How to find out which dealership sold your 02?

[RayC911]

I finally got off my ass and emailed Andreas to get my 73s DOB. Now who can I contact to find the dealership that sold my 02? I know it's in CA and that's it. Thx

[gastephens]

Are you looking to get one of those nice dealer stickers for the trunklid?

[RayC911]

Are you looking to get one of those nice dealer stickers for the trunklid?

Which dealer sticker? I'm actually just curious now and want to look for my specific unobtainable dealership license plate like a few others are.

[malagalaga]

I don't think there is an easy way to do that, unfortunately. I'm under the impression that the Hoffman records are either long gone or have been transferred to a location where it is not feasible for BMW to go look for details (I imagine that requests from us would be super low on their priority list...)

If you know where your car lived when new, you can probably assume it was sold at the nearest dealership - but not always.

I have the original window sticker and the trade in docs for my car that show it was bought new in 1973 from Highland BMW in Austin, Texas. The address is now occupied by Subaru of Austin - and their website even mentions that they once sold BMWs.

I would love to get a rear sticker or license plate frame from them! Anyone happen to have one?!?!

[eastsidebimmer]

Unless the car has been in your family, you have the Service manual still with your owner's handbook or purchase records, there is no really good way to know--unless you live in BFE and you know your car has spent it's entire existence in BFE--your car probably came from the only dealer around, not just the closest!

Per my service book, my 71 1600 was sold new on 8/3/71 by H.A. Boyd, Inc in Lebanon, PA. The initial inspection and 600 mile service stamp indicates that they were (and still are) primarily a VW dealer. http://www.haboydvw.com/

The 4000 (12/15/71) and 8000 (6/20/73) mile services were performed by Barr Motors, Inc. in Wiliamsport, PA - not sure if these guys are still around, but would LOVE dealer frames for either.

I have no stamps past this date but know it was serviced at Cumberland Valley Motors in Mechanicsburg, PA from 88-99 while the car was in owner Ed Ullom's collection.

--Ben

[RayC911]

Andreas said that they have no records and doubts BMW NA would be able to help either. Only someone with access to Hoffman-era files like malagalaga mentioned. Oh, well, maybe I'll post my 02 and VIN and hope the original owner chimes in.

[c.d.iesel]

you can only find that out if it's a late model 1975,

or model 1976. (Hoffman change over to BMWNA)

You must contact a dealer to run what's called

a "DCS" by your VIN number -

which will say ~ Dealer who sold the car, production date,

selling date, dealer address, paint and interior color.

That is all the "DCS" will tell you.

only those cars are in the BMW data base-

anything before and you must rely on the papers

that were passed along in the glove box like bill of sale, window

sticker, dealer stamps in the service booklet.

p.s. - if anyone can prove ownership of the above car,

I'll will mail the 2 documents to you.

[HBChris]

Ray,

You can use this site to find it's last smog test in CA in 1996, that sometimes gives a clue to general location. Hoffman's records are long gone I am afraid.

http://www.smogcheck.ca.gov/pubwebquery/Vehicle/PubTstQry.aspx

[willys]

great site - thanks

just found out that my car which I bought in Colorado last June, was in Santa Rosa in 96!

Jeff

[flyingjolly]

you could write to BMW Mobile Tradition in Munich for a "history" or your car, but i think they take 50€ for it.

[HBChris]

BMW has NO records from Hoffman and where the cars were sent. VIN build date is free from BMW Archive however.

[RayC911]

Chris, thanks for the Smog info! I bought my 73 from San Diego and last smog was was 77 in Escondido so I'm confident it's in that area. Now I just need to find out which dealerships were there back in the day.

[jmon0261]

Was it a rumor? Hoffmans records burned in a fire and were lost. I would love to know the history of my 73. I got all excited about that Smog test site but my 73 came up with No records. So was it in a county that had no tests - or non oped ? Weird I still have the original plates on it.

Here is an old post with listed Ca dealers

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,57/page,viewtopic/t,304269/highlight,chico/

There used to be a BMW dealer here in our small town back in the 70s

and found a license plate frame from it, Chico BMW. Asked around for years and got little info. One day I am at the Gas station and see A De Soto Firedome. Turns out the guy used to detail the cars for the dealer. He said the star salesman was named Chaz and had a white Fro ( early 70's) His big sales pitch was to turn the wheel at high speeds to show how well they handled. Well after the 4th car that he rolled he was fired.