Found our stolen '31 coupe-but need advice!

There is a lot of value represented here and anything you do could fizzle or backfire. I think it is worth hiring a lawyer to plan your attack and to write letters insisting on action...getting authorities goaded into motion on an ancient and not very thrilling crime is an issue for sure!
I ***ume you can see the body from the street or something?? Do***ent that with a telephoto and some witnesses, prepare detailed lists of details, etc.
And open another line of advice and action; surely someone you know is a cop or knows one well. A cop will know the practicalities and what can and can't be expected to happen.

 

I had a similar situation about 15 years back. Some clown stole the police style center caps off my Corvette rally wheels-which I had cabled to a locking lug nut, the *** clown cut the cable.
Then about 1 week later my buddy was at the DMV and sees this idiot he knew from high school who ask him if he wants to buy some Corvette rally center caps. The guys describe them and my buddy figures out he's talking about my center caps. He gets the guys phone number and calls him a day later and says he wants to look at them.
I gave my buddy a copy of the receipt with the store I bought them from name on it. My buddy gets to the guys house looks at them and sees just as I described the store I bought them from initials were painted on the back side along with the purchase date. My buddy confronted the ***** with the receipt and points out the initials and describes my car that these were stolen off of. Well the guys face turns white. The guy had nothing to say because he was caught and gave up the center caps right quick!

The point I am making is when faced with facts a thief is usually too lazy to argue. If the guy knows it is stolen he will not fight the procedure that James427 was describing.

Marty McF.

 

It's been 4 years since the car was stolen. The new "owners" could very well have legitimately bought it from the thief or another person the thief sold it to... without a ***le or other paperwork... just like you did. So, going over and threatening him or stealing it back could just as easily land you in jail... or the hospital.

FYI, a drunk guy came over to our house the other day. He had been across the street at a party. He swore up and down that our dog was his old dog... a dog he abandoned with the previous owners of the house we moved into 2 months ago. I can see where he would get confused, especially drunk... but had he made an attempt to enter the yard and steal the dog, an ambulance would be accompanying the police car.

 

It's been 4 years since the car was stolen. The new "owners" could very well have legitimately bought it from the thief or another person the thief sold it to... without a ***le or other paperwork... just like you did. """

yup!!! just like me and a million others have done! hell, my coupe could have very well been "your" coupe, when i bought it! and i would have had no idea! so be really careful!
i wished all thieves would die slowly, but thats just not the way **** works!

so like others have said, if the guy that you bought it from had it for sale, he surely has a pic of it somewhere, and would most likely be of great help to your case!
to be only 2 miles from your house, well, just to close not to be invovled with it being stolen in the first place ! imho!!!!!
best of lucK!

 

Do NOT steal it back, or sneak onto his property to get a look at it. You do that, and get caught, and now you don't have a leg to stand on, period.
As some have said, it's very possible the guy who has it now bought it from someone else. Let the cops find out, and let THEM trace it back.
Rather than playing "Burn Notice," get the cops involved and be a pain in their ***. Solving crimes is what they (are supposed to) get paid for.

-Brad

 

I agree with those who recommend getting a s much back dated info as possible and going through all the proper legal channels first. This will enhance your chances of getting, and keeping, your car as well as keeping on the right side of the law. He could, after all, have bought it in a legitimate manner. You don't want to tip your hand, and I sure wouldn't go in to a known lawbreaker's house if I were female!. And if you show up with 5 big friends, and he's got 6 big friends and a gun, you still might not end up with the car.

In the meantime, I hope y'all got another car and didn't spend four years bemoaning "the one that got away".

 

I'd show up at their doorstep, if you are 100% sure, and if they run you off, call the cops right there and then. That way they won't just move the body.

My coworker had a grill stolen once... weber or something. Saw it a month later on someone's porche.

stole it back.

 

I just cannot agree. Without more proof in hand-serial numbers,***le,etc. you cannot be 100% certain this is your car,nor can you prove it is if and when you do get in. If I'm this guy and I bought this car "legitimately" and I've got the paperwork and I've now got it stamped,labeled,etc. as mine and you show up,"tough guy" on my doorstep wanting "your car" I will not be pleased or glad to see you. You could get hurt,shot,sued or lose any hope of legally getting your property back.

Why not just play it by the book?

