Mustang stolen in 1980 confiscated

7173Mustangs.com

Help Support 7173Mustangs.com:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
1973_Mustang_Conv

1973_Mustang_Conv

Well-known member
7173 Mustang Supporter Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2014
Messages
119
Reaction score
14
Location
Charlotte
My Car
1973 Mustang Convertible.
Restoring and fixing as I go.
Here in Alabama, in the past the DMV would get mad at me if I brought them a title on one of my 71-73 purchases. They would tell me they only needed a signed Bill of Sale (and only recently have required that it be notarized) in order to register the vehicle. A few years ago they started requiring an inspection for all out of state purchases. I have never bought anything knowing it was stolen. Unfortunately, I don't know all the history of all of my cars going back to day one, and neither did the people I bought them from. I'm very disappointed to be reading this new thread and the comments made by people off this site about the posts in the thread. It's very scary. The DMV here only looks at the dash VIN plate when they do an inspection. They never look for numbers on the shock towers. When they OK the inspection, I'm sure they do an internet data base check to see if the car was ever reported as being stolen. At no time when I have ever had a car registered did the DMV say that any of my cars were stolen, but I feel it's just a matter of time before that happens. They don't title cars this old in Alabama. A lot of times I never even asked for a title because it wasn't needed here. They just give registration certificates which should allow the car to be titled in another state. My question is this, "Since I live in a state that doesn't require titles, am I in any way protected or treated differently than someone who lives in a title state?" I dump a lot of money in my cars and would hate to see a car I bought for $500 that I put $50,000 into cause me the kind of grief that poor soul is going through. I also have paid lots of money for Hagerty insurance for my cars, and I wonder if they would pay anything to me if a car they insured was found to be stolen in the past. That's a question I plan to ask them next week. It seems the DMV should be taking some responsibility in granting me ownership of a vehicle. They get to collect the fees, and taxes, and, I guess, they would be the very ones collecting the car and impounding it. I'm pretty sure it is a big ordeal here to run a title check on a car, so I have never done it before buying a car. I don't think I can just call the DMV and say, "I'm thinking about buying this car and I'd like to know if it was ever reported as being stolen." I'm sure I'd have to fill out twenty pages of forms and pay a fee and mail it all to Montgomery and then wait three months to get a reply. How's everyone else feeling about this?

 
Excellent point kevken1959. I too feel the last owner of the car had no idea the car had ever been stolen. This almost looks like we need title company similar to the one used for real estate for the transfer of ownership of cars? I hope it doesn't get to that!

Ray

 
Excellent point kevken1959. I too feel the last owner of the car had no idea the car had ever been stolen.  This almost looks like we need  title company similar to the one used for real estate for the transfer of ownership of cars?  I hope it doesn't get to that!

Ray
Click to expand...
I was thinking the same thing Ray, title insurance! I sent an email to Hagerty to see if they would pay me if anything like that happens to a car they insure for me. I'll post the answer when I get it. I'm going to talk to someone at the DMV here next week as well.

 
[it seems the DMV should be taking some responsibility in granting me ownership of a vehicle]

Yes indeed, its very surprising to me that the officials more or less say, k, we gave you official papers for a stolen car,

that you are not a thief and likely more PO's before you, is irrelevant. You payed for it but hey guess what, these papers have no legal value.

We did not do our work the way we should have back then as checking by hand was too much to process.

As we discovered computers are handy just last week and we shall take no blame and do what is "right".

Looks like lawyers got themselves a new source of income.

 
[it seems the DMV should be taking some responsibility in granting me ownership of a vehicle]

Yes indeed, its very surprising to me that the officials more or less say, k, we gave you official papers for a stolen car,

that you are not a thief and likely more PO's before you, is irrelevant. You payed for it but hey guess what, these papers have no legal value.

We did not do our work the way we should have back then as checking by hand was too much to process.

As we discovered computers are handy just last week and we shall take no blame and do what is "right".

Looks like lawyers got themselves a new source of income.
Click to expand...

Yes, and in my personal experience (and I have had way to much experience I must say) the lawyers are the ONLY ones who make any money off these deals!

 
[it seems the DMV should be taking some responsibility in granting me ownership of a vehicle]

Yes indeed, its very surprising to me that the officials more or less say, k, we gave you official papers for a stolen car,

that you are not a thief and likely more PO's before you, is irrelevant. You payed for it but hey guess what, these papers have no legal value.

We did not do our work the way we should have back then as checking by hand was too much to process.

As we discovered computers are handy just last week and we shall take no blame and do what is "right".

Looks like lawyers got themselves a new source of income.

If you think title transfers are expensive and take too long now, just wait until Every Single title transfer has to go through an exhaustive history.  This type of fraud is vanishingly small compared to the total number of automotive title transfers that happen.  And with services like CarFax, it gets even smaller for newer cars.  I think this is a case of be careful of what you ask for.
Click to expand...
 
