Thread: Stolen Mustang recovered after 38 years

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Originally Posted by rspears

The lady is foolish. The stolen car was likely closed out by insurance 38 years ago. The former owner has no claim - he was paid for his loss, and he moved on. She should get a lawyer, and to to the insurance company and reimburse them for the amount of the settlement. The question is interest on that money, which is why a lawyer might be needed. Giving it back to the original owner is gross stupidity, unless he wants to 1) pay back the insurance money plus interest, and 2) the insurance company goes after the used car lot that sold a stolen car. My question is how it took 38 years for this to come to light?? If I buy a car off of the lot in KS I have to title it in my name within 30 days, which means a the DMV verifies the former owner and a legit deal before I get a new title. Something is fishy here.....

Actually, according to the original newspaper account, the owner was NOT paid off by the insurance company. As such, believe it or not, he has legal ownership of the car in question.

As for why it took so long to find out, simple, according to California sources far closer to the car than I am have stated the VIN tag on the door was from another car (most likely scrapped at that time in a wreck), and it was not until a potential new buyer did a little research in to the cars real VIN did it come up as being stolen. It is also been stated to me that the VIN stamped into the drivers side fender panel had been covered over or filled in as until a scraping was done, it was not visible to the naked eye as being different from the drivers side door data tag. Not the first time this has happened either......

Bill S.

Originally Posted by mrmustang

Actually, according to the original newspaper account, the owner was NOT paid off by the insurance company. As such, believe it or not, he has legal ownership of the car in question.

As for why it took so long to find out, simple, according to California sources far closer to the car than I am have stated the VIN tag on the door was from another car (most likely scrapped at that time in a wreck), and it was not until a potential new buyer did a little research in to the cars real VIN did it come up as being stolen. It is also been stated to me that the VIN stamped into the drivers side fender panel had been covered over or filled in as until a scraping was done, it was not visible to the naked eye as being different from the drivers side door data tag. Not the first time this has happened either......

Bill S.

Wow, with your facts it is a whole different story, and I agree that the original owner is still the owner. A sad story, indeed.