35 year old stolen van found

[TNT]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_recovered_van

SPOKANE, Wash. – A Volkswagen van stolen 35 years ago in Washington state has been found in a shipping container at the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport.

Customs agents found the 1965 van on Oct. 19 when they opened a shipping container bound for The Netherlands, The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported. They ran the vehicle identification number and discovered it was listed as stolen.

Law officers said the van, which is in great shape, was stolen from an upholstery shop in Spokane on July 12, 1974 — while Spokane was hosting the 1974 World's Fair. Authorities have not been able to find the original owner, whom they would not identify. The operators of a vehicle restoration business in Arizona were the latest to have possession of the van, which they refurbished and planned to sell overseas, said Michael Maleta, an investigator with the California Highway Patrol. Maleta said the shop is also considered a victim in the case, and he declined to identify it.

The van now legally belongs to Allstate Insurance Co., which paid off the original owner's theft claim back in 1974. The Highway Patrol turned over the van to Allstate this week.
Maleta said the van had been restored to pristine condition.

"Now it's probably worth 27 grand," he said. "It's a beautiful van."
Megan Brunet, a spokeswoman for Allstate, said the company is looking through old records trying to find the original policy and theft claim.

"Trying to find paper files from that far back can be pretty challenging," she said.
The company will likely have the van appraised and go through the process of getting a replacement title before selling it at auction, she said.

[Guyon]

Neato, I wonder what the insurance company will do with it.

[MartinR]

Damn, cool story, but it sucks that:

a. the original owner is probably not gonna get this back
b. the restorators might end up losing all the money they put into the want

So in the end, the only one who wins is a big insurance company who has milions of dollars alread Bah..

[TNT]

yeah I wonder what kind of auction they at going to take it too? Barrett Jackson or just a repo auction?

[danidmas]

Damn, cool story, but it sucks that:

a. the original owner is probably not gonna get this back
b. the restorators might end up losing all the money they put into the want

So in the end, the only one who wins is a big insurance company who has milions of dollars alread Bah..

I was thinking just that. If the van was ready to be shipped to Netherlands... I wonder if the ducth "potential" owner paid the car in advance... or any diposit... and in that case, if he's gonna take it back or something This kind of makes you think twice when buying and old car... say, a RS2 that could've been stolen in Norway

[ZfrkS62]

Except for that the insurance company had paid out the claim 35 years ago so technically the car is theirs, which allows them to send it to auction.

[Sir_GT]

This kind of makes you think twice when buying and old car... say, a RS2 that could've been stolen in Norway

 

[danidmas]

That wasn't intended to be a joke

[Saadie]

That wasn't intended to be a joke

LIAR 

[danidmas]

No seriously. Imagine you put down a deposit, say 3000.- € for an Audi RS2, and then find out it's stolen. Ok... good for the previous owner/insurance company!! but you would lose that money that's for sure, because the seller obviously would claim they had no idea the car had been stolen.

[ZfrkS62]

In that case there is absolutely no reason that the seller should keep the money and would open themselves up to legal action for not refunding the money for a product that could not be delivered.