Tracing Old Owners

[Faheem]

Our zed's have lots of history - with some being 20 years old.

My zed is the same age as me - left production exactly a month before I was born.

I've always been curious of its history. To many these cars are weekend toys and so they swap owners quite a lot. My car is in good condition for its age but it has several owners - to be exact 9 owners.

I've set on a mission to trace down all the owners and contact them to find out a little about the cars history. Obviously it may not be possible to contact all 9 owners as they may not be living at the same address or in some cases - may have died (the last owner of my car did)

I contacted a bloke who owned my zed between 2002-2006 - he is the owner of a guest house in Scotland - Binniemyre Guest House Galashiels - and he has been surprisingly helpful providing me with lots of history about my zed.

Plan is to create a complete timeline with history of previous owners - when they owned the car - any pictures they have of the car and to form a history of where the car has been.

Is this just sad?

 

[5harp3y]

i think its a nice thing to do! but like you say will probably be hard to get a complete view

 

[Shelly]

That's a very interesting thing to do @Faheem
I just wouldn't have the time
Good luck

 

[Davyhoogy]

It will be interesting! My car has been owned by someone on this site previously as there was a zroadster.org card in the owners manual haha

 

[Low Rider]

Nice idea. I'd thought about doing the same mate

 

[Gundun]

It's a very nice initiative! It puts you in touch with those who had the passion before you and gift them with the view of a piece of their past (every Z owner untimately ends up loving it) still in good shape.
Also, credit to you for committing to your Z3 despite the young age, when modern amenities and high performances are at reach and more popular among the people your age.

God I'm getting old.

 

[Faheem]

It will be interesting! My car has been owned by someone on this site previously as there was a zroadster.org card in the owners manual haha

Did you ever find out who on the site owned it? Would be nice knowing. Take it you bought it from a trader?

Nice idea. I'd thought about doing the same mate

It is a nice idea Steve but it depends on how many people actually respond, trouble is I've got lots of information about various dealers that the car has been with:
Deutschmarque - Edinburgh
Motor House Cars - Shipley
Mon Car Sales - Llangefni

But it's difficult getting any information from them for two reasons - they may not store vehicle records for that long and the second reason is that often they just don't respond as there isn't a financial incentive for them to do so. It's sad but true, money is often the only motivator for a lot of people.

It's a very nice initiative! It puts you in touch with those who had the passion before you and gift them with the view of a piece of their past (every Z owner untimately ends up loving it) still in good shape.
Also, credit to you for committing to your Z3 despite the young age, when modern amenities and high performances are at reach and more popular among the people your age.

God I'm getting old.

I think the reason my zed is special is because it's been on the road since before I was born which really puts into perspective how old it is. Some may say that the car isn't that old but when the car was made mobile phones weren't popular and the one's that existed couldn't access the internet, take pictures or even store photographs - that really does put into perspective how long 20 years is.

If you have a look at other cars made during that time, very few stand out as much as the zeds do. Z3's in my opinion have held up incredibly well to the test of time and despite there age they do not look that old. The plate on my other zed starts with P109 -- I've had people ask whether it's a 2009 car. Same goes for my zed, when I tell non car people that my zed is 19 years old they don't believe me.

Insurance is crippling but it's well worth it.

 

[Zeti]

It will be interesting to see the history and the karma of your Zed! At least you're lucky all owners were living in UK.
Good luck and watching the progress of the investigation.
Dan

 

[Dobiwallah]

I'm the third owner of my Zed in new Zealand. Before that it was in Japan. It came in the country in 2003 with 6.113km on the clock. The first owner in NZ was a Chinese student who bought it for his girl friend.

I have a name and address, but can't be bothered to call her. I know the second owner, I bought it from him. He bought the car with 14.545km on it. When he sold it to me, it has 34.000km on it. The Zed came with a folder with all the bills and warrants (of fitness)=(MOT)of each year. All my bills go in that folder too.

I'm on 75.622km at the moment. I guess that's makes me most likely the forth owner then...

 

[colb]

Third owner of mine registered early 2000 but built December 1999, lady owner from new then male owner.
I wrote to last owner and he rang me to give me the history whilst in his ownership. Used it as a second Summer car, then traded it in for a Porsche, was not aware of the sensor problems I found on it. Sorted the sensor problems by replacing Camshaft sensor, Exhaust Lambda sensors and the Maf and the Disa unit. All well for the last 3 years and still loving the car. All the MOT's confirmed the low mileage which is now just coming up to 38k.

 

[handsomejackuk]

well funny this cropped up, as i have been over to see the previous owner plus one if that makes sense... i bought the car off a local fella that only had it a few weeks it was his 60 birthday present and he has a real bad rugby injury so only had the car a few weeks was unable to drive it...

It came up for sale so i acted quickly and managed to get it.. he didnt even have the new log book back, so i had the log book slip from him withthe previous owners details.....

I have been over a few times as she is fairly local.. and managed to catch her in on Friday... she was very forthcoming and loved talking about her car and was so pleased to see it and that it is being looked after... turns out she knows a mate of mine and has retired from a local college my mate works at.... Anyway she part exchanged my Z3 for a fiat 500 thing... and told me she sold it with the original beige tonneau...

hmmmm interesting as i have not got it, and the fella i bought it off didnt have it either i trust him....

Anyway off i pop over to caerphilly car dealers to chase up the missing tonneau... they seemed a bit cagey as soon as i turn up at least one of the salesmen did... hehe....

i go to ask him what happened to the tonneau as it was with the car when it was sold... ahem..... he goes and blames some other salesman for selling it on ebay, the boss / owner who is there also, doesn't seem happy about this.. to his salesman... so suspect they obviously taking parts off and selling them as a side line... anyway... i not bothered but was good to find out this...

I have a few more owners i am going to trace also... theres another local fella, and a few local garages that have serviced it and done mots...

the log book also states non transferrable number plate... its a short plate.... and that it was previously registered overseas i suspect it has has some time in a hot country... HPI all shows clear but it would be lovely to know where it went for a few year overseas...

long post... hope you had chance to read it...

 

[Zeti]

Very interesting stories! It's great to find history of the car that car is unable to tell and,of course, is related to humans.
A car without owner is just an object, it can't move it self, except if it's a google car...

 

[NeRo]

The history for my one is easy - one owner me, bought it new

 

[Zeti]

Not too many Zedders can say that! But it has one disadvantage: you can't blame the previous owners for what must be replaced or repaired!
It must be special to see the car growing old with you; I've never experienced that, I always had resurrected cars, except the company car given to me.