Trying to Trace a 356

paulypaul · Post by **paulypaul** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 9:22 pm

I've registered on here after posting this on the Split Screen Van Club forum and would appreciate any help you guys can offer:
Whilst talking to a friend of ours I found out that back in 1963 he bought a 356 from a car dealer in the North West called Sefton Motors. He paid £259 for the car and whilst doing so was entered into a prize draw, which he duly won. The prize was a plot of land in the Bahama's or the cash equivalent, he chose the plot of land.
A year or so later, the landowner adjacent to the plot of land he had won got in touch and offered to buy this plot in order to extend his home. A deal was struck for the mighty sum of £750 which was several times more than the cash equivalent prize, and, at that time, was an awful lot of money. (He had bought his house in the Wirrall for £3000.) With his £750 he bought a 32ft sail boat, he had everything he had ever wanted now!
Anyway, several years later this chaps marriage started to fail, and he and his wife parted company. He then embarked on a 5 year voyage to circum navigate the world in his sail boat, but, when he returned, he found to his horror that his ex- wife had sold the 356 and pocketed the cash. She wouldnt divulge any information about where it went or how much for. Rather than knee capping his ex-wife then feeding her to pigs, he simply walked away from everything, drawing a line under that part of his life, cause thats the mild mannered type of person he is.
Anyway, I wondered if there is anyway I could perhaps try to trace where the car went or where it has ended up, or if indeed it still exists. Any help in doing so would be really appreciated, and I'm sure it would make an old man happy to know if it is still about. The registration number when he bought it was UPA 92
Ta, Paul

Gary71 · Post by **Gary71** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 10:06 pm

Hi, welcome to DDK and good luck with your search

That registration isn't showing up on the DVLA database, so I guess it's not been in use for some time.

pauldvern · Post by **pauldvern** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 10:19 pm

Hi,

UPA92 is Hendriks red 53 pre A cab. He is 356ist on DDK.

You can see the car here:

http://www.ddk-online.com/phpBB2/viewto ... ght=356ist

Paul

Gary71 · Post by **Gary71** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 10:24 pm

Indeed it is!

Strange it doesn't show up on the system!

paulypaul · Post by **paulypaul** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 10:30 pm

Wow!!! thats the one....I dont know what to say, cant wait to tell Derek the old fella who used to own it.
Thank you so much fro your help. I 'll speak to Derek and tell him then perhaps I'll pm 356ist.

Thanks,
Paul

myatt1972 · Post by **myatt1972** » Sun Nov 14, 2010 10:59 pm

Not bad that, found in just under an hour!

Hendrik Moulds · Post by **Hendrik Moulds** » Mon Nov 15, 2010 9:45 am

All I can say is WOW!
I go away for a few days and this comes up. I tried to write to Derek a couple of times as I have very little older history. Of course I got nowhere, would love to meet or speak to him.

It probably looked more like this when he had it:

And this is from September this year:

paulypaul · Post by **paulypaul** » Mon Nov 15, 2010 10:24 am

I will speak to Derek in the next couple of days and get his phone number for you. I'm sure he will be more than happy to chat with you. This is really amazing that I have tracked this so quickly. I tried to trace the history behind my 63 split screen bus but only managed vague info from the 80's, mind you its from Arizona so its not surprising.
Derek will be over the moon.
Thanks, Paul

vwretrosteve · Post by **vwretrosteve** » Mon Nov 15, 2010 5:22 pm

Perhaps I see the bad side of things , but if someone told me that my car was once sold without consent - I would be hoping that it wasnt reported at the time, and the seller was no longer available to confess .

lets hope Derek doesnt fancy a bigger boat

paulypaul · Post by **paulypaul** » Mon Nov 15, 2010 8:57 pm

vwretrosteve wrote:

Perhaps I see the bad side of things , but if someone told me that my car was once sold without consent - I would be hoping that it wasnt reported at the time, and the seller was no longer available to confess .

lets hope Derek doesnt fancy a bigger boat

Derek doesnt seem to be that way. Its a different lifetime ago, he's too old to be twisted and bitter and I would imagine he will just be pleased his old car is still out there

Hendrik Moulds · Post by **Hendrik Moulds** » Tue Nov 16, 2010 8:02 am

As it so happens, when I bought the car I did an HPI check on it to make sure there were no problems relating to the car. The previous owner had, shall we say, financial difficulties due to a rogue partner. There was nothing there and it wasn't on the police data base as stolen.

BTW it wasn't me who bought it from Dereks wife, it must have gone through at least another 2 owners before me as well as quite a lot of years before I got it.

Helen · Post by **Helen** » Tue Nov 16, 2010 8:16 am

well it couldn't be in better hands now. wonder if it's possable for Hendrick,Derek and the Pre A to meet up

heres another photo summer of 2009

and heres me sitting in it on the DDK stand at the NEC classic car show 2008

roy mawbey · Post by **roy mawbey** » Tue Nov 16, 2010 9:04 am

Nice story, and Hendrik such a lovely looking car. Well done Paul for replying so quickly although I guess Hendrik would also have seen it very quickly too!!

Roy

Greg · Post by **Greg** » Tue Nov 16, 2010 12:08 pm

Agreed. A very nice story.

A bit O/T but I was attracted to Hendrik's comment "All I can say is WOW".

I live on a thoroughbred horse stud in Japan, and one of the more recent brood mare purchases was an American mare who had an interesting racing career before retiring and going to stud. Her name was AllICanSayIsWow, and this is a wonderful tribute to her abilities on the track.

Just as an oddball sidelight to a good story!!

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... nsayis+Wow

Greg · Post by **Greg** » Tue Nov 16, 2010 12:10 pm

Sorry, the more useful URL is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RJWhKs7qbo

Greg