Tracing California Car History [Archive]

ken_z

03-07-2007, 08:34 AM

I've had my car since 1983 and am finally getting around
to try and trace it's history. The story I got was it
was purchased in San Francisco and I picked it up in Santa
Rosa(Northern Ca for those who don't know). So it's been
in the SF bay area it's whole life.

I have a form from the CA DMV which looks like it could
do the trick. DMV form INF 70R. It is a request for VR/
Vessel Record Information. One of the choices is Ownership
History. Has anyone used this form? Had good luck with
it?

I was also trying to find out Chevy dealers in San Francisco
in 1969, but google can't seem to help(or I can't help
google :-)). I figured if I can get a list of dealers, I'd
start calling and see if there might be any records.

Would anyone have an idea on finding dealerships? I'll
start with the one dealer I know (Ellis Brooks) who has
been in business a long time.

Thanks
Ken

Rainer

03-07-2007, 09:44 AM

I have a car that was sold new in Anaheim per the build sheet, so I sent in the form you're referring to. Unfortunately, the reply I received indicated that there were no remaining records for my car. Good luck.

ChevyThunder

03-07-2007, 10:33 AM

One of my POP's in the " Authorised Selling Dealer Plate Imprint" section on the back of the new car warranty reads ..

Holiday Chevrolet
740 Taraval Street
San Francisco 16 , Calif

Did a search and this is all I found on Holiday.. a post on the Nova site.. maybe you can email this guy and see if he knows anything about this dealer... though I am not sure if that would help your quest any but you never know. Ironically posted today..

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:W9ab...us&ie=UTF-8 (http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:W9abJ7_Q2TwJ:stevesnovasite.com/forums/showthread.php%3Fp%3D425068+)

Also.. if you give me a description or some info on the car I can ask all the guys I know in the City.. I have two friends who were original 69Z owners and I have contact with the guy who originally bought the Z from Holiday..I can ask him if he knows your car. A lot of these guys hung out at the Great Highway and Brotherhood Way where all the street racing was done.. Half Moon Bay Dragstip was 15 min south of SF and closed in late 1969 so maybe they know the car from there... by the way Jim McLennan who founded the drag stip and the owner of Champion Speed Shop in Colma just passed away in February.

68SSCamaro

03-08-2007, 09:09 AM

I mailed in this form last year for my car. I've owned it since 1990. The printout they sent back mostly lists the registrations from about 1999. There were some interesting fields that I couldn't figure out. I finally sent them another letter a few weeks ago asking about them. One interesting field is PREV LIC. My car has the blue plates and I figured they were from the late 70's. The date on this is in 1979 so it's the date the new plates were registered. There are 6 letters after PREV LIC. They don't make sense so I hope the DMV will tell me what they mean. That's all I got. Still no info on the car for the first 20 years.

TMagda

03-08-2007, 08:15 PM

I bought a new Mazda RX-7 in CA in 1983 (Marin Mazda??) and it came with blue plates with yellow letters.

tirebird

03-08-2007, 09:18 PM

Holiday Chevrolet is long gone. I lived about three blocks from the dealership and used to pick up old transmission bearings from the Chevy mechanics for my street coaster. Anyway, it's been a grocery store for the past 30 years of so. Ellis Brooks is the only Chevy dealer left in San Francisco. Stewart Chevrolet has been around for several decades but they're in Colma, just south of the City.

hubleyman

03-09-2007, 06:39 AM

A couple of my 1967-68 Camaros were purchased from the following Chevy dealer in SF (earliest date I have is 8/2/67, according to the POP stamping):

Geer Chevrolet
3855 Geary Blvd.
San Francisco, Calif. 94118

According to some of my 1969 POP's (earliest recorded date I have is 08/19/69, latest is 10/19/70), it became:

David Varner Chevrolet
3855 Geary Boulevard
San Francisco, Calif. 94118

SuperNovaSS

03-09-2007, 07:15 AM

My 65 Nova SS was purchased at Gateway Chevrolet in Daly City(South San Francisco). Another possibility?

