History of an Aprilia

[John Larkin]

I have a 1949 Aprilia berlina and I am trying to trace its history from 1949 to 1954.  I understand that the car was bought new by Henry Norman from Dublin, and that he kept the car in Italy until 1954 at which time he imported it to Ireland.  I am trying to identify its Italian registration details, so far without success.  I emailed Registro Aprilia a number of times, but have not received any response.  The Fiat/Lancia archive provided manufacturing records, but were unable to provide any sales information. I appealed for assistance in The Automobile magazine a couple of years ago, and I was contacted by a person in Paris who promised to help, but who has not responded to emails.

Is there any way of tracing the car's history in Italy from 1949 to 1954 using its chassis number and the first owner's name?

John Larkin.

[nistri]

One chance is to apply for a "visura" at one of the ACI (the RAC equivalent) offices with the chassis number and the year of registration. This is relatively cheap (I guess around 15 pounds) and ideally you need a friend who goes to such an office in person. The office should then extract the info from the PRA office. It seems complicated but it is not. Andrea

[John Larkin]

Thank you Andrea.
Buon Natale!
John Larkin.