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Stolen business coupe recovered after 20 years


Numbnutz

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Hey y’all, new here. I just recently recovered a 1947 Plymouth business coupe that was stolen from me in 1999. I found it on Craigslist listed for sale without a title, most amazingly, I still had the damned title. 

 

I contacted the seller & set up an appointment to see it, after confirming that it was the same car, I informed the seller that I had the title to it & upon seeing that the VIN# matched, he let me have it back (with an agreed $200 for his towing expenditures.).

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The police never filed a report because I had not had a chance to transfer the title into my name before it disappeared, they decided that I did not legally own the vehicle at that point & I could not file a report.

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1 minute ago, woodrow said:

What a great surprise.  Just curious about the whole back story and the theft.  Even more curious if you have managed to trace the timeline or who had it between you and the guy selling it.  

I took it to a body shop to get it painted. Two weeks later, the shop was gone. Cars, business, AND the damn building, nothing but a gravel lot. Apparently, the building was built years before without a permit, upon needing some plumbing repairs, permits were applied for, city inspector got involved & the property owner was given a week to remove everything before incurring fines & everything disappeared. The guy I got it from was a scrap metal guy who bought it as a lot of 20-30 cars from an estate & couldn't bring himself to crush it so he squirrelled it away for another 6-7 years.

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9 minutes ago, TodFitch said:

That is an amazing story. Do you have the drivetrain for it?

Unfortunately, no. While I'm pleased to get it back, the engine, transmission driveshaft, brake master cylinder, & all linkages & pedals are gone. The floor & firewall have been cut out as are some of the crossmembers & the front clip is just resting on the frame.

Edited by Numbnutz
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I thought the same thing at first.  you are probably getting a message telling you that there is a 3 MB limit.  just means your pic is too big.  you need to make your pictures under 3 MB the ones you want to post anyway.  download an app called photo resizer and you should be good.  

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35 minutes ago, woodrow said:

I thought the same thing at first.  you are probably getting a message telling you that there is a 3 MB limit.  just means your pic is too big.  you need to make your pictures under 3 MB the ones you want to post anyway.  download an app called photo resizer and you should be good.  

Here’s the beast the last time that I saw it...

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wow...this is very interesting to see it come back to you.   Funny tho how the car had no hub caps in the last pic you had of it and now it does...almost like somebody did in fact attempt to make the car road ready instead of it just sitting somewhere being cannibalized.   oh and I see you've figured out the picture thing.now keep em coming 

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Ok everyone, for the purists, the stock nazis, & the easily offended, avert your eyes now.

 

 

For anyone still morbidly curious, here goes. After taking measurements I decided upon a Chevy S10 for a chassis swap. I found that the single cab, long bed was the correct length so I sourced one with a 4.3 & auto trans as this combo will allow the easiest for a future V8 swap. 

 

So so I tossed the tow bar into the Ghia & headed out to snag this jewel of a donor.

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4 hours ago, casper50 said:

got mine from Andy Bernbaum for my whole car.  Everything but the vent windows was excellent.  Fit well with no problems.

Thank you sir, I’ll look into them.

 

 

 

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I started trying to halt the rust in the rain gutters, is there supposed to be any sort of seam sealer in the seam?

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