Glad this local story had a happy ending, but how do you drive a stolen car for 10 years without title/registration/plates, etc.? Carefully, I suppose.

https://fox8.com/news/i-team/after-n...-car-back/amp/

And c'mon, $100,000 to "fix it up"?

 

That's a crazy story for sure. Thanks for sharing.

 

love the exit burn

 

I can't help wonder why it wasn't insured..... but then again my 87 Mustang isn't insured for theft either....

 

I’d like to know the rest of the story from the guy who “owned” it for the last 10 years. Did he have paperwork or a title? Did he register or insure it?

If the guy drove it without transferring the title and without insurance, then I’d be willing to bet he knew something was screwy with the car. If he had a title, and to the best of his knowledge he legally owned the car, how does that work?

 

Easy. A pro resto shop takes about 2000 hours to do a car correctly. At $75/hr that's $150K. Heck, I've got $10K into my P.O.S. 62 F85 and I do every bit of the work myself except for the upholstery (that was $1800 for just the seats, and I brought the seats to them). A quality paint job is $15-20K without major rust repair or body work. $10-15K for an engine, not counting installation, trans, or all the collateral parts. It doesn't take long to hit $100K.

 

VIN swap. You legally buy a scrap 68 GTO and swap the vin to the stolen car. The article mentions the car having GTO parts swapped to it.

 

If the previous “owner” did the VIN swap, or was aware of it, then it serves him right for having to give up the car. If he didn’t know about it, why didn’t he transfer the paperwork?

I have bought lots of parts and project cars over the years. Until the title is in my name, I don’t put much money into a car. At most, enough to get it running or moveable. No way in hell would I do any restoration or major repairs until it’s mine.

 

Ok I'm a little fuzzy on something here, the original owner said he spent 100K on work, was he the guy that cloned it ? or did he spend 100k
on restoring a Tempest ? There may be a silver lining here if he had a Tempest stolen and got a GTO in return even if it is a clone.
When I was a senior in high school I had a 1965 2 door Tempest, My auto shop teacher had a 65 GTO it was stolen and totaled in a accident
he kept the car and parted it out, I bought the whole interior and badging from him ( could not afford the 389 eng.) My tempest was white his interior was black worked out great !! my Tempest had a 215 CID 6 I had the only low performance GTO in town !!!!

 

I too do almost all myself, so to me $100k is in the stratosphere. At that number, unless there's a sentimental connection, just buy/enjoy a well done car.

 

x2

How did the original owner know it was his car if it had been swapped to a GTO?

 

VIN on the frame perhaps or somewhere else known to law enforcement ?

 

Notice the bad guy was charged with “Receiving Stolen Property” not “Criminal Possession of Stolen Property “. The Police probably did their investigation, had probable cause to get a warrant and then checked the : “Secret VIN” on the car. One possible scenario.

 

I wondered the same thing. Looks like the original owner's plan was to convert it. Did he do the final step or did the guy that had it do that?

 

Exactly,
If it left the original owner as a Tempest and returned a a GTO not a bad deal !! could be considered a 10 year restoration with no more out of pocket expense to the original owner !!! glad he got the car back cool story!! must have been cool to get that phone call Hey Mr we have found your Tempest/GTO and its in really nice condition !!

 

He was on his way. He added the hood. Hood tach etc. Worked out for him. Nice. Most of us once it gets stolen it is gone. Let alone coming back nicer. In this day and age though you start seeing it more and more. Technology does have good sides.

 

I bought my 69 Cutlass on Ebay, it had a NY title. When I went to register it they said it was stolen in 1975 in Mass. It turned out the town where it was stolen no longer had paper records as of 2000. I had to file a lawsuit against the NCDMV and ultimately they issued me a title. For 50 years no one had an issue getting a title, till me. Apparently not all states search the national data base of stolen cars. I was really lucky, if they found the owner they would have taken the car. I assume it was recovered and the owner was paid by insurance and then sold at auction or some similar scenario.

Steve

 

I don't know how long you've owned it but I doubt your car had a title as NY only issues transferable registrations to vehicles manufactured before 72, not titles. I'm sure it makes it relatively easy to wash a title/registration through NY

 

That's weird, I've had it about 4 years and it had an actual title, I'll have to look for a copy I would have made of it. Maybe because it started as a Mass car?

 

I bought my 68 in MA in 03. I got clear MA title from the previous owner but never registered it in MA as I was restoring it. I moved to NY in 2009 and registered it. I was surprised that NY wasn’t a title state but they go by the rules of the state you bought the car from so I had to have the MA title to register it. They took the MA title (I kept a copy) and I received what NY calls a transferable registration, no title.

the really stupid thing about NY is the transferable registration is supposed to be kept in the car. If the car is stolen it’s like have the original title with the car. Someone could forge a couple signatures (nothing required a notary) and have the car legally (well not really legally) registered in an hour.