 

Yea KILL THEM

 

REALLY??? KILL THEM??? STEAL YOUR STUFF BACK????? that makes you a criminal just like them! the law sometimes ****s [for us hot rodders ecspecially] but come on, killin them isnt the answer!!!!
payin someone else to....well thats just up to you!@!!!

 

Really? You would kill someone over a car that you don't even know that they don't have by mistake? This is the kind of **** that gets threads closed and wastes Ryan's bandwidth. Grow up.

 

I can't help but wonder......Is the trailer also in residence with the car? The trailer will have indentification on it.

You can get the address, go to the library, and consult the "City Directory". That will tell you the current resident, (if they are long term). You can also cross-referance for thier occupation, phone number, and a bit other info. How about "interviewing" a neighbor or two? See if you can get some idea as to when that car showed up? (Although you run the risk of that neighbor alerting the current "holder" of the coupe.)
Even if the car was purchased pseudo-legally by the current holder, the law should be able to get the seller's name, and perhaps find your trailer.
It seems that the trailer will be the "tie-breaker" here. You case will get very strong if you can get the cops to dig into it, find the seller's name and whereabouts, and if he's still got the trailer, you'll have your chain of evidence.
BUT....as has been said....DO NOT approach the current holder, let the law do that.....that's why you pay property taxes.

Roger

 

i've had a bit of experience with this, the other way around. i had an rpu body that someone else thought had been theirs, stolen about 2 years earlier. as i had bought the body along with some other parts recently, i had no idea if it really was this person's or not.

now... the thing is... as i'm not a criminal, so i was more than happy to talk with the friendly detective and even invite the possible correct owner over to check it out.

figured if it -was- the stolen rpu, i'll ride with the detective over to the guy's house that sold it to me.
if it wasn't, then at least the guy who thought it may be his knew it wasn't, and wouldn't be after me.

turns out that while the photos were damned close, the unique details weren't. made me feel better knowing it wasn't stolen.

if'n ya can get the detectives to actually go question the guy (hell, as a tax paying citizen, you're paying their salary!), he may be cooperative. innocent people often are. or he may run for the hills... often that's a sign of guilt

best of luck

 

years ago when i raced go carts we had all of our stuff stolen .we seen the cart at a track some 4 months later and because we had specific modifications listed on the police report we got our stuff back. those small details made all the difference. the serial# had been ground off and with out those details on the police report we would have been screwed. i hope you get your coupe back

 

Good luck.

 

If the police won't/can't make the time to investigate. Do what others are telling you, get an elected official ie mayor, ward representative, city councilman etc. involved. But make darn sure you have your duck's in a row, all you basically want right now is a good close look at the car.

 

i hope you get it back if it is yours, but the cops are pretty much gonna tell ya your out of luck or some ******** excuse

deal with cops all day long

good luck though !

 

Duct tape,shot gun,shovel. problem solved.

 

Unfortunately, didn't even have a chance to get insurance...stupid, i know.

 

my buddy had the same problem. he bought a 36 plymouth five window from a guy, he put extensive work into the chop, made it look like a stretched 36 ford 3 window. i mean EXTENSIVE. this guy came by the shop one day and claimed it was his, that he'd been in jail and the car was misssing. how he recognized it is beyond me, but turns out while he was locked up some one nagged it and sold it to my friend.

so in the end, my friend paying money for the car kept the car and they traced the seller and had him pay the guy who was in jail. so i wouldnt go with baseball bats just yet.

what does this coupe look like?

 

also, keep an eye on it, steathily.

if this guy has the model a theres a marginal chance he may check the HAMB. thatd be a good tip though...

 

do you have the engine numbers too? that 383 SBC should have some very easy numbers to follow.. and if its sitting in that garage it could also be the tie breaker.

