Kenny i am glad to see you posting here and glad to hear that you have some new information to go on. Do pursue the landlord but also dont sleep on your opportunity to keep track of the body shop Tennant just incase. Post us some pics so we can see what we're looking for. Dont let the police put you off too long. They are not within their rights to tell you "why dobt you wait to file your report" you can file a stolen vehicle report whenever you want. Im surprised on one hand, but on the other, im not because this may not be an easy one to crack. When you do file, you will have to stay after them to get results and keep the file active or itll get shuffled down the list with new stolen veciclesvehicles piling up every day.
Try calling scrap yards in the area just in case the landlord didn't know or care what type of car it was and just had someone clean house.May not be likely but you never know.
Still haven't located the car, but not giving up hope, someone has to know where it is. May just take some time for it to surface. Thanks for all the advise. I still think it has to be around the Ponca City Oklahoma area, maybe setting in someones garage. I have several people in Ponca City looking for it. Will keep you informed.
Make up some flyers and plaster them to telephone poles in the area, make sure you put STOLEN and POLICE in big letters. Bob
More than likely... Put that title in your name and turn it in as stolen. The fact you have the paperwork still makes the car yours if the title is in your name. If you can't do anything else if I were you I'd take a trip with a few guys and go hunt the guy in Corpus down and make him wish he never met you..
I'm surprised at the lack of people walking.. or not walking around with 2 busted knee caps or wondering if their fire insurance is going to cover their loss. Bob
This sucks.i hope you find the car and the bastard that took it. I got a feeling that now that its been this long, that car is in primer somewhere with a different vin tag on it, down on a different rolling chassis and either sold, up for sale, or someone got themselves a new 55 hardtop project car. I would go after the land lord and the body guy.
A long time? It's only been a couple of weeks. Hell I know a guy that got his stolen OT car back after 20 years
As a landlord in california when someone moves out, evicted, anything. You have to store the stuff they left for 3 months and then it has to be auctioned off advertized in a newspaper. The landlord is responsible for it even if it is stolen. He was supposed to make the building secure and keep it secure. You may have to get a lawyer, he'll pay you before it goes to court because that is ultimetly cheeper.
The longer you let these jerks & I mean all of them including the police put you off the harder it is going to be to locate or get your car back. A wise ol man once said"Weight is what broke the wagon" . Get excited & get after them with leters,phone calls whatever. Be their worst nightmare. Just my$.02 tho it's your car so do what makes you comfortable.
Phat rat, it only takes probly 2 hours to change a vin on a old car. A couple of weeks is plenty of time, who knows, it could have been planned And was already switched. That's easy thing for a body guy to do.
What are you doing to locate it? Are you calling the police on a regular basis? Like 3 times a week? If so, are you asking specifically what they are doing to find your car? Have you talked to a lawyer? Have you checked on the laws in your state to see if the landlord can be held responsible? I suspect he sold it (illegally) to recoup some of his lost rent. I don't buy the break in story. If someone broke in there would probably be some damage. Damage he'd want to file an insurance claim on. No police report=no insurance settlement for him. Are you passing out flyers at swap meets or posting them at auto parts stores? Have you posted about this on every car related board you can find? You have to be proactive if you ever hope to get your car back. I have some friends in the Hurst/Olds club. A few years ago several H/O were stolen from a hotel parking lot at their national meet. The cops said what's the big deal? They're just old cars. The owners and the club members kept the pressure on the cops. They eventually recovered 3 or 4 of the cars. You have to keep the pressure on. Otherwise the police won't do anything.
Let me know if you get any leads in Corpus Christi. I'd be happy to be of any help in catching an ass-wipe like this guy.
With the help of davidh73750 I have located my car. He provided me with the pictures of my car after it was left in the shop in Ponca City Okla, I posted them on facebook on a couple of classified sites with ad about looking for my car, within 24 hours of posting the pictures I recieved a call from Tonkawa Okla police telling me they may have found my car. They wanted to know where vin number was on the body and I told him. He stated that he would go back and check the vin. Not long after talking to him I recieved a call from the a guy that said he has my car. He stated that the guy in Ponca who owned the building where it was left had sold it to him on a bill of sale for $1500. So I went up there today and took title in hand and checked the car and sure enough it's mine. He said I could have it back, so I am going tomorrow with a trailer to get it. Come to find out his wife worked for the Tonkawa police dept. He is a victum just like I am, and he said he wanted me to have my car back. I can't thank David enough for sending me the pictures, and of couse for the guy who has it for letting me get it back. Old car guys are the great. I'm a happy happy happy man today. I want to also thank everyone on here for helping me with your advise. Never never give up if this ever happens to you.
Great luck, and I would imagine the fellow who bought it from the landlord, whose wife works for the Police dept will probably be going after the landlord.
Wonder how the landlord fits in legally? If the tenant left the car there when he bailed on the rent, after a period of time does the landlord have legal right to sell the car? Something similar to these storage auctions you see on TV now. Not taking sides......just a question.
The panel shop dude must have given it to the landlord for payment on rent or he would have called you,what a low life!
Well, the landlord did say that someone removed the car, that much was true. Glad you got your '55 back, Kenny. That's great news!
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