Stolen Corvette Found After 37 Years

[bill pritchett]

A 1968 Corvette stolen when it was brand new in New York 37 years ago has been recovered in California and will be returned to its rightful owner in New York. The Times article said it was never registered.

This shows that you can never give up hope. I wonder what the car is worth now, probably quite a bit being a Corvette convertible. I often wonder what the outcome is of all the stolen cars that are listed in the back of Hemmings.

The link to the article is: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17848875-23109,00.html. It is also in the New York Times but requires free registration to see it.

[Amphicar BUYER]

I had a 66 Cadillac DeVille Ragtop that was stolen once. I had even tossed the title in the trash and later recovered it thinking it was all I would have left of it. 1 year and 51 weeks later a police officer was bored and looking through the hot sheet and noticed a Caddy ragtop listed as hot, and with 2 current titles and a current registration!

Seems the guy who stole it sold it thru 2 others who knew it was hot, then it was sold to an innocent man represented as a lost title. He paid $600 to someplace to do the search and the state of Colo also neglected to do any investigation. They issued him the title.

He then took it to a body shop to complete the resto. Had the officer waited 1 more week it would have had new paint, top, and interior. He did several thousands of $$ worth of work to it already as it wasn't running or drive-able when it was taken from my bodyshop. It was now in primer and the last bit of blocking was to be done.

When I got it back, I drove her home with a smile that went around my head 3 times! The last guy tried to sue me for the work he did to MY car! I tried to tell him that he could not go after me and should go after the title search company and the state for damages as it was always MY car. He tried to take the parts off before they came and got it. The State patrol stopped that quickly as all parts on the car belong to the car and not to the man. I never heard from him again and do not know what happened. I hope he received some form of payment from them.

[Guest 70 Electra]

I saw the story, too. Frankly I was surprised that the guy was so happy to get the car. It sounded pretty rough: wrong color, missing parts, and had been sold overseas for $10,000. How bad must a Corvette be to have only brought $10,000 from a overseas guy that probably never saw it in person and most likely thought it was better than it was?

I believe the reunion would be much like meeting an old flame, 35 years after the fact, and finding out she now weighed 400 lbs, had lost her looks and sense of humor, and had developed terrible personal hygiene. (Sorry for that visual )

Oh well, looking at the bright side: worst case, it was like finding $10,000 tax free bucks.

[FireballV8]

Actually they have pictures of the car and the original owner being reunited at the Port in Los Angeles and the car looks to be in excellent condition. It looks great and he was very happy to get it back.

I wonder whats going to happen with the buyer and the seller now, whos out $10,000?

[Amphicar BUYER]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> I wonder whats going to happen with the buyer and the seller now, whos out $10,000? </div></div>

I can tell you from experience (see my post above) that the original owner still owns the car and owes nothing but a "thanks" to the other folks. Anyone who spent money on it before are out of luck. At best they may be able to sue the person they bought it from, but that is a longshot too.

Here is the car...

Here is the guy...

John

[Guffin]

This story was also in a Swedish newspaper a few days ago. A Swedish guy bought the car. In the Swedish article they said the car had no engine. Is this true?

Jan

[Matt Harwood]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">A Swedish gay bought the car. </div></div>

What does the buyer's sexual orientation have to do with it?

[RocketDude]

My guess was he meant Swedish guy. I sometimes get slippery fingers too!

The original small block had been replaced with a big block. Not original, but all the workmans ship appeared to be of excellant quality. I saw the feature on the local LA news, and later the guy and his car were a feature on one of the morning TV shows. The car looked really great.

[R W Burgess]

Wait a minute. I clearly saw a big block hood and a big block emblem(427?) on the hood scoop, unless someone changed hoods. Of course a Corvette without a transmission could have had any number of things changed.

Wayne

[RocketDude]

It is my understanding that the car had a transmission, it was missing the gas tank. Removing the tank is standard proceedure when shipping a vehicle in an enclosed shipping container, which is where the vehicle was found. Nothing flamable allowed in those containers

As for the big block emblems, just another example that the changes made were done properly. They didn't just slam in another engine, they went to great lengths to do it properly. But, hey! I only know what I read!

So far, the authorities have traced the car back through two owners. They are continueing their search.

It would be fun to be able to follow the trail all the way back, to see where it had been for so long.