Looking for a specific car
 

Hey Guys,

When I was young my dad owned an 89 Celica that he had imported from California. He had sold it and when I turned 16 we had tried for months to get a hold of the fellow that we sold it to.

It's a complete shot in the dark but I would really love to see if I could track this car down and make an offer for it.

It was a White Gen4 Toyota Celica (1989) convertible. It's an automatic. That's pretty much all I have on the car.

If anyone has any leads I'd love to hear about it!

not much info. do you have pics at least? how long ago was it?

Hello. I am also looking for a unicorn. Can you help me find one?

VIN check. See where the car is registered at now or if it's been written off or whatever. Check old insurance papers for the VIN if you still have them.

How long ago was it sold? A vert 4g Celica is a fairly rare car so it should stand out. Like ^ said, run a VIN check if you can find the VIN, if not maybe contact ICBC and see if they can pull up old registration records for your dad?

They won't give it to you unless you have financial interest. Financial interest meaning you bought the car and you're missing paperwork.

You can do a VIN search through carfax/autocheck/carproof to see where it is at. Other than that, needle in a haystack.

You can put up an ad in the paper or something.

Good to know, I was hoping to do that in a couple years :(

Hey all,

Thanks for the suggestions, I guess I should have asked more for advice on it.

I'm looking through some of my Dad's old stuff and trying to find the car's files to see if I can get the VIN, or at least the information of the guy who he sold it to.

I know it's like finding a unicorn, and the likelihood of me finding this car is slim to none. But I'd hate myself forever if I didn't at least try!

i would go with nsx042003's suggestion. see how far the VIN takes you, whether it be through carfax or aircare.

are there any celica message boards that might help?

I figured RS to be a good starting ground. CG has been dead for some time, might try new celica or soemthing.

I found the VIN and think I've been able to facebook the guy we sold it to that many years ago. I found out we sold it in 1995 (VERY long time ago) so this may be completely futile, but it would be nice to know what eventually happened to the car.

The ICBC website says that the car is "Normal" but there hasn't been an aircare check since 08, so either the car is trashed and hasn't been reported, or it's collecting dust on someone's driveway.

If you have the VIN can you get ICBC to tell you who has it?

Good idea, try ST162.net (4g Celica forum) for starters.

Wouldn't that undermine some serious privacy policies? Why would I want someone harassing me or targeting me if they potentially had my VIN.

I'm assuming they can't/shouldn't, but they give away info to parking companies off a plate number and they're way more harassing.

Well I mean seeing as how I can walk up to any vehicle at a meet, or on the street and read the VIN from the plaque in the windshield without even touching the car, getting someone elses VIN number is ridiculously easy.

I believe even for information from a plate they will not simply give it out to anyone, you have to have a reason to request that information. Same goes for VIN numbers.

Just wanting that information for personal records or personal items is NOT a valid reason to request information from insurance places, or ICBC.

That is where financial interest comes in play. Do you own the vehicle? If no, then you're SOL.

Well that's a whole different story. They have agreements in place with ICBC.

The real solution here is to start a parking company, and then tell ICBC you have ticketed this vehicle. Done. Should be fairly simple :accepted:

And profitable...

:facepalm:

I guess you just need a piece of land, apply for parking zoning and then create a parking enforcement company. All for one vehicle...

I think it's better to buy the front page of a major newspaper with "WANTED".

Sure, if you want to be boring.

a co-worker suggests that you place a wanted ad in craigslist saying you are looking to buy a celica with the exact same specs and model year as your dad's and see what comes out of the woodwork?

hmm sounds fun.

i wonder what happened to my old cars... last one i saw had a huge dent on the rear QP :C

wish u the best of luck in your journey.
wish i can track down my 04 celica...

oh wait, its in langley somewhere in a shadey dealership lot now.. :(


http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/rd...478141823.html

she was a beaut imo :'(
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.n..._3930199_n.jpg

4th gen convertible? barely see 4th gens around let alone a convertible

for anyone wondering this is what one looks like

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...onvertible.jpg

http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...iginal.jpg?v=1

http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/161/p4240348.jpg

and if you spot it its probably the one the op is looking for ;)

My gf's dad has the exact year but its stick shift and it's not white. So not the exact same car. But if you are interested he might sell it.

Edit: forgot to mention it's a convertible.