Okay, here's the deal- I recently moved to a part of the country, far from where I used to be. In my wanderings, besides finding a '66 Impala with a factory 327/ 4-speed, at an abandoned house, I found a '26-'27 Roadster body. Here's the dilemma- In talking with a few people, it appears that the owner skipped town, as the long arm of the law was after him for back child support, and left the body there, after moving out in about 1 night. You can see the body from the road, right beyond the "No Trespassing" signs. There is no sign of life at the house, I don't know if the guy owned the house, or was renting, and I would love to get that roadster body, it appears, from what I can see, to be complete and in decent shape, missing only the trunk lid. It looks to be on a custom tube frame, which I have no interest in, as I have access to an "A" frame.... What would you do? make a "midnite parts run"? Try and find out who owns the property, and begin the process of vehicle abatement/removal/lien sale/abandoned property? Ignore it and move on, and watch it slowly disintegrate (it's right near the Ocean, and, uncovered, it doesn't figure to last too long before it becomes un-savable). I'm not saying I would trespass, and steal the body, far from it... I am just wondering what fellow HAMBer's would do...What prodedure would you use? Has anyone ever tried to acquire something from somewhere where no one lives anymore? How did you go about acquiring what you wanted? I don't want to see another nice piece of Vintage Tin go to the Rust graveyard....
I would try to research the property tax records via the internet and find out who actually owns the property. Try to contact them and make a deal, even if it's the outlaw or one of their family. Chances are they could use a couple hundred bucks.
This was just discussed at length a week or two ago- do a search.....Pardon me but......It makes you sound like you are considering the "option "just by doing this post....... Do a records search at the county where its located and you and all the other people prowling around others property will soon find THERE ARE NO ABANDONED PROPERTIES....Someone owns every peice of land on this continent-its up to you to FIND OUT WHOS that one is......JEEESH!
..It makes you sound like you are considering the "option "just by doing this post....... I'm not saying I would trespass, and steal the body, far from it... Was that not clear enough for you??
in less time than it took you to type this you could find out the owner of this property, you know the city ,the county , the state, the location, do some leg work an go to the tax office, it is all public info,granted some states and counties charge a look up fee,, there is not one parcel of land that is not owned by someone, just like stated above , i have done this numerous times in order to determine who owned the land, and then the items that are still sitting on it, those can be determined after finding the legal owner
You should go get the body, but I'm afraid you'll have to burn down the house in order to hide your tracks. Ask the property owner (definately not the clown that skipped town). When the grace period on the lease or whatever has expired, I guarantee you that the owner will have all the dudes crap hauled off to make the place presentable to future renters.
Someone is paying taxes on that property. If not, then the county "owns" it. I once got a bunch of building materials for free from a house that looked abandoned but turns out was bought by the city for a road widening project. I contacted the city's building manager, nice fellow. He didn't care what was on the property. He just told me I needed to get what ever I wanted fast because the dozers were arriving the following Monday and it would all be gone. Free and Legal. Now there's a couple words you don't hear too often in the same sentence.
Thanks for the tips, I think I will be at the County Office with the street address tomorrow at 8 AM. I've never had to do this before, as it appears some of you have, and, ince I didn't know this subject had been covered recently (I've been sorta busy unpacking and putting up shelving, etc.) so from here I'll do a search, and take it from there- Thanks again-
Most counties have all the tax ownersship papers on line......easy to do... Just remember...... Stealing is just wrong....... .
Last year a buddy wanted to know if I wanted to go 50-50 on a trailer load of Harley parts that had been left on a guys property. Property owner had broken the lock to see what had been in the box all that time. We looked at the stuff, ..............and thought about what would happen when the (owner?) or former owners saw the stuff at a local flea market. Find out who owns that T body, offer to put a tarp on it for protection and offer a fair amount to give to the landowner.
To answer the MORAL question...stealing from the nastiest rottonest son of a bitch in the world is still stealing and that makes you a no good son of a bitch. IMHO. If you wanted to know how to go about getting it legally, then that's not a MORAL question. IMHO
Yes, I wanted to know how to do it legally. I've got way too much to lose, in Karma, property, cars, and other stuff, to take a dumb chance for an unknown condition T body. Thanks again for the tips, I'll be researching the property ownership tomorrow- this county doesn't have that info online. I know of, and have heard stories of, people just stealing what they wanted off what appeared to be abandoned property. Please let me repeat, as I did in the original post, I have not now, nor have I ever, had any intention of doing anything illegal. It could rust right back into Mother Earth, and I still wouldn't do something like that.
get in touch wt the mother of his kids.. give her a fair price...its hers also and this way the children will have food and close on there backs,,,,anyone that runs out on there kids wtout pa6ying doen,t deserve too have it anyway....his money is too suppport the kids
I agree, If I was that dude I better not find out who took my ride "legally" as it would hurt my feelings. Find out who own the property,then who owns the car he probably needs money.If you find him you might even get a reward!!