Jason

ken_z

03-09-2007, 08:45 AM

Thanks to everyone for the information. The DMV form
went out today, hopefully I'll get something useful.
I'll be hitting a phone book as well for numbers for the dealers offered up.
The library may also have old phone book or two.

Ken

tirebird

03-09-2007, 06:29 PM

Thanks everyone for the trip down memory lane. "Geer" Chevrolet was Geary(named after the street)and is now a Toyota dealership. Gateway Chevrolet closed several decades ago. It's a microcosim of the automobile business. A city with several domestic dealerships now has only 3, one for each of the major manufacturers. One of my biggest regrets was looking at a 1987 Buick GNX sit unsold on the showroom floor for two years at the Buick Dealership, from 87 to 89. The car was finally sold for 30K to a local roofer who drove it to his garage and kept it there until 4 years ago when he sold it for 60K. It had 1800 miles on it. Oh well, 30k was a lot of money to me in 1987.

ANDY M

03-09-2007, 06:48 PM

Ken, check the library's R. L. Polk City Directory for the years that you are looking for. You might be surprised with the information you could find.

hubleyman

03-09-2007, 10:14 PM

"Geer Chevrolet" actually was "Geer Chevrolet" and not "Geary" named after the street..... It's stamped and preprinted that way on all my documents from that dealership.
It's was probably related to "John Geer Chevrolet" based in Sacramento at that time where some of my other Camaros came from......
Good luck with your search !! Charlie

57chevypreterist

07-13-2007, 07:05 AM

I grew up in the City. Stewart Chevrolet was located on Army St. in the Mission before it moved. Les Vogel Chevrolet was also in the City, on South Van Ness (next to the Mel's Diner used in the film "American Graffiti") and it's where my '57 Bel Air was originally purchased (I have the original sales receipt and license plate frame). My dad bought our '64 Malibu SS convertible new from Geer Chevrolet on Geary.

Hope this helps!

Bryan

57chevypreterist

07-13-2007, 07:14 AM

(Continued) The only other Chevy dealer in the City from that time frame was Ellis Brooks on Van Ness. They had a metal dealer ID "badge" that they would permanently affix to the rear of the trunk lid of the cars (on the left side as I recall), so chances are if your car came from that dealership, it would have that tag on it (or two holes where it used to be mounted).

LS6 RAT

07-13-2007, 07:48 AM

My '69 Camaro pace car came from Courtesy Chevrolet, I think they are in south bay.

69 Z11

07-14-2007, 12:11 AM

Supposedly, my 69 Pace Car came from a dealership in San Bruno. Anyone know about a dealer around there?

I've got the old black and yellow plate, but I hear you can't get much info from the CA DMV.

Hey LS6 Rat, pm me! Maybe our cars are brothers, let's compare VINs!

427TJ

07-14-2007, 01:31 AM

[ QUOTE ]
(Continued) The only other Chevy dealer in the City from that time frame was Ellis Brooks on Van Ness. They had a metal dealer ID "badge" that they would permanently affix to the rear of the trunk lid of the cars (on the left side as I recall), so chances are if your car came from that dealership, it would have that tag on it (or two holes where it used to be mounted).

[/ QUOTE ]

I grew up in the east bay and I remember those Ellis Brooks emblems! "See Ellis Brooks today for your Chevrolet" was a radio jingle from the 1960s. I went into Ellis Brooks one evening on a SF layover a few years ago since our layover hotel was a block away on Van Ness. I sat in a new Corvette and the salesman didn't know a thing about the car.

Oh, and sky-high rent is probably another reason why there is only one dealership remaining for each of the Big Three in the City.

I gotta' get "The Streets of San Francisco" (a Quinn Martin production) on DVD. I think it's out now.

Cue the fog!

57chevypreterist

07-15-2007, 04:53 AM

427TJ:

"See Ellis Brooks today
For your Chevrolet
Corner of Bush And Van Ness"

Sung to the tune of "See the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet" as Dinah Shore sang it!

