I am trying to find the past history of my Midget.

[tomshobby]

I have the stamped metal tag from the Passport to Service booklet. The name on the tag is G A Batzer from Grand Forks ND. It is dated 1/9/1974.

The 1,000 mile service was done at Nolker's Imports. Not sure where they were located.

I also have some indication that the car was at some time registered to a person from Dayton Ohio. Possibly the person in the military that had owned it. It is also possible that the original dealer was in Dayton.

I understand that someone in the military had owned the car at some point and it made its way from a military base in or around Kansas to Volk Field in Wisconsin.

The car was registered 6/12/98 in Wisconsin and listed as being located in Tomah Wisconsin. It was also listed as being "orange". Now it is BRG. After the restoration was completed Shirley and I drove to Mauston Wisconsin to show the car to the friend that I had purchased the car through. He called the previous owner, the person that had begun the restoration, and he came to see it. They were both very happy to see it completed.

It would be great if anyone might have any information to add to this.

Thanks much,
Tom

 

[SaxMan]

If you order a Heritage Certificate, it should tell you what the original factory color was, the week that the car was built, when it was shipped to the United States and the city that the dealer it was delivered to.

In my experience, it's usually best to try to work your way backwards from this point in time rather than trying to start at day 1 and go forward. Probably best to call the P.O. and see who he got the car from. If you're willing to put in the time and effort, you'd be amazed how far you can take a little bit of research.

 

[CLEAH]

It is indeed easier to work your way backward in time. I recently traced the ownership of my Sprite back to 1973. I don't know about Wisconsin, but in Ohio the title for a car has the current owner, and the previous owner. So when I bought my car from a guy a few years ago, the title listed the name and address of the guy he bought it from. I made contact with him ( he was still at the same address). He filled me in about my car when he owned it, and he remembered the name of the guy he bought it from and enough other information (specifically that he raced Spitfires) that I was able to find him...in Michigan. He was so happy to hear from me and see pictures of his old car. In fact, he and his wife asked to buy back the car. It was their first sports car, and they regretted selling it!

 

[tomshobby]

Thanks guys, I have shown it to the PO after it was finished last Fall. He was glad to see it finished and said he wished he had kept it. But he also said he didn't have the knowledge or skills to do it himself. He told me what he knew about the history.