Does anyone know of a good website for finding vehicle history reports on classic cars (nationwide)? The carfax thing won't go back that far and I am trying to find out what everyone uses.

Unfortunatly, for Chevrolet cars, with the exception of cars made or Sold in canada and certain super rare cars, records just don't exist.

Records for Classic Pontiacs do exist- and I believe there is a source for Some classic ford & mopar records.

For the most part though, for chevys, you have to hope that your car has a build sheet hidden somewhere in it. That is about the only way to find out/prove what it originaly came with.

There aren't any that I know of. You just have to do a lot of research and talk to previous owners, starting with the person you bought it from. Most official records are off limits now.

The DMV departments from all states maintain registration records back to a point. Most DMVs will do title searches (for a fee) for all previous owners. If you know the home state of the person you bought yours from, send a request form for all previous owners in that state. If the oldest owner bought from another state, then request a search from that state's DMV. It is a time consuming process, not very expensive. The drawback is that most DMVs only go back to the 1990's or maybe '80s. All you need is the VIN and patience. You should be able to find the appropriate forms on the DMV websites. Once you have names of previous owners, you might be able to contact them for info. I was able to trace mine back to the original owner, but only because he owned it until 1988.

Ok that makes sense. The car is originally from California and I know this because it is a Fremont built chevelle and I have some of the first maintenance records done at the dealer (recorded in the back of the owner's manual) as well as the name of the lady who appears to be the purchaser of the car back in '67. I'm doing this because the car has some minor body and frame damage and I want to know exactally what happened. The car was also briefely in Ohio. Title search- is it best to talk with the california DMV on the phone or is this an online thing to do?

i got a buildsheet and an old insurance card with my car. i sent the guy a letter stating that had i done a frame-off on the car and if he could give me any info. that was a month ago, guess he's not interested.

Ok that makes sense. The car is originally from California and I know this because it is a Fremont built chevelle and I have some of the first maintenance records done at the dealer (recorded in the back of the owner's manual) as well as the name of the lady who appears to be the purchaser of the car back in '67. I'm doing this because the car has some minor body and frame damage and I want to know exactally what happened. The car was also briefely in Ohio. Title search- is it best to talk with the california DMV on the phone or is this an online thing to do?

You're not going to get any info from CA DMV because of privacy laws. Sucks ... :(

Unfortunatly, for Chevrolet cars, with the exception of cars made or Sold in canada and certain super rare cars, records just don't exist.........
I've got the Option List from GM Canada for my car. There's a disclaimer that it might be incomplete. It also states that the key codes are available with proof of ownership at any GM Parts Dept.

They have a toll free # in Canada, 1-888-467-6853. The # outside Canada is 1-905-440-7636.