CHP find man’s Porsche, stolen in 1969

[austin552]

http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2008/03/20/news/local/doc47e2a75502c82219167216.txt

By MARSHA DORGAN
Napa Valley Register
It’s been almost four decades since Stephen Christensen patted the fenders of his beloved 1960 Porsche Roadster.

The sleek, head-turning vehicle was stolen from his garage in San Francisco in 1969.

Share“I reported the theft that morning, but the police didn’t get to my house to take the report until late that afternoon,” Christensen, 65, said. “I pretty well figured the car was at least in Los Angeles by then, and that I would never see it again.”

Wrong.
Thanks to some pretty in-depth investigative work by two Napa California Highway Patrol Officers, Scott Lander and Ian Cheverier, Christensen and his long-lost “baby” have been reunited.

Unfortunately, it’s not all good news.

When the car was stolen from the garage at Christensen’s San Francisco Twin Peaks home, it was in good running condition.

“All I got back was the body. The engine, seats and other components were missing,” he said. “I really wanted to get it restored to driving condition, but it have would cost about $35,000. I can’t afford that. I sold it to a person who restores these types of cars. Fully restored, the car is worth close to $100,000.”

The complete story of the Porsche’s long journey back to its owner may never be known.

The stretch of time between when the car was stolen and ended up back in Christensen’s possession is a little foggy, according to Lander.

Earlier this month, a man went to the Department of Motor Vehicles to verify the VIN numbers of several older Porsches, Lander said. “I believe he is a Porsche mechanic.”

Because the cars were much older models, the DMV referred the man to the CHP.

“The records had purged from the DMV system, but we still had the VIN numbers in our system,” he said. “While checking the numbers, I came up this one Porsche Roadster that had been reported stolen in 1969.”

Christensen’s Porsche was recovered in Sonoma County. No arrests were made.

“It has been such a long time since the car was stolen, and we have no idea how many times ownership could have changed, we don’t really have a suspect,” Lander said.

Lander said he and Cheverier did some leg work and were able to find Christensen, who now lives in Windsor.

Christensen said the two CHP officers are being far too modest about the lengths they went to find him.

“I really give the CHP the utmost credit for the job they did. I don’t think any other law enforcement agency would have gone to so much trouble to find me,” he said.

The investigation began at the last address where the Porsche was registered — Christensen’s parents’ home in San Francisco.

“The two officers went to the house and of course my parents hadn’t lived there for some years. I think the house had changed ownership several times. But they didn’t give up there. They nosed around the neighborhood and found one neighbor who remembered my parents and that I was a firefighter,” Christensen said. “The officers contacted the fire department and were able to track me down. I really believe what the CHP did was far above their call of duty. These two guys really went to bat for me. No one else would have gone through that much trouble to see I got my car — that is now a shell of a car — back after all those years.”

Christensen said his girlfriend told him the CHP had called, and they had found his Porsche.

“I said, ‘What Porsche? I don’t own a Porsche,’” he said. “Then I thought, ‘Wait, they couldn’t be talking about my roadster that was stolen 40 years ago.’ But sure enough, it was. I really wished I had the money to restore that car. I really loved it. It was my baby.”

Christensen said he bought the car in 1967 from a German lady in San Francisco. “It still had the German license plates on it. It was in excellent condition. All I had to do was pay $1,000 for a paint job. I can still feel how good it felt to be sitting behind the wheel of my Porsche.”

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Great story!

[Hester]

Stolen Car Stole Her Heart

Woman's Cherished Mustang Isn't Hers
By Debbi Farr Baker
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

March 21, 2008

SAN DIEGO – It turns out the beloved 1965 Ford Mustang coupe Judy Smongesky has had since high school graduation nearly 38 years ago doesn't really belong to her.


HOWARD LIPIN / Union-Tribune
Judy Smongesky of City Heights said she is resigned to the fact that she may lose the car she believed was hers for almost four decades. A check of identification numbers revealed that the car had been reported stolen.

The vintage vehicle had been reported stolen two weeks before her father bought it as a present when she was 18.

The Mustang actually belongs to Eugene Brakke, who is retired and lives in the Los Angeles area. Police notified him this week that his long-lost car has been recovered. He has not decided whether he wants it back, said Smongesky of City Heights.

