Finding my 1951 GMC Truck
Let me start by saying this is a ridiculous situation and will sound made up.
When I was 16 I lived in a suburb of Wichita, Kansas. My parents gave me a 1951 GMC Half Ton barn find. I aspired to have the truck restored and found a guy named Scott Fields who did restorations professionally and would allow me to store it and he would work on it as I had the money and he had the time to do different pieces of the restoration. He worked out of his shop on his property in Gouda Springs, Kansas. He always had multiple projects going and knew I was a kid, at the time, on a budget, so it was not uncommon for us to go months or years without checking in or moving on to a different phase of the build. At one point he moved the vehicle, with my permission, to a shop where he rented space in Derby, Kansas. Life got crazy for both of us. He was involved in an incident where a vehicle fell on him and he was unable to work for a while. Meanwhile, I went to college, got married, had a son, moved to Kansas City, got divorced, got remarried. Scott and I lost touch. I would try to reach out to him every so often and at one point I received a response from his old number that the person with that number was not him. I assumed something had happened to him. Upon investigation I was heart broken to find out that Scott had passed away from cancer. He passed in late 2019.
Fast forward. I am searching for this truck and because I live in a different city now and when I last saw the truck it was at least 15 years ago…I don’t remember where the shop in Derby KS was. Also, his home and home shop have been sold but I was never contacted in regard to the truck.
I was told in order to file a report and get a search done I would need the title. When I would make it back home to Wichita I would dig and dig and after a long search I finally found the original title and registration for the truck. They had moved multiple times as well making finding anything difficult.
So here I am at present with only a few pieces of information but enough to prove ownership if I could only find this truck. My first thought was to do a vin check online. But, being a 51’ the original title and registration only has the truck serial number on it. So I cannot do a regular vin look up. Serial number I have is 11 digits long, 10222911294**.**
**Does anyone have any advice at all for locating my truck? Am I just screwed? I keep having the thought that possession is 9/10ths of the law and I haven’t “possessed” this truck for over 20 years. Which I know is insane. But if it’s at all possible to recover I would love to have it and honestly just finish the build. Regardless of how it looks it does mean a lot to me.**