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foxtrapper
foxtrapper PowerDork
11/8/12 5:06 a.m.

How much risk and excitement are you up for?

If that car were to magically move itself from its current location to a proximity that happened to be in front of your house, and were to magically appear washed and cared for, people likely wouldn't complain.

If your house has a garage for automotive napping, so much the better.

If a person were to make a smallish sized poster, and cover it with a licence plate cover to preclude close examination, well that's just nice.

And a visit to a friendly tag & title service, or even private investigator, will do you far better than a talk to the local DMV.

This is presuming the owner will let you have it. Don't count on that. I've seem more than one flakey owner who insisted on large sums of money for a car they were letting be crushed for nothing.

yamaha
yamaha Dork
11/8/12 10:12 a.m.
mad_machine wrote:
yamaha wrote: Its a 74+.......the owner probably dumped it after he saw the back end.
while not as pretty as the round taillights.. I never found the later taillights all that offensive. With how rare nice 2002s are getting... people can't afford to be too picky anymore

I can't complain either......most you see "thrown away" are square light cars.

I drove a brown/tan '74 at Mecum two years ago......had Alpina E36 M3 on it everywhere. No rust, sold for $7k bones. I wish I'd been able to buy it.......as it was a tii fuelie car.

16vCorey
16vCorey PowerDork
11/8/12 11:19 a.m.
stan_d wrote: I found an abandoned car looked in the glove box and found signed title and keys.

That just happened to a guy I work with a few days ago! There was a crown vic that had been sitting on the street a few houses down from him. Once it got tagged by the cops he checked the glove box to try to find the owners contact info, since he was interested in it. There he found the keys and title. It turned over, but no start. He put some gas in it and drove it home.

Woody
Woody GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
11/8/12 11:22 a.m.

I'm an opportunist, but isn't that grand theft auto?

stan_d
stan_d Dork
11/8/12 1:47 p.m.

It belongs to who has the title

yamaha
yamaha Dork
11/8/12 2:44 p.m.

In reply to stan_d:

IF the title is indeed signed over in the car with keys in it.......they're basically giving it to someone instead of scrapping it.

dculberson
dculberson SuperDork
11/8/12 3:57 p.m.
Woody wrote: I'm an opportunist, but isn't that grand theft auto?

I would prefer to talk to the owner before taking a car like that, but I would think the situation would be considered along the lines of "an open door is an invitation." That's not a legal reference, btw. ;-)

hrdlydangerous
hrdlydangerous HalfDork
11/8/12 4:38 p.m.

The registration on the car in the photo is not current. That's all I can legally say.

failboat
failboat SuperDork
11/8/12 4:42 p.m.
dculberson wrote:
Woody wrote: I'm an opportunist, but isn't that grand theft auto?
I would prefer to talk to the owner before taking a car like that, but I would think the situation would be considered along the lines of "an open door is an invitation." That's not a legal reference, btw. ;-)

Isn't that what all the guys caught on the Bait Car shows say? lol

foxtrapper
foxtrapper PowerDork
11/9/12 5:12 a.m.
Woody wrote: I'm an opportunist, but isn't that grand theft auto?

Hence the "How much risk and excitement are you up for? "

It may go just fine, or it may not.

16vCorey
16vCorey PowerDork
11/9/12 8:19 a.m.

When I was a delivery driver I once saw an old Beetle on the side of the highway in Kentucky with a police tag on it. I drove past it again two hours later on my way back to town and it was jacked up in the back with no engine!

dculberson
dculberson SuperDork
11/9/12 11:34 a.m.

My brother saw a nice Honda Accord on the side of the road for a few days. Then it had a tow warning tag on it so he took it home and fixed the broken axle then found the owners and called them. They said they were scared of the car and didn't want it any more but the buy here pay here lot had the title. So he called the lot who offered him the title for $50. He gladly paid it. They gave him the title. He re-sold the car for a decent - but not as much as you would think - profit.

That's more adventurous than I would be in a similar situation.

Gasoline
Gasoline Dork
11/9/12 12:26 p.m.

Po Po are getting smarter and trolling with vintage crunchy iron. Niche fishing I tell ya. See you on a episode soon.....

failboat
failboat SuperDork
11/9/12 12:36 p.m.

Just tell them a friend gave you the keys and told you to move it. They will understand.

foxtrapper
foxtrapper PowerDork
11/9/12 1:32 p.m.

Nothing new about their use of bait. Highly doubt this one is bait. A Honda Accord, with a GPS stuck to the windshield on the other hand....

They've been baiting the park near where I work. skate boards, bicycles, etc. One of two vans will always be nearby.

Curmudgeon
Curmudgeon MegaDork
11/9/12 1:51 p.m.

The cops down here busted a father/son pair who were picking up a dead car on the side of I-95 using a homemade dolly, there had been a lot of cases where cars broke down and then turned up missing very quickly. When they searched the truck, they found something like 130 receipts dated over a two year period from a couple of scrap dealers that averaged about $400.

dculberson
dculberson SuperDork
11/9/12 2:00 p.m.

Just to be clear, my brother wouldn't have sold the car without speaking to the prior owners and getting title from them. His plan, if they wanted the car back, was to just get paid for the parts. He just didn't want to see a nice looking car go to the scrap yard.

poopshovel
poopshovel UltimaDork
11/9/12 3:34 p.m.
Woody wrote: I'm an opportunist, but isn't that grand theft auto?

Only if you get caught!

rotard
rotard Dork
11/9/12 4:26 p.m.

Someone stole my GTI while I was deployed. berkeley thieves.

DanyloS
DanyloS New Reader
11/10/12 7:52 a.m.

No particular desire to tempt bringing on a potential Grand Theft Auto charge... Otherwise it would have already "disappeared" into a garage or mechanic's lot somewhere in the suburbs.

In any case I was able to locate (and clearly read) the VIN on top of the steering column pad and am slowly working towards what ever the back story may be.

Thanks to everyone for all your help and ideas!

mad_machine
mad_machine GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
11/10/12 8:06 a.m.

keep us informed.. if you get the car, this will make an interesting story

dculberson
dculberson SuperDork
11/10/12 9:02 a.m.
Datsun1500 wrote:
dculberson wrote: Just to be clear, my brother wouldn't have sold the car without speaking to the prior owners and getting title from them. His plan, if they wanted the car back, was to just get paid for the parts. He just didn't want to see a nice looking car go to the scrap yard.
And if they said they were not paying for the repairs, what was his plan? Basically he stole the car and fixed it for them, they were just too dumb to realize it

Nope, my brother is a Very Good Guy. He probably would have just given it back to them.

Either he was going to take it or the police were. They are less kind with your vehicle.

Gasoline
Gasoline Dork
11/10/12 10:11 a.m.

mad_machine
mad_machine GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
11/10/12 10:47 a.m.

somebody is enabling...

poopshovel
poopshovel UltimaDork
11/10/12 11:05 a.m.
Gasoline wrote:

Mama.

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