Filed under: Time Warp, Sports/GTs, Government/Legal
Shelby GT350 stolen 26 years ago returned to insurance company, not owner
From the bible of the collector car world comes a cautionary tale of a stolen Shelby and a good lesson in caveat emptor. John Draneas of Collector Car Market recounts the story of a 1965 Shelby GT350 that was stolen back in 1979. The insurance company paid the owner $6500 and the vehicle was never seen from again. Well, not with its original serial number at any rate. While running a cursory check of eBay, Shelby American Automobile Club Registrar Howard Pardee came across a nice looking '65 GT350. With a little legwork, he discovered that the car had been reported stolen and unrecovered back in 1979. He contacted the eBay seller and that's when things got really interesting.
The seller had purchased the car in 1980 with a reproduction Shelby serial number tag and a seemingly clean New York title. Pardee also tracked down the original owner who was shocked to learn his Shelby was on eBay and more amazed that, although the bidding was only at $121,000, the value of the car might be closer to $150,000 or even $175,000. He contacted his insurance company and the police and wanted his car back. The car was taken off eBay and impounded, but didn't go back to the original owner. The insurance company had already paid off that claim a long time ago. Case closed.
The eBay seller was out of luck too, as he had no legitimate claim to the vehicle unfortunately. He is trying to work out an arrangement with the insurance company so he can perhaps repurchase his car from them and recoup some of his loss. Although he had paid for the vehicle back in 1980, the seller at that time was not legally able to sell the car, as he was an accomplice of the thief. So although he had possession of the vehicle for 26 years and watched the value skyrocket, he is not legally entitled to any of that windfall. Bummer for everybody except the insurance company and the thief ironically, as the statute of limitations has long since passed. A civil suit appears to be the eBay seller's only hope of justice. Read the whole story by following the link.
[Source: Sports Car Market]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Green Lotus Elise 9:54PM (10/09/2006)
Talk about a nightmare! Hopefully the seller can somehow come out even through all of this.
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Greg A. 10:53PM (10/09/2006)
Screw the civil suit! Something (if you catch my drift) should happen to the seller who sold the car in 1980 and the law should unofficially look the other way.
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2010 Mustang 11:08PM (10/09/2006)
Oh man, If I were the seller I'd want to blow my head off.
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Andy 12:19AM (10/10/2006)
That happened in the case of the stolen C3 Corvette that vanished in the late 1960s. The current owner (who I believe was selling it) lost the car as it was returned to the original owner.
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cars specifications 2:20AM (10/10/2006)
How is the owner in this case: a lucky man or hard lucky man ?
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Gardiner Westbound 7:21AM (10/10/2006)
The insurance cartel always wins!
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Adam 9:51AM (10/10/2006)
That is a crappy ending to a crappy story. As for the original owner, appreciation is a bitch, but when he was paid out the value of the car when it was stolen, he could have bought another one and even if he had, he may have sold it by now. The seller on the other hand, I feel bad for. So he is royally screwed. If he purchased the car legally under the belief that it was a reproduction, he should at least get what he paid for the car from the Insurance company that took it from them. There will be bad karma for whoever buys this car when it goes to auction.
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GOT 9:52AM (10/10/2006)
LOL! Darn right the insurance company is going to take that car. Look at it's worth. They want it for monetary-value's sake and it looks like they will use the law to get it, ethical-rights-be-damned! What a shame that something can't be worked out between the original owner and the guy who thought he was the owner (and I hope that something is worked out between them and the insurance company doesn't try to rip them).
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UpIrons 11:27AM (10/10/2006)
If I was the seller I would wreck the car on the way to delivering it to the insurance company.
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Carlos Rivera 12:33PM (10/10/2006)
they could make a movie from that story!!!!, preaty interesting indeed!!
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David P Brown 12:52PM (10/10/2006)
I see more of the guy who did all the research at fault on this one. If he just would have minded his own business none of this would have happened.
But legally it is the insurance company's car, they paid for it!
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whofan 3:31PM (10/10/2006)
The seller ehould take the insurance company to court. Sue them for 25 years of storage and car care.
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Jason 10:52PM (10/10/2006)
@ whofan.
Actually, he can and at $20/day for 26 years = $189,800.
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AMcA 12:22AM (10/11/2006)
It's not that the seller was an "accomplice" of the thief. It's that he bought from the thief all the thief had: that is, nothing.
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Eric 4:49AM (10/11/2006)
That sucks, but he still did get his $6500.00
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