By the way, if you like old Bay Area radio jingles, then you should check out my Yahoo Group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theworldsgreatestradiostation/

(Hint" "Sound Of The City")

Bryan

scuncio

07-15-2007, 07:58 AM

Cool, I have a pair of Geer Chevrolet license plate frames. Love to hear about the CA dealerships - makes me want to move back. Someday I'll have to shoot pictures of all the CA dealer frames I've collected over the years.

57chevypreterist

07-15-2007, 08:01 PM

Scuncio:

Would you be interesting in selling one or both of your Geer Chevrolet frames? Our friends who bought our '64 Malibu SS and restored it are looking for one.

If so, my e-mail address is [email protected]

Thanks,

Bryan

'57 Bel Air, 41,000 original miles

hubleyman

07-26-2007, 08:12 AM

Scrounging through some old photos related to some of my past cars (this is from a 1966 Corvette) and came across another San Francisco dealership that might not have been mentioned earlier.

This window sticker was from George Olsen Chevrolet, Inc. which was on the corner of Van Ness and O'Farrell.

SuperNovaSS

07-26-2007, 08:47 AM

The window sticker didn't go with the car?

Jason

hubleyman

07-26-2007, 08:52 AM

The window sticker most definitely went with the car (as they all should)......... This is just a photo of it I posted to show the dealership info.

Charlie

SuperNovaSS

07-26-2007, 09:00 AM

Cool, I was curious.

Jason

57chevypreterist

08-06-2007, 05:10 PM

Hubleyman:

That is very interesting! George Olsen was a Cadillac dealership and I do not recall them actually being a Chevrolet dealership as well. Although your paperwork shows a "Chevrolet" sticker, it does not actually indicate on it that the Olsen dealership itself was a "Chevrolet" dealership.

Since they were a Caddy dealer, back then it would not have been a big deal for a GM dealer to obtain a different GM brand car for a customer. Perhaps the original owner was affiliated with Geo. Olsen in some way or just liked working with their dealership.

Thanks for sharing! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

hubleyman

08-07-2007, 09:00 AM

Well, I've always known them for being a Cadillac Dealership, but according to the POP for this particular Corvette, they were a Chevrolet Dealership at the time. Not sure if you can see it clearly, but it definitely says "George Olsen Chevrolet, Inc" on the ink stamped section.

The original owner was a doctor who lived in my neighborhood. I don't remember him ever having a Cadillac.......

69Z28Freak

08-07-2007, 09:13 AM

Hi Ken what car do you have? I purchased my car from the original owner who lived in San Francisco. He purchased the car at Raines Chevrolet in Sunnyvale California in the Bay Area not far from San Francisco. Are you sure your car was purchased in the city? Also knowing which car you have might make it easier to narrow down the dealership as Copo's and other high performance models were more likely to come from dealerships that were known for selling those type of cars.

57chevypreterist

08-08-2007, 09:52 PM

Wow! I guess the Protect-O-Plate documentation settles it.

I find it interesting that Ellis Brooks and Les Vogel, the two "established" Chevrolet dealers on Van Ness Ave. at the time, would "tolerate" a third Chevy dealership in such close proximity, esp. a couple of blocks from Ellis Brooks.

On the other hand, perhaps Ellis Brooks and Les Vogel were "latecomers" to the neighborhood, and maybe Geo. Olsen was always a Caddy/Chevy dealership that became a Cad dealership only as GM promoted the separation of GM brands into distinct brand dealerships. (Pure speculation on my part.) Who knows?

Again, thanks for sharing! Neat stuff!

Bryan

PS Attached a pic of my Les Vogel frame

bb0901

04-12-2017, 03:27 PM

i purchased a front engine dragster from a guy from gotelli speed shop that was called Gateway Cheverolet Special anyone hear of it?

Drew Papsun

04-12-2017, 06:49 PM