<VV> rebodied corvairs/

[RoboMan91324 at aol.com]

I have seen this happen and have even been approached to sign someone's name. 
 However, you do so at your own risk.  Bob's story is a prime example.  If he 
had submitted a false document and then happily restored the vehicle, he 
would have had to worry forever that the authorities would come a knockin.

Here is the possible scenario .... he falsified the documents then spent many 
thousands restoring it.  Mama finally gets fed up waiting for her con man son 
to finish the restoration and demands to have the car back.  To cover his 
ass, he tells her, "Oops, sorry Ma .... I went to get it and someone stole it."  
Of course, Mama reports the theft and the authorities see the VIN registered 
to Bob.  The police show up, confiscate the car and return it to Mama fully 
restored.  The scumbag son gets credited with the restoration as far as Mama is 
concerned and Bob is lucky if he doesn't get charged.  At a minimum, he loses 
his investment in the car.  This can happen.

A friend of mine bought a 1968 Camaro coupe that was an original 396 with A/C 
that had been changed over to a SBC running on natural gas.  There were other 
mods as well.  He bought it from a guy who was selling it from his father's 
estate.  He put in an additional $10,000 to restore it which did not include 
his sweat equity.  Eventually, the CA State police showed up at his door to 
recover the "stolen" car when the daughter of the deceased owner laid claim to the 
car.  My friend was lucky that he had taken the car to work that day.  He got 
a call from his wife telling him that the police were there looking for the 
car.  He took it to his father's home and parked it in the garage.  The police 
tried to browbeat him and threatened to arrest him.  He told them that if they 
could prove that he had stolen the car or forged any documents, they could 
arrest him.  He told them that if they arrested him without proof, he would sue 
them.  He contacted the woman who technically owned the car and paid her what 
the car was worth when he bought it from her brother.  Otherwise, he would 
have stripped the car before returning it.  If the car had been at home when the 
police came, it would have been gone with 100% loss to him.  As it turned out, 
he only had to pay twice for the value of the unrestored car.

I lost out on a deal for a 60 Corvair in very nice restorable condition.  The 
seller didn't have documentation and had used a false name when advertising 
it.  When I learned this, I backed out of the deal because of the image in my 
mind of the problem that my friend had gone through.  Certainly, a 60 Corvair 
isn't worth what a restored 68 Camaro SS 396 goes for but I still didn't want 
to foot the potential loss.  It tuns out that the seller was a very well known 
and respected member of the Corvair community and I missed out on a great 
deal.  I didn't know who he was at the time.  However, under identical 
circumstances, I would still err on the side of caution.  I don't know if he is on VV but 
I am sure that he will recognize this story if he reads this and I would like 
to express my regret.

Doc
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In a message dated 6/29/2005 9:45:19 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
virtualvairs-request at corvair.org writes:

> Message: 7
> Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2005 12:26:00 EDT
> From: UltraMonzaWest at aol.com
> Subject: Re: <VV> rebodied corvairs/the 3rd one I couldn't title
> To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
> Message-ID: <c0.2b6e1d51.2ff42598 at aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
> 
> In a message dated 6/29/2005 9:02:29 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
> HallGrenn at aol.com writes:
> 
> > When I got to Glen Burnie (DMV Hdqrtrs in MD) the clerk pointed out that I 
> had transposed two numbers on the VIN.  All the advertising was no good--I 
> had 
> to start over again.  The clerk felt sorry for me and looked up the correct 
> VIN and gave me the address of the registered owner.  I promptly called to 
> let her know I had her car and that I had rescued her vehicle from the crusher. 
>  She said I couldn't have her car as her son was restoring it!!  Turns out 
> the son had abandoned the car at Amatucci at least two years ealier.  After 
> meeting with the daughter (who said her Mom had been paying for the 
> "restoration" over 
> the years) and showing what I had done to save the car as well as the 
> paperwork that I had gone through everything worked out and the car went to a body 
> shop to be properly done.
> > 
> > That was the last time I tried to save a car without an owner.  I've 
> helped several non-Corvair types get their Vairs running, but a car without an 
> owner is just a parts car to me now.
> > 
> > Bob Hall
> > 
> *****************************************************************************
> *
> *********************************************
> 
> GEE....I've always been able to go out to the DMV  parking lots......find 
> the owner...they sign anything I need......takes 10 minutes!
> 
> WCUH