I'll try to keep this short, but I promise it's an interesting read.
About 9 years ago I spotted a Rallye 350 about 10 mins from my house. I caught a glimpse of the rear end of it while riding passenger in a truck going down an interstate. It was only visible in the winter/spring before things greened up again. Even then it was only visible for less than a second as you drove by it. I know how to sniff them out right??
As soon as I got home that day, I got in my car & drove around that area till I found the car. It was sitting under a stand alone car port. The house was about 150 feet away. I didn't want to get shot for trespassing so I quickly left. The house also has a business there so I got the number & called the guy, Dan is his name. I told him I was in the process of restoring a Rallye & asked if I could take photos of his car as it seemed to be very original. He said sure so I was there in a day or two to do just that. Upon really looking at the car it appeared to be factory paint & had all the parts it should have(hood, air cleaner, wing, mirrors, etc..) The license plates were from 1980. So it had been on the road for 10 years & when I found it, it had been sitting for about 23 years. The paint was crap & it had rust in several areas, but again, was original & unmolested.
I took several reference photos of different areas & then checked with the owner a couple times a year to see if it was for sale yet. The answer was always no of course.....
Fast forward to this summer, a friend & customer of mine has his '70 Supreme in a body shop getting painted & notices a '70 Cutlass S being painted flourescent green. Well the guy who owned the green car disappeared & my friend bought the car from the body shop. The shop put a mechanics lein on the car & did a title search & it came back clean so my friend Duane then had another '70 Cutlass.
A month or two later I drove over to ask about buying the Rallye again & what do you know, it's gone! After a few choice words to myself about him selling to someone else, I asked a couple young kids "did Dan sell that car?" They tell me it was stolen a while back.
I called the owner(Dan) & he said someone dragged it out from where it had been sitting & he never saw it again. Did I mention that the '70 S that my friend Duane recently bought from the body shop has a OAI hood, wing, mirrors, etc..??
I'm starting to get a funny feeling that they might be the same car. I called the original owner Dan & asked if he had the VIN for his car. He could not find the title of the car after so many years, but when he reported the car stolen, he had the insurance paperwork with the VIN on it. He read it to me & I recorded it & told him I might have found his car. I called my friend Duane & told him about what was going on & the next day I compared the pictures I took many years ago & the VIN & what do you know I'm pretty sure it's the same car. But the old owner Dan, had given me a VIN with a N instead of a M. (should be 336870M not N) All Rallyes were built in Lansing(M) & I don't think N is even a valid code for an assembly plant. I was really scratching my head right about then & figured that many years earlier, Dan must have read the VIN wrong to the insurance company & when the car was stolen, he gave that VIN number for a car that doesn't even exist. That would explain why the body shop could get a clean title for the car when it was reported stolen. Duane & I figured that Dan would rather have the insurance money than a car that needed a total resto, as he was adamant that it was not his car & would not listen to any of my evidence that it was. So, by my pictures & investigation, I solved a car theft kind of. Sad thing was, no one seemed to give a S&$% but me!
So fast forward a few more months & now I own the car. Who ever stole the car really had the body shop do a number on it. They filled the trunk weatherstrip channel completely with bondo, bondoed up the fenders & quarters & disassembled most of the interior & changed the original engine(probably seized up) for a '73 or newer 350. Also a few parts have now gone missing, the OAI base, front bench seat, door panels, & a few other things. It still has the hood, OAI top, posi rear, mirrors, wing, sport wheel, & a few other nice things though. Oh yeah, also the cowl tag is gone. F'ing idiots!!!
I am leaning towards parting it out unless someone is looking for a expensive project. It's worth more parted than as a whole car I'm afraid.
Link to pictures of the car.
I'll put this in the parts for sale section soon.

http://s856.photobucket.com/albums/a...0rallye%20350/
Scott

 

Ain't that always the way?

- Eric

 

Too bad for the car, but it does have alot of good parts!

 

Wow, is that car butchered! As commented, lots of good parts! Cool piece of detective work.....you prob saved it from the crusher

Ted

 

Hey Scott, I saw this car on ebay awhile back. The owner should have sold it to you when you approached him about it. What a shame.

 

Yep sadly this one is better as a parts car after that body shop nightmare. There are plenty of gus who could use the good parts. Isn't it great when you figure something out and no one gives a d*** or thinks you're crazy.

 

I believe N is for the Norwood assembly plant, where F-bodies were built.

I've had the insurance company record the incorrect VIN for one of my cars (think my 66 GTO). when I noticed it on the paperwork I called and got it corrected. Obviously in a situation like what happened above, the correct VIN is rather important for insurance purposes.

 

I had an incorrect VIN on a car I had years ago, too. I think a "B" was written as an "8." I think I got it fixed, but I may have just let it go - the structure of the VIN in that year required a letter in that position, so there was no way it could have caused a major problem for me. In NYS at the time, making a change like that was like negotiating a truce in the Middle East - not too easy, and trying could get you into hot water you'd never even imagined.

