Would you take a chance on a free, super cool barn find if ....
 

It may have been stolen at one point in its life? Hypothetical question , car was bought in 1980 out of state, the previous owners could not provide the title at time of purchase, but said that they would get it to him. The current owner took their word for it and since he had already hauled his empty trailer 12 hours there, he loaded it and brought it home. After a few months of the current owner calling , and calling, they quit answering their phone. He drives back out there a year later to look for them and the previous owners were no where to be foundl shop closed.
It was repainted , but not yet put back together, He says that while re-assembling he found evidence of what he says may be vin tampering, and kind of just stopped. He buried it in his woodshed, and 30 some years have now passed.
Older gentleman that is now facing his own mortality , and the fact that he is never going to do anything with it. He has all the toys that a man could want. You have done him many favors over the years, and he offers it to you for free, just come haul it out. But, with the understanding that he warned you to do your due diligence. You have known the man for a long time, and truly believe his story.
You are also willing to help return it to its rightful owners if you do indeed find out that it is not on the up and up .
Do you take a chance, or not open yourself up to the potential hassles?

I don't think I would. There was a story in the paper here awhile back about a Mustang that was stolen in the '70s that had to be returned to its rightful owner. So apparently, once stolen, always stolen.

If it is not going to cost you much to haul it out of there, go for it. I would not spend much money to do it. Chances are good it is stolen. Find the VIN and call the local state troopers.

They can run the VIN and if it is indeed stolen they will impound it and haul it away.

You might ask the troopers the same question before you do anything. If it is stolen it belongs to someone. Likely the insurance company but if it was not insured some person deserves to get their car back.

Is it worth much as a car right now?

It's worth getting a $1 bill of sale from the owner, taking it home, and spending some time trying to find the original owner. I wouldn't take it without a receipt of some kind and I would put any money into it until I had a clear title to it.

My 1968 Chevelle was stolen from the mall parking lot, back in the early 80's. 3 months later, my brother was working for a limo company and the car drove by him while he was waiting for a flite to come in. Long story short, the car was registered as a 1968 CHEVETTE!!!! DMV hard at work. When I went to pick it up, the state police gave me an attitude and tossed me the keys that were made, I showed him the GM keys I had.

Unless the car is special and rare, it has been thirty plus years since ownership came into question. While I think it would be worth trying to find, if the car was indeed pinched, the rightful owner, unless value dictates, I wouldn't bother.

Unless he insists, I wouldn't move a thing until I got it registered.

Hypothetically, what is it?

well, now you should tell us what it is. please?

+1

I was going to say "Ask the cops" and then I changed my mind.

There was a story locally about someone that got a call from the police. His Mustang was stolen in the 60s. They found it about to be loaded on a ship to the middle east. It was 100% restored and perfect. He was thrilled to get it back. He had no insurance on it back then because it was parked in his garage not drivable.

I came close to this, once when I realized the VIN on documents on the old E did not match the chassis. I realized I could easily lose the car, but called DMV, asked how to go about getting it registered under the proper (chassis and VIN plate) number. They gave me a form to fill out, which had to be verified by a police officer. I called the local detachment, filled in the NCOIC on the details (I had bought the car through a used car dealer) and he came out, verified the numbers and ran a check for history.
I was lucky. All came back good (under both numbers)

I would ask questions before hand. If it is stolen, then maybe someone will get back their baby. If not, you're in the clear.

Best
Les

If it's free, he's not out anything if it does flag as stolen. If it turned out the original owner had passed then likely it belongs to an insurance company if a pay out was made.

If so, I can see working out a deal to buy it from the insurance company.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. You have absolutely no concrete indication that it was stolen so you are not knowingly buying stolen property.

Jump I say. Get a bill of sale from the current owner. Get a copy of the bill of sale the current owner received when he took possession and go get the VIN run by DMV.

Get it then finish off the tampering and enjoy it ;-)

I had the same problem with a VW bus one time. They took the info off the M-Code plate and used it for the VIN; had to take the bus down to DMV and convince them of their mistake; it took a while, but I manged to do it. It was a close call, because I already had the bus painted by that point!

I'll bite... what kind of car is it? ;)

Don't even consider it. PM me with the info and I'll handle it.
(Note: above is NOT in green font!)

If it was stolen way back when, it's still stolen even if you get a bill of sale for it. Last thing you need is state police dropping into your garage checking vin plates once a month because you were in possession of a stolen car.

Have your customer call the police about the vin number. If he bought it and has the bill of sale he should have got when he bought it (along with the title). They probably won't charge him with possession of stolen property, but will haul the car away.

A buddy repairs cars. He buys a car from a insurance auction and fixes it up. All titles are suppose to be clear. Then he puts it up for sale and a potential buyer does a title search and finds there is a lien on the car from a bank. Turns out the insurance company should have made the cheque out to the PO and the bank but it was made out to her alone and she went to Mexico. Now the bank wants their car back. My buddy takes the car apart. Everything that could be unbolted was. Doors, hood, trunk lid, seats, fenders.....he loads it on his trailer and puts it on jack stands, removes the wheels and chains it down. Takes it to a meeting with the bank and the insurance company. The bank is expecting to get "their" car back in saleable condition. The insurance company is expecting to refund his money. He presents the bank with the car. They want nothing to do with the shell they are presented with. He hands the insurance company a bill for refund of purchase price, interest on purchase price, towing fee on date of auction, storage fees @$30 per day and towing fees to bring it to the meeting.

Insurance company tries to play with him and he starts to unchain car to dump in their parking lot. Tells them he won't have any problem proving to a judge they sold him a car they had no right to. Best part was when they told him it would be two weeks to get him a cheque and he told them he paid cash the day he bought it so they can dam well pay him the same.

It ended up he got the car, his purchase price of the car and nearly $1000 on top of that. The bank signed off on the lien on the car.

Barn Find..........
 

Get the car, give the VIN to your local police for a trace. If it is found to be stolen, it can be returned to the rightful owner. If not, then you can apply for a title. Either way you will come out ahead, either as the good guy doing the right thing or as the proud new owner of another project car! Win/Win for you.

If you decide to pass, give me a ring/pm. I'll be there in a day or 2 and give you a finders fee.

+1
That's the decent thing to do.

I've phoned the police with serial numbers and they are very appreciative of "doing the right thing" and each item has been clear.