My friend recently told me she had a '67 Camaro coupe stolen back in 1975. With the 13 digit vin, she is unable to do a vin search. What is the best way to get started to possibly locate the car, if it's possible at all. As it's been so long, maybe the car is floating around out there somewhere. Thanks for your input. the vin is:123377n233063

if that car is still floating around out there i don't think it would still have the original vin tag on it? i'm sure it was stripped.

If by chance she still has the police report, I would suggest sending a copy to Kurt S over at CRG and see if it might be in their data base. If it is and he shows a current owner, something might be able to be done. Would be nice if it still were running around but being a 1233 VIN it most likely has been cut up and parted out or made into a drag car

Jeff, I love your signature!!!!!!!!!

I would suggest sending a copy to Kurt S over at CRG and see if it might be in their data base.

It's not in CRG's data base, sorry.

This kind of thing makes me uneasy.

If by chance this car is floating around out there, is it really ok to strip the current owner of it. We all know that in reality most of the 67's that were daily drivers back in 1975 would not have made it to today. So along comes an enthusiast like ourselves that has taken a piece of junk and recreated a lost piece of art. It just doesn't sit right that an individual that most likely would have used up and left for dead a vehicle 30yrs ago could come and take my hard work.

jm .02

TSTONE...What if it was your daily driver that was stolen back in 1975 ? Would you feel like you had every right to get it back ?

If it was worth getting back - I would have had insurance on it and gotten paid back. Otherwise I think this person at best would be entitled to actual value at the time of loss. Which in 1975 would have been about $1000.00 tops, not the lottery payoff this guy is probably gunning for by taking someone elses hard earned work and money from.

I bought a 67 from this man who had one rotting for years in his back yard , and he did'nt have the title but promised it was not stolen . I took what I needed from it .. it was beyond repair. I posted in the bench racing .. topic was " some are unrestorable " . I drilled out the vin and have it as a key chain .. numbers were going right up to the point where mine is built in " L " . sorry .

you never know .. keep looking !!

If it was not recovered it would be titled to the insurance company that paid off the claim. They would be the owners of record.

If it was recovered it would have been processed through a salvage auction and either junked or sold. If it still exists the owners may have legally acquired it.

Remember Doug... He bought a 69 that had been stolen about that long ago. The car went back to the original owner.

my issue is with the stories that come up about once a year, where some poor guy bought a wreak and restored it only to have someone take it away.

Having been a victim myself in 1981, If I found mine I would not hesitate to try and get the car back. Ya it would suck to be the guy that bought it but technically they should have checked it out when they bought it. Because lets face it...it sucked when it was stolen from me.

I know a guy who bought a truck and had it about 5 years. One day the police showed up and wanted to check it out because they suspected it was stolen. The 1st thing they did was pull the cowl to look at the hidden vin number. It turned out to be stolen. It went back to the owner it was stolen from after it was gone more than 7 years.

Don't local DMV offices perform a stolen vehicle check when one applies for title? It seems that this type of stuff should be easy to catch with all of the data accessible through computers.

Guys remember when this car was stolen. The car probably wasn't insured. If by chance it was then the car would go to the insurance company if it is recovered.

A friend had a 58 Fuel Injected Vette project years ago. He had it all apart with the frame leaning on the wall. Had owned it for about 2 years. Doorbell rings and it is the Highway patrol asking if he has the car. He says yes, they say it is stolen, he says no, it is in the garage. Turns out the orig owner had been out of state for four years and had it and a 57 Porsche Speedster stolen out of storage containers while he was gone. He bought both cars new and drove them into the ground. The thieves thought he had died. They did a lien sale thru a Ford dealership that one of the thieves dad owned and titled them in their name. They never altered the vins.Long story short. The guy got the 58 Vette back all apart and had no clue what to do with it so I bought it. The Porsche had been fully restored and sold for 75K at a dealership. He got his Porsche back in new car condition.

A friend had a 58 Fuel Injected Vette project years ago. He had it all apart with the frame leaning on the wall. Had owned it for about 2 years. Doorbell rings and it is the Highway patrol asking if he has the car. He says yes, they say it is stolen, he says no, it is in the garage. Turns out the orig owner had been out of state for four years and had it and a 57 Porsche Speedster stolen out of storage containers while he was gone. He bought both cars new and drove them into the ground. The thieves thought he had died. They did a lien sale thru a Ford dealership that one of the thieves dad owned and titled them in their name. They never altered the vins.Long story short. The guy got the 58 Vette back all apart and had no clue what to do with it so I bought it. The Porsche had been fully restored and sold for 75K at a dealership. He got his Porsche back in new car condition.

Can I have it?

it would be great to see the owner get his car back but at the same time a person who loses their pride and joy over it would be a painful sight to see. I can tell you right now however if somebody over showed up saying i had a stolen car would need god himself to get the car back off of me!

or someone with a badge and a court order ....

...this may be a 'dumb' question, ...but is there a National database (whether accessible by law enforcement or DMV offices) where they could search to see that a specific VIN is 'clean'?
...it would be even better if you could get some sort of documentation from such database, ...noting your VIN is indeed clean.