Smongesky and her dad, who lived in Long Beach at the time, had looked at another car before they found the Mustang for sale at what she remembers was a used-car lot in Bellflower.

She got behind the wheel and fell in love with it. They paid $1,114 for the harvest-gold car with a 289-cubic-inch V-8 engine and 69,000 miles on the odometer.

She drove the car for 20 years and rebuilt the engine and repainted the body twice before she parked it in her garage with the intent to fully restore it.

Advertisement At one point in the 1990s, a neighbor interested in buying it noticed the car had different vehicle identification numbers on the door and under the hood.

Smongesky called police, who sent someone out to look at the Mustang, and was told everything checked out.

She didn't worry about the discrepancy again until she recently spent $4,000 restoring the car. Before sinking in more cash, she thought about the vehicle identification numbers.

“I had a very bad feeling,” she said.

She researched the numbers and discovered that the one on the door belonged to a 1964 model.

Smongesky called police, who checked the VIN under the hood and discovered that the car was stolen.

It turns out the driver's side car door belonged to a different car.

Smongesky has spoken to Brakke, who said he wants to see it but has not stated what he plans to do.

She said he did not seem happy or excited; rather, she said, he seemed dismayed that the car had been painted.

“He said it wasn't the same car,” Smongesky said.

As the rightful owner, he can just get in it and drive away, Smongesky said. Still, she said, she feels like she did the right thing.

“And sometimes the right thing is not the easy thing to do,” she said.

Smongesky, 55, who has worked in the restaurant industry, drives a 1990 Honda Civic. She said it does not compare with the Mustang, which has 266,000 miles.

She said she does not know what the Mustang is worth – the engine is rebuilt but the interior is not in good shape and the silver-blue paint is faded and rusted in some places.

Still, she loves it and wants to keep it.

Smongesky said she hopes she and Brakke can come to an agreement, but she is resigned to the fact that she may lose the car she believed was hers for almost four decades.

“I'm hoping he says, 'You can have it,' but it's his car,” she said. “I will keep it if I can.”

[Grady Clay]

Great story. I have talked to one of those CHP officers and they are indeed ‘the good guys’ chasing stolen cars. This also shows the importance of having cars inspected and the VIN compared to NCIC.

It is too bad he sold the shell. This is the kind of story that could inspire the Porsche community to restore the car for a retired firefighter.

Best,
Grady

[Hester]

After 38 years, a Stray Mustang is Corralled

By Joe Mozingo, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

March 21, 2008



Judy Smongesky with the 1965 Ford Mustang car her father bought her in 1970, 37-years ago for her high school graduation present from a car lot in Bellflower in Los Angeles County. Until this week, Smongesky had no idea the car had been stolen a month before she received it from her father.

Eugene Brakke's '65 pride and joy was stolen in Burbank in 1970. It turns up in San Diego, where it was cared for all those years -- except for the pale blue repaint job.

The last time Eugene Brakke drove his honey-gold 1965 Ford Mustang, he was young and single, and the throaty little sports car "certainly didn't hurt" with the ladies. He parked at work that day in May 1970, at the Lockheed plant in Burbank, and when he came out later it was gone.

The police asked him how much gas was in the tank, suggesting the thieves may have just taken it out for a joy ride. But with gas at about 36 cents a gallon then, he thought they could probably afford to buy some more.

Brakke held hopes that it would turn up somewhere. He loved that car like a member of his family. But eventually, he figured it was gone -- meaning somewhere in Tijuana.

Then this week -- Monday or Tuesday, he can't remember -- he got a call from a detective at the San Diego Police Department.

"We found your car," the detective said.

Brakke, now 80 and living in Costa Mesa, was impressed. That's police work, he said. But he soon learned that the woman who owned the car, since May 1970, deserved the accolades.

Judy Smongesky, 55, got the car as a gift when she graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High School. Her father bought it from a used-car dealer in Bellflower for $1,114. It was her dream car. They had the engine rebuilt in 1974 and painted it green, then blue-gray.

By the 1990s, the car had fallen into disrepair and was parked in her garage in San Diego. A neighbor wanted to buy it. But he came back to her and said the vehicle identification number tag on the door was different from the one inside the engine compartment -- an indication that it may have been stolen.

