Post your interesting car search stories...

[MarkV]

A post on the lincoln forum inspired me to post here as well! Post your interesting car search stories, whether you purchased a car back or found that rarity! Here is one of my stories to start off:

"Well, I am probably the only one here who can claim that I re-found and re-purchased a Lincoln after 16 years. My Continental was purchased in 1975 by my grandfather, from a preacher/scam artist/car salesman who restored cars. My grandfather owned it for 16 years from 1975-1991, he sold it to two guys for $3500 (it was flawless when he sold it). And that was the last we heard about it. Through the years I heard about the car from my family, but no one had any idea what happened to it. After my grandfather died in 2005 I was clearing out junk from his garage and I found a box with a framed picture of the lincoln and the old pink slip from before he owned it. This was about late 2006. So, I got the bright idea to write to Ca DMV. They had a records division and you filled out a form with the information and paid $6. They would send you the cars records, minus any contact information. However, they would send a copy of the paperwork to the current owner. So, on that copy I wrote my phone number and name and told him or her to call me, and I underlined it several times! So, I received the records in March or April 2007, I did not receive a call. Then in May of 2007 I received a call from the man who owned it. I went about 4 hours to go and see it, out at a dumpy place called Salton Sea. Sure enough it was the car, with the same plates and frames and even the paint!

The guy was a hermit and very odd, I drove the car around, and the master cylinder was out. The guy told me that he had purchased it from two guys at L.A. County fair for $12,500 (the same two who bought it from my grandfather for $3500) and it was just, according to the paperwork about two weeks after my grandfather sold it. I took a lot of pictures and thought that would be the last of the car. But, in mid-June, I got the bright idea of making an offer for it. He originally wanted $12,500 for it. But, I told him that was ridiculous and that I had to pay $500 just to tow the car. I was going away for 2 months in July so, I called him on the first and gave him 48 hours.

Thanks to a small loan from my dad and my money saved from working, I ended up picking up the car on the third and having it towed back over four hours. When I got it home, I looked through the documents with the car and there was a note 'signed' by my grandfather saying the car was as-is. The trunk was sealed and I took my hand and carefully peeled it open, and there were two clubs and a cover, all of which my grandmother remembered my grandfather placing in there 16 years before! I know it is all impossible, but, it is true! I was 19 at the time! It had been 16 years since my grandfather owned the car, but, it is ironic that I found the car because of one late evening looking through the stuff in the garage and finding a document. I think my grandfather had something to do with it!"

[John_Maine]

Cool story - it does seem as though your grandfather had a hand in your getting it back. I don't have any interesting search stories.......yet. I'd like to find the first new car I bought, a '72 Gran Torino, but I'm sure it's long gone.