...Imagine... Building a pro-touring Camaro, ...rebody or dynacorn, ...you find a totally rusted out worth nothing shell at a local junk yard for the VIN, ...have it checked at your state's DMV, ...it comes back clean, ...so you register it in your name, ...plates issued, ..you're all set to go.
Only later to find, ...that the donor 'junkyard shell' was reported stolen whatevr number of years ago, ...in another state... :sad:

...this may be a 'dumb' question, ...but is there a National database (whether accessible by law enforcement or DMV offices) where they could search to see that a specific VIN is 'clean'?
...it would be even better if you could get some sort of documentation from such database, ...noting your VIN is indeed clean.

...Imagine... Building a pro-touring Camaro, ...rebody or dynacorn, ...you find a totally rusted out worth nothing shell at a local junk yard for the VIN, ...have it checked at your state's DMV, ...it comes back clean, ...so you register it in your name, ...plates issued, ..you're all set to go.
Only later to find, ...that the donor 'junkyard shell' was reported stolen whatevr number of years ago, ...in another state... :sad:

Yes there is. YOu can call the local police department in any larger city and ask if the car has been reported stolen. In fact, in Oklahoma, when you apply for a title via the lien statutes, that is the first step, to verify the car has not been reported stolen. That is why you DO NOT purchase a first gen Camaro without checking the hidden VIN derivitive, to make sure it matches the VIN plate.

Secondly, anyone who uses a junkyard shell VIN to build a dynacorn pro touring car..... well, I can't feel too sorry for them. If you are truly building a car from scratch, the proper procedure is to apply for a state issued VIN. Just my 02 cents.

Thanks !!

[quote=TSTONE;775377]This kind of thing makes me uneasy.

If by chance this car is floating around out there, is it really ok to strip the current owner of it. We all know that in reality most of the 67's that were daily drivers back in 1975 would not have made it to today. So along comes an enthusiast like ourselves that has taken a piece of junk and recreated a lost piece of art. It just doesn't sit right that an individual that most likely would have used up and left for dead a vehicle 30yrs ago could come and take my hard work.

jm .02[/quoteGet real, if my car was stolen, I'd want it back. I wouldn't give a Rat's a$$ who put there blood, sweat , and "hard work" into my "STOLEN" car. Granted, it probably was chopped up for parts, or made into a drag car, or sittin' in somebodies garage as their "lost piece of art", but if the original owner want's the car back, and theres the slimmest to none hope they can find it, they are entitled to it. Anyway, with my original post I was just wondering if there were any avenues for looking for the " Needle in a haystack" stolen '67 Camaro from 30 odd years back. Tall order, just thought i'd throw it out there for her. Thanks for all your input!!:thumbsup:

When someone buys a car in the US to export it, like many Swedes do, the Custom inspectors in USA checks the VIN in a database to check that the car is clean. There are a lot of cases were they have found that the car has been stolen.

Remember the story a while ago about the Corvette a Swede bought that had been stolen in 1970 or so. The original owner got it back and the Swedish guy lost a lot of money.


I think it is a correct way of handling it. It is the responsibility of the buyer to check that everything is correct. If the US Customs can find that a Corvette was stolen in 1970 even if it had clean plates in some states later, so could you.


Jan

[QUOTE=...Secondly, anyone who uses a junkyard shell VIN to build a dynacorn pro touring car..... well, I can't feel too sorry for them. If you are truly building a car from scratch, the proper procedure is to apply for a state issued VIN. Just my 02 cents.[/QUOTE]

...not something I am doing, ...but I thought/believe that some of these larger companies/dealers are putting (for example) '69 VIN's on the rebuilds.
I totally agree, it's risky business if you don't know the history of the VIN.

[QUOTE=... It is the responsibility of the buyer to check that everything is correct...[/QUOTE] :yes:

...That pretty much sums it up...

I would think that there are a ton of stolen cars from the past that aren't in any database b/c the report is on a paper police report locked away in an archive in some small town hall. They were stolen with no insurance and after all these years have been retitled.

It would just be a matter of someone taking the time to look for their old car that got stolen over 30 yrs ago but for most of these, I just don't see it happening.

If you purchase a car with a clean title, who would think it might be stolen. And even if you were thorough enough to check it out, how would you even go about knowing FOR SURE.

Fortunately, the vast majority of transactions do not involve stolen cars.

I do know that in SC if you purchase a car from or through "Legitimate Means"
ie; auction, lisc. dealer like Carmax etc it's yours.
Little story here
Back in 2002 I bought a 1974 CJ-5 Jeep at a monthly auction that a local towing company has. Bought it parts only no title which is not a problem since I was going to junk it anyway. Fast forward 1 year----- Jeep is sitting in my fenced lot since I sold it to a buddy of mine. Plain clothed cop comes walking in the office (I ran a 4x4 specific junkyard) and says Ken I'm here because you have a stolen Jeep. I told him "no I don't" but which one are you talking about??? When he told me the white 1974 I knew exactly the Jeep. We walked down to the lower fenced lot where the Jeep had been parked for 5 months, verified the serial number(after my Rotweiler almost ate him for lunch) and said yes this is it where did you get it from. I told him that I bought it at the City wrecker and towing auction and went and got my receipt. He called them to verify that I did buy it from them. Then told me that by law since I had bought it through legitimate means that he could not take it from me in South Carolina???? Turns out the county Sheriff had it towed after someone running from them bailed on foot and got away. They then reported the Jeep stolen and saw it at my place sometime later and called the cops saying "hey I found my stolen Jeep". their plan backfired on them when they couldn't get it back.
My point being that there are laws protecting legitimate owners from losing there stuff