As a startup, we routinely have to come face-to-face with limitations: time, money, and energy, among other finite resources. There are only so many hours in the day; only so many ways to discuss the problem we are trying to solve. But one thing is clear: you're not going to simply "CarFax" the vintage car records problem.
I spotted a sponsored post on Facebook from a company going by the name of "Bumper." The ad made it sound like you could simply punch in your VIN number (while also providing a credit card after your free trial runs out) and unlock years' of mystery surrounding your 1976 Chevy Nova. There's even an antique car from the 50s in the Facebook ad.
Of course, you can imagine the firestorm in the comments. Everyone with a VIN number from a car older than 1981 finds out at the same time that no, a magical solution still doesn't exist for vintage vehicle histories. The simple fact is it takes a lot of work to build a digital history for a vehicle over a certain age. Or even for vehicles tracked by CarFax but serviced by a specialist shop that doesn't use CarFax, the same problem exists.
We espouse an approach that is driven by the owner of the vehicle in question, or from The Common Gear itself, as we'll come out and document your entire collection. Once we have a significant number of end users, we'll begin to build a nationwide repository of significant, milestone events in the lives of vintage cars and trucks.
It's hard work - and time intensive - but we'll all be glad it exists once the heavy lifting is done.