Searching for My Dad's 1979 Chevy Suburban

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bucket

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Usually not in Ohio
First Name
Andy
Truck Year
'77, '78, '79, '84, '88
Truck Model
K5 thru K30
Engine Size
350-454
I’ll give them a call in the morning to confirm. Thanks for the heads up.

If they are actually chrome plated, that's not something I've encountered before. But if they are stainless steel, that's probably all that really matters.

I'll also point out that there are numerous styles of trim rings. OE trim rings of different makes and models often have some type of styling ridge around the outside edge. Most generic fits-all rings have either a hard edge or a rounded edge. The original trim rings for our trucks had a rounded edge.
 

TheHoundsman

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Location
West Deptford NJ
First Name
Brian
Truck Year
1979
Truck Model
Chevy Suburban
Engine Size
350 V8
If they are actually chrome plated, that's not something I've encountered before. But if they are stainless steel, that's probably all that really matters.

I'll also point out that there are numerous styles of trim rings. OE trim rings of different makes and models often have some type of styling ridge around the outside edge. Most generic fits-all rings have either a hard edge or a rounded edge. The original trim rings for our trucks had a rounded edge.
That is great information thank you. I will check that as well and see what they say. I was looking on summit racing. Any other place you would recommend.
 

bucket

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K5 thru K30
Engine Size
350-454
That is great information thank you. I will check that as well and see what they say. I was looking on summit racing. Any other place you would recommend.

Summit is probably as good a place as any. They probably have a lot of options.

The only time I've ever bought new trim rings was at swap meets, from reproduction wheel dealers. Often I've just bought used trim rings from swap meets or salvage yards.
 

TheHoundsman

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Brian
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1979
Truck Model
Chevy Suburban
Engine Size
350 V8
Summit is probably as good a place as any. They probably have a lot of options.

The only time I've ever bought new trim rings was at swap meets, from reproduction wheel dealers. Often I've just bought used trim rings from swap meets or salvage yards.
I have seen a bunch on eBay as well
 

crazy4offroad

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Curt
Truck Year
1979
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K-10
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350/SM465/NP205
Edit: i didn't realize there was 11 pages and the OP found a similar project lol. Anyway, still might be useful info for others. Delete if not wanted here. Sorry!

When i worked at WV dmv records dept we had a "message forwarding form" that would allow someone to send a message to the last known registered owner without divulging personally identifiable information but there was a lot of reasons it may fail. If the person moved, if the 911 administration changed the address from the old route/ box numbers, if the person died, or if they just didn't want to reply they weren't required to. The person looking for the vehicle would fill out the form with as much info about the vehicle as possible, and we'd send it to the address of the last known owner. During the info gathering we would do, we would run a check on the national database and if it was registered in another state newer than our records we would let the seeker know which state since that's not pii and they could check with them to see if they had a similar process.
You may also ask the dmv rep if they can tell you what county so you can check junkyards in that area. Some states may consider that pii though.
Alternatively a private detective would be able to get more info. Good luck and i hope you find it!
 
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TheHoundsman

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Location
West Deptford NJ
First Name
Brian
Truck Year
1979
Truck Model
Chevy Suburban
Engine Size
350 V8
Edit: i didn't realize there was 11 pages and the OP found a similar project lol. Anyway, still might be useful info for others. Delete if not wanted here. Sorry!

When i worked at WV dmv records dept we had a "message forwarding form" that would allow someone to send a message to the last known registered owner without divulging personally identifiable information but there was a lot of reasons it may fail. If the person moved, if the 911 administration changed the address from the old route/ box numbers, if the person died, or if they just didn't want to reply they weren't required to. The person looking for the vehicle would fill out the form with as much info about the vehicle as possible, and we'd send it to the address of the last known owner. During the info gathering we would do, we would run a check on the national database and if it was registered in another state newer than our records we would let the seeker know which state since that's not pii and they could check with them to see if they had a similar process.
You may also ask the dmv rep if they can tell you what county so you can check junkyards in that area. Some states may consider that pii though.
Alternatively a private detective would be able to get more info. Good luck and i hope you find it!
Thanks for the tips. I may still try to look to that. Not sure if NJ offers that but no harm in reaching to see. I would still love to find it if I can. Thanks for taking the time to read through the 11 pages lol. I appreciate the advice. I’ll let you know what I find out. The one lady at NJDMV was nj e enough to run the VIN through the national database and said there were no hits.
 

TheHoundsman

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West Deptford NJ
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Brian
Truck Year
1979
Truck Model
Chevy Suburban
Engine Size
350 V8
I did some work on the wheels and center caps. New tires should be on soon and truck will be back with a solid baseline for me this week. Next step for me and my buddy is prepping the interior so he can paint that and we can get that all put back together and actually start driving this baby. I’ll post all the things that the shop did. It will be a little frustrating as I am sure a number of the things they did will have been things that I would have been able to figure out how to do myself. However with him having it there and me not really sure how to do much of anything at this point it seemed best to let him confirm/get it road worthy and then I will try to take it from there. Sorry for rambling I’ll post some wheel pics now and the work list when I get it from him.
 

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TheHoundsman

Full Access Member
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Posts
85
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Location
West Deptford NJ
First Name
Brian
Truck Year
1979
Truck Model
Chevy Suburban
Engine Size
350 V8
Additional Wheel Pics
 

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