Check with the County Engineering Department. Generally they have digital maps similar to 911 and info on the owner, property tax bill payers address and even the property address if you don't know it. Just tell them what street or road its on and some type of landmark or how many houses it is from the end of the closest intersection. It's tempting to just get it. I'm the guys father in law and I'll sell it to you for $5. Just kidding. Good luck
If you cant find out through proper chanels who ownes it, I would say the best thing to do is you and a friend or two go out there using one friend as a look out armed with a barett light.50 cal sniper rifle to guard your perimiter as you walk in there and steal the shit out of the body. And poof as fast as you got there youll be gone and a roadster body richer.
Jus' cause some Texas politician fella went an stole an election,don't mean a fine hot rod HAMb fella oughta go and steal a roadster. You still have to look in the rearview mirror every day-and stealing is stealing. (Yeah,I know you was just jokin')
Gentlemen, GENTLEMEN !!! I found a '26-'27 Ford T Roadster body at an abandoned house. I want the body. I want to get the body in a legal, moral way, that will be equitable for everyone (except for maybe the louse that won't pay for his children's upbringing, to me, that's as big a crime as stealing) I have never had to deal with anything like this before, and not knowing that it had been covered recently, to some extent, on the HAMB (I've been busy moving, as I previously stated, and not had a computer, nor the time, to check out the HAMB) so I posted a question asking what others have done, in the same situation. Maybe the title was wrong, asking about a "moral" question, as I had NO intention of taking the body without proper process, I just wanted to know how to go about locating the owner of the car, the house, the property, some way of finding someone who can either sell, give, or trade me the body. P.S. There's a '39 Ford Coupe out there with a Jag IRS in it, as well. Maybe I'll get lucky and be able to make a package deal with the dude, pay a couple month's child support for him, and take the cars in trade or something... that way, everyone wins.
No truly if you go to the tax office and find out who ownes the property, then you can ask them about it. In most cases you can buy, trade , or just plain get promision to haul it off. If that does not work speak with the local law enforcment or city adminastrator on the matter and they will usualy sign it over to you, to save the city money on a clean up.
Yeah well I guess you should just try every possibility out there to contact someone in charge of the land and it's contents. If they wont let you have it, it is a shame, but theres nothing you can do about it. If we all only knew how many old rods got scrapped or rotted into the ground we'd all be sick. Anyway try to contact someone and you might just be able to get it! Then you can ship it over to my house -Dean
If he owns the property, i would not take the stuff. It's stealing. Also, if he rented the property, maybe it belonged to someone else, that's stealing. I don't see any way that it would not be stealing to take the stuff. yeah, guys that don't pay child support are deadbeats, but 2 wrongs don't make a right.
I don't know much about child suppoert laws where you are but in good ol MO the court can and sometimes does charge more child support than the supporting father or mother earns. The supported parent sometimes uses this as a way to keep to get even with the no custodial parent. It appears that the non-supporting parent in this case is a rodder, and perhaps they fell on hard times. You know where I'm going with this right? If you're going to do anything go get the stuff and store it until the owner can come and get it. Why take somebody elses stuff?
Hop the fence, put it up on some blocks or 4x4's and tarp the car until you can find the owner of the property. I'm sure it wouldn't be the end of the word if you did that.
Here's a little side note on this I think its going to ruts away and no one wants it idea. I just went out to my garage to look for an old A visor that's been sitting out there in the corner for about forever. A fellow HAMBer needed it, and I wasn't going to use it. Guess what its gone, someone must have thought it was just going to waste out there.
I don't know you from adam, and you say you had no intention of being a theif, but what did you mean when you said: " What would you do? Make a "midnite parts run"?". Sure sounds like you were considering thievery. If it is a legal "parts run", I would advise doing it during the day so you can see what your stealing er, ah, I mean doing. That car may belong to someone on this board. Someone on this board may have had a car stolen in this very way. Let it rot and keep looking, you will find something. Of course I probablly won't invite you to my place to see what I have for sale. I'm ussually asleep at midnite. HotRob
Seems to me everyone who is suggesting doing research is missing a pertinent idea. If the guy did indeed skip town to avoid Johnny Law, a background search is gonna get your zilch. Number one, the guys not going to want to be found. Number two, legal info is gonna reference back to the "abandoned property in question, and as such look back to reason one. Maybe call the county sheriff and inquire on the property some. Mention you heard the guy may have skipped which , fein interest in the property. If the story checks out, I say midnite parts run then may be in order. Personally I think it would be more trouble than its worth. Just giving a unbiased 2 cents.
The Jalopy Journal
