Original invoice

[7mach1]

Guys and gals,

After seeing this forum I decided to order a deluxe report. Just received an email saying they may have my original invoice. Just wondering what are your thoughts/opinions on this.

My ride is not fully original, nor will it (probably) ever be while I own it. So, my question is, would it be worth another $55?

 Thanks, john 

 

[midlife]

I would; your curiosity will run rampant until you do.  It's only money your heirs won't miss.

 

[Mike King]

I bought the invoice for my car and feel that it is a nice piece to have. The prices are interesting and it is a one off piece just for your car.

 

[7173Vert]

I would, I put much more faith in the Factory Invoice then I do the Marti Report…

 

[Fredensborg]

I would definitely get it as well. Its a cool piece of history that we are lucky enough to have access to.

 

[7mach1]

Thanks. I think y’all convinced me!

BTW - how would someone go about getting the history of a car? Previous owners, state/country it was titled in, etc. 

 

[Fredensborg]

Thanks. I think y’all convinced me!

BTW - how would someone go about getting the history of a car? Previous owners, state/country it was titled in, etc. 

I tried a couple years ago, I managed to find the guy who brought my car to Minnesota but unfortunately he was deceased. DMV departments are not very helpful as far as giving you access to records, its all privacy law stuff. Your best bet will be to track down the owners one by one and ask who they got it from, and hope that they feel like talking. I know the previous three owners of my car, but the trail goes cold with the deceased one obviously...A couple of times I thought I had found my previous owner's brother on Facebook, but he has a very common name so it has always ended in disappointment. I'm still trying to find the guy to figure out where his brother got it from, all I know is that it was somewhere in the southwest...Arizona/California area. Good luck though, and if you do find anything please share it! I love to read the stories of these old cars!

 

[rackerm]

My experience has taught me that when it comes to learning about your car's history and previous ownership, the best clues are things left behind in or on the car. In my 73 Convertible I found an old bluish carbon copy of a credit card gas receipt. For those too young to remember, back in the day when you paid for gas with a credit card, the attendant would place a multi-part paper receipt over your credit card in a mechanical device and slide a bar over it to make an impression of your card thru the multi-part carbon paper. You would use an ink pen to sign it and the attendant would rip out the second part, a  bluish paper carbon copy, and hand it to you.  These customer receipts (carbon copies) had the gas station, location, date, and the gas purchaser's name on it. Having found one of these receipts when I disassembled the car, I was able to connect with the person on Facebook,  and after explaining that I was not a stalker and that I owned a car that they may have owned in the past, they would talk about when they owned the car. 

My 70 Mach 1 actually had a P.O.'s vehicle registration from 1981 in the console. I was able to connect again on Facebook.

I found that once they are convinced that you are just interested in learning more about your car's history, they will tell you their story. 

Another breadcrumb trail clue... In New Jersey a car's title has a number labeled "Prefix" on it before the VIN. This number represents the number of times the title has been issued e.g. changed ownership. If your car has never left the State of New Jersey, this number will give you a good idea as to how many owners there have been, including you. Obviously, if the car was transferred to/from another state, the prefix number will not reflect ownership history outside New Jersey, in this case. This prefix may also be incremented for other reasons, but I am not sure about that.

From what I can see Delaware does not have a prefix. I don't know about other states.

 

[secluff]

 The Eminger report is one of the copies of the actual invoice sent along with the car when delivered by Motor Convoy to the Dealer. They list all the standard equipment and production installed options. The invoice included retail, dealer cost, shipping, holdback, X Y Z D purchase plan prices, and several other categories. It enabled the Dealer to get the vehicle inventoried and into their accounting system. I have also seen some of them on newer models with the FA and FB key codes. If it isn't on the invoice, it didn't leave the assembly plant with it. Since the Eminger/Ford invoice is an original Ford document, I would consider it one of the most accurate reports to have on your vehicle.
 Accessories were the Cash Cow for Dealers and aftermarket installers (and still is now). So a lot of Ford and aftermarket items found their way onto our four-wheel friends. If installed before sold, dealers would add an Addendum label listing items added to the vehicle since it was against federal law to alter the original window or Monroney Sticker. Another reason for having the original Ford invoice is how many items are claimed as original production installed by non-original owners when they were Dealer installed. Without a verifying document such as the Ford invoice, it's a "He said, She said" argument. I have several of them for my vehicles, so they are excellent reports to have.

As far as tracking down the original owner, that is no longer an easy task. As a second owner, I was fortunate to have been able to talk to both original owners of my two money pits. It's probably safe to say that many selling dealers are no longer in business, changed owners (several times), or changed locations. As dealers transitioned to computers in the 70s and 80s, mountains of paperwork were discarded. I know the policy where I was at was to keep the deal jackets for 5-7 years and shred them since they contained personal and financial information. With the privacy laws, obtaining any information from the DMV, courthouse tax records, etc., is next to impossible. For entertainment purposes, you could try your DMV or the Dealer listed on the Marti report. It doesn't cost anything for them to tell you NO!!

 

[goodnigh]

Yes, get the Eminger invoice.  Only one exists for your car and you need to prove to Marti

you own the car.  Also, it is signed, at least mine is, by whoever received the car at the dealership

with a lead pencil.  Impossible to fake that.  Dali, the artist, would sign copies of his work with a

lead pencil for that reason.  This was also printed likely by a line printer because the letters don't line up.