She notified San Diego police, who looked into it and told her the car's history was clean, she said.

Smongesky put in about $4,000 to rebuild the engine again and do other repairs. But the different tags bothered her. One tag identified the car as having been built in San Jose. The other said it was built in Dearborn, Mich. She didn't want to invest any more money until she was sure that it was legally her car. She investigated on the Internet, and contacted the Department of Motor Vehicles and police again.

Police detectives called her back and said it had been stolen and that they had found the owner. Legally, it was his, if he wanted it, they said.

"It is his car and he could take it, even though I spent all this money," Smongesky said. "This is my baby. I've had it since I was 18."

Brakke said he had been given conflicting reports of its condition. First, police told him the car had no engine or transmission, then that it was good to drive. Great, he thought. But his enthusiasm waned when the detective mentioned the car was pale blue now.

Brakke had ordered that honey-gold from the factory. That was the smooth color in 1965. And don't be mistaken: If it hadn't been stolen, a honey-gold 1965 Mustang would be parked in his driveway to this day -- next to his 1959 Ford Ranchero.

"When I get a car, I take care of it and I like it, and it becomes a member of my family," he said.

He planned to pick it up in San Diego on Thursday but decided he didn't feel up to fighting traffic.

He's not sure if he'll keep it. Yet if it's in good shape, he thinks he might have it painted honey-gold.

[Jay Laifman]

While if any of my cars were stolen, I'd want them back no matter how long it takes and no matter who has it, somehow that LA Times article has me on the woman's side. Seems she has far more time, money and emotions attached to the car than the original owner. Still, I'd rather get it back, even if just a body shell. Though, how sad is that!?

[drauz]

the consortium of dudes who spend loads on Mustangs at B-J should retask some of their cocktail budget on a replacement for her.

[GothingNC]

back in the early 80's my cousin had his 70 Chevelle stolen in NY.
10 years later he gets a call that the cops recovered his car and it is now fully restored.

The thief's ex-girlfriend snitched on the cops

The kicker is my cousin gets a bill from the guys mom for the cost of paint, body work etc. and is under no obligation to pay.

He paid back his insurance company to keep the car and then sold it a few years later before the muscle car bubble started.

[vash]

i wish they had a picture of the porsche. great story.

[mack6820]

hehe. My friends Camero was stolen a few years back and a week later, we pulled up behind it in a Burger King drive through. Called the police and got his car back.

[silverc4s]

Hmmmmm... let's see, a guy in Sonoma County (home of Sears Point), has a bunch of old 356's, tries to register one, gets a VIN checked out & finds it is stolen. Who could that be???

Ring any bells for you NorCal guys? I'm not going to say it, but I'd bet you even up it's.....!

[dshepp806]

Some of those guys are, in fact, good guys,..wish they ALL were like that.

Great read....

Best,

[Hester]

Stolen Corvette Recovered After 37 Years

Owner Reunited With Classic Car

Jan. 17, 2006



Alan Poster's Corvette was a brand new 1968 blue-on-blue classic driving machine when it vanished 37 years ago. Now he's been reunited with his former dream car.

The Corvette was stolen from a New York garage on Jan. 22, 1969. In November the car was identified as stolen as it was being loaded onto a container ship bound for Sweden, said U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesman Mike Fleming.

The car had recently been purchased for $10,000 by a man in Sweden who was not aware it had been stolen nearly four decades earlier, Fleming said. Since Poster's insurance at the time did not cover the car's theft and he was never compensated, he is entitled to get it back.

"This is a miracle," Poster said when law enforcement officials told him that his car had been recovered. He saw his car today for the first time in 37 years at a media briefing held at a Customs and Border Patrol warehouse in Carson, Calif.

"He's very excited about it," Fleming said, adding that Poster had since moved to Petaluma, Calif., and had given up hope long ago of seeing the car again.

Poster had owned the car only for two-and-a-half months when it was stolen from the garage -- one of nearly 80,000 stolen cars in New York City that year.

But he'd already managed to have some fun with his hot wheels when he was a 26-year-old guitar salesman. "I remember driving it through the tunnel in Manhattan and some guy wanted to race me," he said, "and I knew he was dirt."