 

Maybe it's just me and maybe I play my cards close to my chest ,,I donno,,BUT,,if I was playing devils advocate here I might toss out this question or two for consideration. Firstly people that steal and horde hot rods and hot rod parts are usually people that have an interest in hot rods,right? Apparently IF you are that sure the body is yours , you (or someone) had to have seen it up fairly close,right?.Was that a hot rod person to hot rod person meeting and discussion? My point here is simply ,,Who saw it , how good did they see it?and under what cir***stance was it seen? Now the kicker,lets just suppose that the alleged perp that is currently in posession of the car you have positively identified reads this?After all it IS read by a helluva lot of people and word travels mouth to ear awful dam fast!!,,You may have ALREADY tipped your hand,who knows?,,,And in that (albeit unlikely maybe)cir***stance what would you think the odds are of that stolen property still being where it was last seen or said to be seen? I sincerely do wish you good fortune in (1) proving the goods are yours (2) recovering said goods (3)seeing justice done to a thief. Anyway, as was said before ,,,free advice ,,,at least its worth its price ,,,,good luck !

 

We really wish we had found this place alot sooner - you all have provided more information to us than we have tried to seek out in 4 years! I believe that I have some researching to do and start tracking down the previous owner again. Although some of the 'other alternative methods' do sound tempting... I think we shall behave and be proper (to a certain extent). You have been more than helpful....thank you so much. I'll keep you posted!

 

What you NEED to do is contact the person you bought the car/body from. A: he may have pictures of it whihc will help identify it and B: he will be a disinterested 3rd party who has nothing to gain by attesting that it's your car. Absolutely do not confront the guy who has the car now, why not do you think he might be the guy who stole it in the first place? Makes sense it is grabbed right in front of your house and dragged only a short distance and hidden. No one ever thinks of looking in their own back yard. Remember possession is 9/10's of the law. Any information you have about the car such as the difference in the top the dash etc. I would put into a notarized do***ent even if it is in the police report you have your copy as a back up thing just happen to get lost.
I bought a 69 Chevelle convertible from a guy who used to be my Snap On tech equipment dealer. It was manly dis***embled but the body was painted and straight so I bought it. I was about 80% done with the project when we needed to order something for the car and the guy says give me the VIN number. He says you ain't got no convertible you got a 2 door hard top. I was like WTF the car was tagged and I never even noticed it because they did such a good job. I have a ton of money in to the car now so I contact the guy I bought it from and he's avoiding me like the plague. Well who happens to just show up at my shop the county sheriff's department. The ****hole was claiming I had stolen the car from him. Well surprise surprise I had contacted a friend who was with the NJ State Police Auto Theft unit and they were conducting an investigation of their own. Come to find out this wasn't the first time this guy pulled this scam and the guy from the Sheriff's department was his brother in law. After a lot of B/S and paper work the State Troopers found who the original owner was and he verified that the car was stolen back in 1973. He had gotten paid by his insurance company so he didn't care. So I got a legal ***le to the car after 15 months of ****. Moral of this dragged out story is DON'T TRUST ANYONE!!!!!! not even your local cops. You never know who's a friend of a friend etc. Go to the state troopers or CHP etc.
I believe you do stand a very good chance of getting your car back if you go about it correctly. Anyone in this hobby and yes even the cops know that you don't always have a ***le or paper work on old cars you buy.

Good luck

 

And...add in a notarized statement on the details from a friend familiar with the body, backing your statement, and if you can find and get help from that last owner, type up HIS memories on this stuff and drag him to the drugstore to notarize it.

 

Any update on this?

 

You might be a redneck if... your Porsche is equipped with a Weber gas grill so you can cook hotdogs while racing...

Especially if it's already "hot" before you even light a fire in it.

 

Show up and take it back.
Was your trailer registered?
It would have a serial number.

Oh don't forget to pack a grease gun.

I always bring my heater with me, I had a guy and his buddy attempt to roll me for a bike a was selling.

2 on one.

Soon as they saw they heater they got in their car and left.

I wouldn't push it though.

They stole it from you.

Something will happen to them.

Karma, it's everywhere you're going to be.

 

I know a guy that had his pickup stolen from in front of his shop. He eventually found out where it was after his engine and transmission rolled off of a trailer in the neighborhood of the people who took it. He could see the body from the street, but the police wouldn't do anything unless they could read the license plate or VIN number from the street. Of course, the thieves removed both of those. Later someone gave him the heads up that his truck body was at an abandoned vehicle auction and he had to bid on his own truck.

A decade later, after the truck has been completely rebuilt and moving out of state and back, he can't sell it legally because the thieves peeled the VIN off of it. He has to go through the state again to get it inspected.

All I can say is good luck. The police are pretty useless in these matters.

Dave