Stolen Vehicle Returned - 37 Years Later -

[46HudsonPU]

Thought this interesting, although it was not a Hudson...
http://www.hagerty.com/NewsManager/templates/template_rest.aspx?articleid=923&zoneid=1

Curious - Couldn't they trace the ownership of the vehicle (from previous registrations/titles), just about all the way back to the car thief?

Also -
- Is he REALLY the owner of the vehicle? Seems to me that he probably had 'full coverage', and the insurance company most likely "paid off" for the loss - which would make it the insurance company's property, not his.

- GM gets a "C+" for giving a some bucks ($2,500) in credit for GM Parts, to restore the vehicle... Not much, considering they probably got $500,000 in free advertising out of it...

[bobbydamit]

I don't buy it. It seems more likely that the registration number was kept from his original car and the parts left in seperate trunks. Then the stripers had to put a serial plate on one for shipment over see's with a like body to get rid of it. No one keeps a stolen car all those years and no one buys it without a clear title unless the deal is just TOO GOOD TO PASS, and they look the other way. :rolleyes: The thief had to register it to plate it if he sold it after the plates expired. If the owners since it was stolen, assuming it is the same car, all bought and sold stolen merchandise, then the domino effect takes place and all the money should be recovered back to the original sale after the theft. Poor guy probably is not even aware he is the front car, in a 30 car pile up. :eek:

[Heart Of Texas]

I do not know the answers to the questions posed by the two previous posters... BUT the recovery return of the vehicle was shown on TV several months ago. The car was stolen in NY and when it was returned to the owner it had been found in a shipping container at a Ca port. The owner was interviewed on camera and did indeed identify the car. Has this happened before... ?

[tristansdaz]

I doubt it's happened with that large a gap before, but I've seen vehicles recovered after 5 to 10 years. It happened more often when New York and other states were non-title states. In reading another article on this car, the owner stated that it was not insured at the time of loss and he never thought he'd see it again.