilding my Californian Elan and have found metallic gold paint on the underside of the trunk lid (it is called the boot lid in the UK!) and now realise that the first of several resprays covering the original British Racing Green was gold and not yellow as previously reported. There cannot have been many gold painted Elans in California!
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