Is there any web pages listing stolen hamb friendly cars in california? i read somewhere about a wife looking for her husbands unchopped small block chevy model A, supposedly the husband dropped it off at a shop in northern calif and he shortly after passed away and the family has been looking for it. I just dont remember where I read it.
I think that goes for about any state anymore. I remember years ago guys would drop a car off at a shop where I worked without so much as leaving a phone number to call them. They told the boss what they wanted done and he scribbled it on a note pad and the work got done. If something had happened to one of those guys and his family didn't know where he took the car to have it worked on it might have ended up sitting there for months. Luckily that never happened while I was around the shop. Now start thinking about how we as rod or custom guys and gals often take our ride what amounts to a long ways from home to have work done if there is a certain shop where we want the work done. Most likely unless you are well known in the hot rod world and a number of guys know your car and know where you took it to have it worked on or the shop posted photos of it It could be sitting in a back room or back lot for months waiting to hear from the owner if something happened to the owner and the people at the shop may wonder where the hell the guy is or why he doesn't answer calls or emails but the family may not know where the car is and in some cases family member may not even know that there is a car out in a shop somewhere. Add to that, we all know at least one or two rodders we have known for years and see at events every year but have never seen their wives or family members. I knew one guy who's first wife didn't like the cars or anything to do with going with them. I only knew that because one of his friend's wives told me that when a bunch of us were at an event together. His wife passed away and a couple years later I saw him with a gal who was all into the whole car thing. I think that when they come up missing they stay missing is universal for most states now. Problem with us as rodders we often take a car quite a ways from the house to a certain shop to have work done for one reason or another as that is the shop we want the work done at or for some that is the shop that offers what seems to be an affordable price. Add to that some guys just aren't very good at telling their wives or family where they have a car being worked on or how to get in contact with the shop doing the work.
Might not be lost, or missing at-all. If you drop a car off at a shop in California, and don't come back to pay your bill, the shop can do a lien sale, and take legal ownership of it. I have done it, more than once. What they do with it, after that, is their own business. And no, no civilian can get access to DMV records. Many police jurisdictions require a report be filed for every DMV check, so your "cop buddy" may not be able to help you either.
Too many DMV checks without some sort of ticket or documentation as to why would raise a red flag in most any state. It's hard enough just to find out the Stolen/not reported as stolen, thing around here. Asked a cop friend if that was possible without needing any info on who the vehicle was titled or registered to and I never did get a real answer. I did figure out on one of my trucks that hadn't been registered for about 15 years when my aunt gave it to me that if they weren't in the computer the last time they were registered or titled you have to wait until they do a file search in the archives. I had a clear title but it was so old that it didn't come up in the computer. Now I think that was primarily to make sure that was the actual title to the truck and someone hadn't done a lost title on it in between.
The Jalopy Journal