Right. That's my problem. I am one of the .0000000000000001% of people in the whole wide world who has bought 99.9999999999999% of all of the 1971 to 1973 Mustangs (or so it seems to me). Now I find out I have a 99.9999999999999% chance that one of the .0000000000000000001% of cars in the whole wide world that I bought turns out to be a stolen vehicle, and it's going to cause me to have 100.00000000000000000% aggravation in my life that I never expected when I laid down $500 for the car and put $1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 dollars into it!!!!!!!!(and I know what all of you are saying, "I wish I had HIS problems!!! LOL

 
Well, we do pay the State to keep track of our cars so they are partially responsible.

So what would I do if my 13 year old Mustang was stolen and then found 37 years later? It's been totally modified, redone and driven by who knows who. The current owner dumped a BUNCH of money into it and didn't know it was stolen. They really thought they were buying a car on the up and up. Unless it has some extreme sentimental value to me (which is partially lost because of the restoration) I think I would just sell it back to the guy for whatever his insurance company gave him. That's kind of a win/win. I wouldn't feel right driving around in a car someone else, in good faith, paid to restore.

I wonder, if you had receipts to prove you replaced things on the car, like engines, transmissions, seats, door panels, etc, could you claim those are yours? Sure, the paint can't be removed but could you rightfully claim any removable parts that you have a receipt for? Interesting.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Tried to find the google story but this is from memory.

Guy has 427 Shelby Cobra stolen in 1973 - Gets $4000 insurance settlement for it but signs an agreement that if it is ever recovered he gets to buy it back for 4k.

1995 - Car is re-imported into the US from Europe in pristine condition and is discovered to be stolen.  Car confiscated - Insurance declines to sell it back to the original owner - lawyers get involved.

Paperwork convinces Judge to honor the 4K agreement.  Check is written and Cobra is returned.  Insurance Co is sued for fees and expenses and a settlement is reached out of court.

Car is sold and the guys modest retirement gets much better.

- Paul

 
Tried to find the google story but this is from memory.

Guy has 427 Shelby Cobra stolen in 1973 - Gets $4000 insurance settlement for it but signs an agreement that if it is ever recovered he gets to buy it back for 4k.

1995 - Car is re-imported into the US from Europe in pristine condition and is discovered to be stolen.  Car confiscated - Insurance declines to sell it back to the original owner - lawyers get involved.

Paperwork convinces Judge to honor the 4K agreement.  Check is written and Cobra is returned.  Insurance Co is sued for fees and expenses and a settlement is reached out of court.

Car is sold and the guys modest retirement gets much better.

- Paul
Click to expand...
Wow! Very interesting story Paul. Impressive the original owner had the wherewithal to sign that agreement.

 
Well, we do pay the State to keep track of our cars so they are partially responsible.

So what would I do if my 13 year old Mustang was stolen and then found 37 years later?  It's been totally modified, redone and driven by who knows who.  The current owner dumped a BUNCH of money into it and didn't know it was stolen.  They really thought they were buying a car on the up and up.   Unless it has some extreme sentimental value to me (which is partially lost because of the restoration) I think I would just sell it back to the guy for whatever his insurance company gave him.  That's kind of a win/win.   I wouldn't feel right driving around in a car someone else, in good faith, paid to restore.  

I wonder, if you had receipts to prove you replaced things on the car, like engines, transmissions, seats, door panels, etc, could you claim those are yours?   Sure, the paint can't be removed but could you rightfully claim any removable parts that you have a receipt for?  Interesting.
Click to expand...
All great points, Mike. BTW, I saw your build. Love it! Now all that tripower Cleveland needs is Nitrous :D

 
I remember one story like this but it involved a motorcycle and not a car. My friend had an old Harley for more than ten years when the engine started tiring out. So he sent it to Harley as part of their in house engine rebuild program. Well imagine his surprise when it turns out the vin on the engine had been reported to Harley as belonging to a stolen bike. If I recall correctly he was out both motor and bike in the end.

I agree with the posts in this thread in that we pay DMV fees etc. They should bear some responsibilty for doing everything possible to make sure documented stolen vehicles can't be registered. And a database where the consumer could pre purchase check that information would certainly be helpful. Even if it costs a nominal fee......which surely it would!

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

Similar threads

jscott
BOLO Stolen Mustang W/Trailer
Replies
9
Views
2K
73CobraJet
7
W
Introduction and looking for my dad's 1971 Mach 1
Replies
18
Views
2K
wcsii3
W
RocketFoot
From the 7173 Wiki Blog: Members Rides
Replies
0
Views
1K
RocketFoot
RocketFoot
Boss1Ray
Mustang owner back in the day
Replies
5
Views
2K
OzCoupe72
O
Fredensborg
How I met my Mustang
2
Replies
28
Views
4K
tpj71mach
tpj71mach

Latest posts

Back
Top