But that's the "beauty" (if you could call it that) of this situation:

• The VIN was recorded incorrectly by the previous owner, and
• he now refuses to admit the possibility that he was wrong,

so any current registrant has a car free-and-clear with the correct VIN attached to it, with no stigma of prior theft or salvage.

If we didn't already know that car thieves tend to be stupid, we'd be admiring them for somehow setting it up this way.

Hey, at least you tried to set it right.

- Eric

 

If the insurance company paid on this car, regardless of the the VIN situation, it's their car. Be careful how much you broadcast this story.

 

+1.

 

What car? I was just making the whole thing up. Trying my hand at fiction you know..

 

Bob's-your-uncle, then.

 

PM about to be sent for parts for my Rallye

 

You got a nack for finding cars that get lost.....

 

Mo Money is in the mail

 

So this Dan guy let the car sit and rot for so many years but yet he kept theft insurance on it??? From the way the story went, it really seemed like he couldn't care less about the car. what a shame, someone really wants the car, he refuses to sell. Then it's stolen and butchered beyond repair. The poor car

 

PM sent

 

Whats the price on the wing?? Scott M

 

PM sent.

 

Ouch.....With that green paint I bet it was bound for some 22's!

 

PM sent

 

Hey Scott,

Not sure if you got my PM. They are not showing up in my folder.
Anyway, I saw a jack base and the bumper hook in your picture. How much do you want for those peices?

 

Some current pictures of (a) car.

ResizedImage_1398486035619_zpsbf86b83e.jpg

ResizedImage_1398485956515_zps2ee0c23e.jpg

ResizedImage_1398486001192_zpse4d950bb.jpg

 

Hi Scott.


You should have been a detective. Good work.


What are your plans for the Rallye 350?


Anthony

 

It has gone through 6 owners since it was stolen. The current owner is having it restored, but man is it rough!

 

So I take it he confirmed the title was clean?

 

If you read the thread, you know that the title is technically clean because it has a mistranscribed digit.

Were the car brought into one of the states where an official has to personally verify the VIN by actually looking at the car, it would presumably be impounded.

- Eric

 

You're right Eric. It's been a while since I read it. I wouldn't want to be the person that this car gets dumped on someday.

I also wouldn't trust the "story" about the VIN being recorded wrong. I just don't believe the insurance company wouldn't have had the VIN for the car already. Maybe it had always been registered with the N on the VIN prior to it being stolen. Either way putting $20k or $30k into a restoration on a car like this is risky.

 

Yeah, it can be tough with resurrected threads.

I agree that there is probably more to the story, starting with the fact that broken-down, rusted out cars that haven't run in over thirty years don't generally get stolen. They do, however, make for good insurance claims, and their owners, after that, are usually surprisingly unwilling to take them back, when the case is solved by a bunch of confounded, meddling kids.

As far as your last sentence, I'd use the word "stupid" instead of "risky."

- Eric

 

I do think the whole thing is a little fishy & I don't know if the part about the insurance company having the wrong vin number is true or not. But that is the only thing I can come up with that makes any sense? I am positive it is/was the same car but the original owner did not want to believe me or even talk to me about it.

 

Because he didn't want to get busted.

As long as it's out of your hands, life is good...

- Eric

 

I don't know what happened over the last 6 owners but if things were not straightened out the cars legal owner is the insurance company. The current owner may be thowing money out the window because he has the possiibility of losing the car at any time.

 

At least the new owner is going to restore it. It would be a shame to see another olds car parted out...

 

That's a great story. My guess is that he did not have someone steal the car. Why would he if you were constantly asking if it was for sale? You said it had not been registered, so it would be weird to have insurance (i.e. comprehensive only) on the car. Maybe homeowners insurance would cover the loss, but nearly what the classic auto insurers would give. It is strange that he refused to listen to your story. Unfortunately we will never know the truth.

 

Sounds like the car was never stolen.He probably sold it out from under you or it may have been impounded as an abandoned vehicle and sold at auction.The part about no title and didn't care sounds like he sold it but didn't want to tell you he sold it out from under you.

 

Because in its present condition, it wasn't worth &*%# to a genuine buyer.

The technique is simple:

• Register car (or whatever piece of paper you have that would prove ownership of car - actual car is optional).
• Insure car for more than it's worth, using bogus photos.
• Sell car (if car actually exists) to an accomplice for a very low price.
• Report car stolen. Make appropriate statements to the PO-lice.
• Receive payment.
• Accomplice does what he wants with car, so long as it doesn't involve registering it with its correct VIN, and usually sells it quickly.
  Taking it to a cheapo body shop, having it slathered in bondo and repainted a different color, and removing the trim tag are all possible steps in this process.

All in all, it sounds plausible to me.

- Eric