That's great! Can you post a picture of that report for us?

That's Great! My dad and I will probably have to do what you did with a couple of our cars.

I will have to find the paper work again, but I will certainly check and reply when I find the paper work :D

CHP E870204
 

Had I have known it was that easy I would have sent the paperwork and the check along time ago. I found after I mailed my paper work in the DMV Wedsite has these printable forms for the "Vessel Search" Thanks Sam, I am looking forward to find out any more history and possibly which CHP Office this one was assigned to. Thanks again..

CHP E870204 Report
 

Yes,I will scan get it scanned and posted.

1982 CHP E870204 DMV Scan
 

Here is a scanned copy of the Vessel Search from the California Department of Motor Vehicles, For $6 bucks I found out my E plate number that I had no clue what it was since the drivers side door had been replaced and no other documentation was available at the time.

You got lucky. My check was returned with no information found. Congrats. I did get my assignment card and Marti Report, but no Eminger Invoice.

1982 E870204
 

One thing I wrote on my form before I sent it off in the mail and special thanks to Rich "Member" here on the Forum, I wrote in ink along the box I checked ," I was requesting this vehicles Historical Authentecity for restoration purposes by varifying its Exempt License Plate and being a former California Highway Patrol Vehicle since it was new in the year 1982.I also want to varify that this vehicle was never reported stolen after it was owned privately. This wording could be worth another try for you if you resubmit the form again.

I did include similar wording. There was a cover form attached to my returned request with the box checked beside "The information you requested is out of the department's retention period (too old)."

Go figure. Obviously not if you've got two now.

It's worth trying your luck with the CA DMV one more time. It's a very well known fact that results from contact with that agency can vary all over the board from success to fail at any given time. I know someone who is going through this right now in his efforts to secure historic vehicle plates for a retired fire rig. :headscratch:

Sometimes in a work enviroment you have people people who do their job, people who think about doing their job and people who dont really want to do thier job who are there just for a paycheck and dont want go the extra mile. I am thinking you possibly got the number 3 employee at the DMV. I would send the paperwork again until they got tired of me.

LOL, thanks for the encouragement, guys.

I want to try again for my Eminger Invoice, too. But I may wait til fall. The comment I got was something along the lines of "searching through a warehouse on a hot summer day." Point understood, but I'm a paying customer. With that said, I do believe they looked *much* harder than the CA DMV.

Good news! 0204 failed on everything! Will post the mileage and stuff when I get on a computer, but your area office for the car is 266:D

Sometimes, failure can lead to great things!:)

Good way to put that!

Office #266 is Tracy in the Valley Division. Congrats on finding that info. :2thumbs:

I'm glad my dads friend saved this stuff from the trash years ago.

870204 had:
Rear end failure on 7-11-83 with 40852 miles
Transmission failure on 1-20-83 with 23327 miles
Transmission failure on 2-18-83 with 26233 miles
Engine failure on 8-16-83 with 44448 miles
Engine failure on 12-27-83 with 67683 miles.

Interesting that you have the earliest unit # out of all the know 82's I believe (doesn't mean that your car was the 4th unit equipped and put on the road though, it was all random). The 82 unit #s started at 870201 and ended at 870600.
Also interesting that about 3k miles were put on in about 1 month, and that the officer(s) that drove your car were hard on it. 2 Trans. in a month, 2 engines in a year:rolleyes:

Now if you can just get the assignment card...:)

Yes, in this case failure was a good thing.

Sam,I Thank You for the time and research for Unit 0204.Your Help has uncovered the rest of my cars lost identity. Two days ago the car was a Jane Doe with only a Vin Number, I am also glad your Dads friend saved this valuable information for these cars.That is smart thinking.

All I can say after reading the findings is "WOW".This Unit 0204 had a hard life then. When I brought it home alittle over a year ago the car had a lot of issues that I had to correct and it was a mechanical and physical condition mess.

Knowing that I have one of earliest Unit survivors is all worth the headaches from this car and its all pretty much down hill from now. With the body work and paint left to do it was well worth the battle. I cant get over the major failures this car had while in service.I believe nowdays that car would qualify for the Lemon Law.
I tried to get the assignment cars but it appears it is long gone.So I am told.
Thank You again Sam and now I cant wait for my Wife to get home so I can give her the good news of a car that started out to be a Blood Sweat and Tears Restoration.

Thanks for #266 Location.I did not know where that one was located.This is a good day for Unit #0204.

Hey Sam, would it be possible to scan that information on the forum so I can capture it for my Restoration Album and for all to see.I would reayy appreciate it.

I'm sorry, but there is too much to scan and post, and my dad doesn't want everything out there on the internet. The CHP may not want the info out there and that is why they were throwing it away, but who knows. It's my dads paperwork and his decision. Sorry.

Thats ok Sam I totaly understand. Finding out my E plate and where it served (thanks to you) is all I ever wanted to know.

Hmmmm....that tranny failure happened after I was done with the veh. and it had been turned back in for sale. I ran it out to about 70k miles when it was exchanged for a 1984. I would have guessed it was repainted and sold at auction before it hit 74k miles, but maybe it hung around and was used for a while in Sacramento before being sold.

It takes a lot to break a manual transmission and I wasn't hard on it. Gotta wonder what happened to it right after I was done with it.

Welcome back Steve! Your posts have been among my all time favorites. That is strange about the trans.

CHP 0204
 

Mustang Kid, are you still looking up '82s? I have CHP #0204.

Anyone have contact info for Mustangkid or the documentation he referenced to get the area offices and mechanical failures for the '82's? 0495 has surfaced. I believe this is the first 'new' '82 since Mustangkid provided the data. Where is that kid?!

I see Sam on Facebook. He's into Jeeps now. I've sent him a couple of notes to drop in on .NET but he has not done so yet. Maybe some others can reach him?

Mine is 0594. Newly acquired.

Alright! Great to have you here. Your car is a super original, solid foundation. Please share your plans and progress as you get into the car more.

He seemed to get into a fair amount of keyboard wars around the internet with veteran police car restorers. Probably needed a break from all of that.