Guy restores abandoned van. Who do you side with?

[Alan A]

So the thief spends 23 days in jail but gets to keep the proceeds of his theft. You’d think he would steal something worthwhile, but then most criminals aren’t too bright.

I’m still unsure why he got to keep it. Ownership was not in doubt. Anything else is a rationalization.

[wayner]

A friend lived in a rented house for three years.

During that time he installed new carpets and painted the place.
Then the owner decided to move back in and he had to move out.

Shouldn't my friend have gotten to keep the house?

No, I didn't think so either..

[fintstone]

Pretty nostalgic. I always though those short, customized Chevy vans were cool back in the day. My girl and I (now my wife) would have rocked that ride back in '75. I would be happy to see it restored again (in the hands of the original owner)...so they could sell it to someone who could appreciate it...and was honest (not the thief).

[Tervuren]

Originally Posted by wayner

A friend lived in a rented house for three years.

During that time he installed new carpets and painted the place.
Then the owner decided to move back in and he had to move out.

Shouldn't my friend have gotten to keep the house?

No, I didn't think so either..

I think you are reading the title of the thread without reading the story of the van.

A con man is at work here.

The van is not "restored", rather it has been stripped and the paint vandalized.

He probably has everything he stripped in some other warehouse from the van.

California courts seem to not want to deal with it.

Since multiple states are involved, if the owner wants to go to great hastle they can involve more states.

This is a failure of California to protect a state resident.

[oldE]

Sugarwood, your thread title does not reflect the article in the link.
The guy stole a vehicle and stripped it. That is a crime as far as I know.

Best
Les

[DanielDudley]

If you need to get someone to unlock a property to take something that isn't yours, it doesn't validate anything to say you are saving it. An old lady is entitled to a rusty hulk, if only for nostalgia, or to waste if she wants. Ownership is clear.

[otto_kretschmer]

I hate thieves

period

[wdfifteen]

The article said he “restored” the van. The implication based on the presentation of the story is that the lead photo is what it looked like after it was restored, but it doesn’t explicitly state so.
If he stole the van, hauled it from California to Illinois, restored it to that state, then hauled it back to California and trashed it, and THEN had to pay the owner $5000, plus $1000 towing I’d say everyone should be happy.
The thief is a moron and should be happy that he only wasted a ton of time and money and he isn’t in jail (but he is still stuck with a worthless POS van) and the owners should be happy they got $5000 for that POS and it’s off their property without having to pay anybody to haul it away.

[Tervuren]

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article230373619.html

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by Tervuren

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article230373619.html

^^^^ This just might set off a rash of thefts in my old college town

[wayner]

Well, as fate would have it I have been holding back on an almost similar story.

I ran into guy who had discovered an old 1959 pickup truck tucked away on the back of a lot, and figured it was up for grabs

Actually, to give you some more detail, I had been working in the back of my shop with the main door open and thought I heard something. I went outside to find a car idling inside my gated compound but no one around. I called and the driver came out from underneath my old truck that he was inspecting to figure out how to get it out of there and if it would roll. He just thought he'd discovered a derelict vehicle that had been missed by everyone else in the area

I told him its not for sale and to piss off
(Its on the project list to get corvette suspension next season and I just haven't gotten to it yet.)

From now on I keep the front gate locked even when I am on the property.

The nerve to drive right past my house and through my gate and past my open shop door to head straight for the truck that he had been so lucky to find.

Friendly kid

Really exuberant. He had visions for the truck
Kid was stupid as $hit. If he was a potential thief he didn't know it.

Once I confronted him he asked if he could have the truck.
Otherwise I just got the impression him and his buddies would find a way to drag it out of there since it was being left to rot.

[DanielDudley]

There have been a rash of you tube videos where people go out into ''the woods'' and ''rescue'' abandoned vehicles. Some will state that they got permission from the owner, and some are legitimately abandoned hulks, or so it seems.

Years ago, cars like this traded hands for 50 bucks. Now that everybody seems to think any rusted hulk is worth thousands of dollars, I suppose the temptation to liberate a so called abandoned vehicle must be pretty great to some.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by wayner

Well, as fate would have it I have been holding back on an almost similar story.

I ran into guy who had discovered an old 1959 pickup truck tucked away on the back of a lot, and figured it was up for grabs

Actually, to give you some more detail, I had been working in the back of my shop with the main door open and thought I heard something. I went outside to find a car idling inside my gated compound but no one around. I called and the driver came out from underneath my old truck that he was inspecting to figure out how to get it out of there and if it would roll. He just thought he'd discovered a derelict vehicle that had been missed by everyone else in the area

I told him its not for sale and to piss off
(Its on the project list to get corvette suspension next season and I just haven't gotten to it yet.)

From now on I keep the front gate locked even when I am on the property.

The nerve to drive right past my house and through my gate and past my open shop door to head straight for the truck that he had been so lucky to find.

Friendly kid

Really exuberant. He had visions for the truck
Kid was stupid as $hit. If he was a potential thief he didn't know it.

Once I confronted him he asked if he could have the truck.
Otherwise I just got the impression him and his buddies would find a way to drag it out of there since it was being left to rot.

If it ain't mine....you don't have to worry...I'm not a thief, and that's it.

Some folks are different...and it sucks .

[wayner]

Originally Posted by KC911

If it ain't mine....you don't have to worry...I'm not a thief, and that's it.

Some folks are different...and it sucks .

I honestly think that it never occurred to the kid in my story that he might be doing anything wrong.

Everything from
-driving through my gate between the two buildings
-not bothering to look for me, by passing my open shop or my office door even though there were signs that I must be around
-to beginning his inspection of my truck

The deflated look on his face when I told him that it wasnt for sale, let alone that I wasn't about to give it to him.

All my life Ive had problems understanding people who seem to live by mottos and phrases such as:
-Finders keepers
-since your not using it anyway
-can you do this for me in your "spare" time

Im not sure what goes wrong in somebody's upbringing to think that any of this is ok.

[Clint Lando]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

This is a great ethical dilemma. I see both sides. It is obvious that the owner was another delusional inept moron who was never going to touch this abandoned project. Owner did not even live at the property. The van was clearly going to disintegrate into the earth, and was left for dead. Someone comes along and steals it, and restores it. It clearly owned by the owner, but damn, you know he would never have even gotten $200 for scrap metal from it.

thief is thief wrong is wrong

[svandamme]

That 5 grand the godins got probably went to lawyers?