The New York Police Department played a big role in the Corvette's recovery. After the Customs and Border Patrol contacted the department, Det. William Heiser scoured the department's records room and dug in to the coldest stolen car case of his career.

"We went through about 5,000 records over the course of four days here to locate this report," Heiser said, which led them to Poster.

When detectives called, Poster didn't believe it was actually the NYPD. "He was pretty surprised," Det. Cliff Bieder said. "I think he thought it was a joke at first."

No one knows where the Corvette has been all this time. It was apparently never registered or insured, or the vehicle identification number would have revealed it had been stolen.

The car is now silver with a red interior, according to Customs and Border Patrol. The original 327-cubic-inch engine has been replaced by a 454 big block Chevy engine. The car has a stolen automatic transmission that wasn't introduced until the mid-1980s, and the gas tank is missing. The car's classic design, however, has survived.

Today the car that cost $6,000 in 1968 is a classic. Similar models are auctioned on Web sites for $50,000 to $100,000. But Poster said his Corvette is not for sale.

"I plan to restore it and keep it," he said.

He also plans to give it to another eager young driver with the same name -- his teenage daughter

[carolinatrophy]

Originally Posted by Hester

She said he did not seem happy or excited; rather, she said, he seemed dismayed that the car had been painted.

“He said it wasn't the same car,” Smongesky said.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I love this guy! That's how I'd feel too, particularly if the car is question was a relatively valueless notchback Mustang and I hadn't seen it in 40 years. I think I'd react similarly:

"Wait a second... You PAINTED IT BLUE?!!!"

Hahahahahahahahahaha!

[dw1]

Great stories.

Someday I'll have to commission a search for my '67 Camaro that went missing from the body shop where it was taken after an accident in the late 70's. I still have the title and owner's manual. Several times I've wondered if the VIN ended up on different car.

[kent olsen]

Now we're talking. I would have never believed those old stolen cars would surface again.

Thirty years ago I had a 1965 Corvette coupe I had totally rebuilt from the ground up including a newly rebuilt 365 hp 327. The door locks never worked and I totally forgot about them. I lived in a small town on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. Since their where only two roads in and out of town and I knew all the cops I never worried about someone stealing it. I also didn't carry theft insurance for the same reason.

Well in Feb of 1985 I took a job in Las Vegas and drove down in the vette. About a month later when I came back to my apartment the car was gone. I called the cops and later one showed up. I gave him the details about the car and he said he was the one that responded to a call from someone in the apartment complex who saw someone messing with the car. He said as he turned in one end of the parking area the car was going out the other side. He said he wasn't able to catch him and I never saw or heard anything about the car after that.

These cases give me hope, maybe. Thirty + years is a long time!

[Grady Clay]

An important feature of all this is: If you are going to spend many $K on a car, you better know its linage. Can you imagine a $100K restoration on a 356C Carrera 2 Cabriolet or a 911 ST racer and find out it belongs to Allstate?

Best,
Grady

[Fishcop]

You guys will like this...

In 1989 I was police officer in Melbourne, Australia doing a routine nightshift patrol. Over the air a call came in with one of my colleagues asking for a registration check. The car was registered as BPS-639. I thought "that seems kinda familiar" and I turned the radio up.

The radio operator came back with "currently registered, not stolen."

I remembered why I knew the registration... I came up on the radio and asked "Is that vehicle parked or mobile?" The other officer came back with "Mobile".

I responded, "Intercept... it's stolen." The other officer "You sure?". I said, "If you're following a red 1985 Mazda 626; it's mine and it's stolen!"

With that, there was a short pursuit, and I came across to assist. When I got there they had a bloke dragged out of the car in cuffs looking a bit sorry for himself. He looked even sadder when he was told the 'angry copper' was the owner

[Grady Clay]

John, that is a GREAT story.

Best,
Grady

[dvkk]

Originally Posted by dw1

Someday I'll have to commission a search for my '67 Camaro that went missing from the body shop where it was taken after an accident in the late 70's. I still have the title and owner's manual. Several times I've wondered if the VIN ended up on different car.

Why not take your title down to your local DMV and have them run the number? Nothing to lose.