[70 Lemans]

Yeah thats what I ment. lol Fire works. Glad I'm going back to school.

[peppergreen]

Brutal news---hope it's found safe. Sometimes we take these cars for granted, thinking that stored away means safe. I always wonder when my garage door is open and the Judge is sitting there.

What usually happens with stolen classic cars? Chopped for parts? Or re-VIN'd and sold as Judges?

Will watch for it, I'm in Canada, but you never know where they are being shipped

[Geeto 67]

Most of the ones that are recovered (and few are ever recovered) are cut up for parts. A few will be re-vinned, or even sold with their existing vins in a different state (old cars are hard to trace and some states don't even have titles).

A lot of times the person stealing the car needs something from it, usually the drivetrain in the case of these old musclecars. the rest is usually discarded, mangled, or parted out.

[peppergreen]

Ouch.

And we buy rampant on Ebay, etc, without asking many questions.

[Geeto 67]

Originally Posted by peppergreen

Ouch.

And we buy rampant on Ebay, etc, without asking many questions.

My favorite photo in a magazinewas in Car Craft but first a little background:

Back in the 1990s Car Craft build a 1965 Impala (might have been a caprice) called Heavy Metal. Just about the end of the project in 1994 the car was stolen out of the Car Craft garage and never recovered. In 2003, One of the Editors involved in the project spotted the fenders, trunk lid, etc in the back of a station wagon not far from his house and in poor shape.

this forum thread has the excerpt and photo in car craft than ran in 2003:
http://forums.hotrod.com/70/1360631/...tal/index.html


If you want to get a feel for what happens to a stolen muscle car, here is a post from the V8 buick board (with pics if you are a member) of when a guy's 1971 GS convertible (and trailer) were stolen and recovered. the pics of the stripped out shell are heart breaking.

http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.ph...ghlight=stolen

Others have said it before, and I agree, If the car was in a garage for an extended period and not on the road it has to be someone who had been to the house and knew it was there. Even the repair guys are suspect as a boiler repairman once stole two 1950's corvette FI units from my dad when he came to fix our boiler in the 1980s (my father used to fix and tune old corvette FI, ran a 1965 unit on his 69 302 Z28).

[1-GTO]

I'll keep my eye's open here in Missouri...if I see or hear of any '71 GTO's or parts for sale I'll drop in here and leave a reply or call.Sorry to hear about Your GTO getting stolen.

[Ron Landis]

many parts are unique to '71 model and very difficult to find, so if a dash, grills, fenders, etc turn up usually it turns heads. Even hoods, decklids and much of the trim is exclusive to '71/'72 models, which are few. I've seen nice hoods bring nearly $2k! Just saying...crooks are typically NOT the sharpest crayons in the box and the temptation may be their undoing. That's the beauty of the "information age"! Good luck and I'll spread the word to my "vendor" friends. Take care. Ron

[pontiacpetey]

I would put an ad on craigslist looking for some parts that were on that car, make it sound like you are restoring a similar car, say you have cash in hand, willing to pay top dollar and live in another state. Thieves are greedy and usually dumb maybe they will bite.

[1971Cat]

Any current news on this??? I will keep an I open in the Dallas/Ft.Worth area, I am building a 400 out of my 71 Cat at the moment to put in my Father-in-laws 77 Grand Lemans, since his old 301 took the easy way out life. So we are constantly looking for parts as the heads were bad on the 400. Good luck on a safe return, and keep the forum updated.....I will post in other forums.