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Man recovers stolen Healey after 42 years!

judow

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Wow. I'd love to know the history of the car since it was stolen. How many owners? States registered. That kind of history. Sounds like a great Healey magazine story to me.
 
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Yes, and how satisfying to snatch it back! :yesnod:
 

Patrick67BJ8

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judow said:
Wow. I'd love to know the history of the car since it was stolen. How many owners? States registered. That kind of history. Sounds like a great Healey magazine story to me.
The Dealer says the guy who sold it to him has claims to have owned it since 1970. The car looks very much like its low miles mechanically and appears not to have been driven much. The car is located close to me and I saw it soon after it had been delivered.

Bob is having work done and parts ordered, etc., and plans to get the car back on the road asap. Hi wife is also very enthusiastic about getting the car back too!
 
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Interesting that the dealer reports the previous owner as having had it since 1970, as that's the year it was stolen. Can't imagine a thief keeping a car for any serious length of time... but then I'm not sure I'd trust the dealer to give me the straight story.
 

pkmh

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Johnny said:
:nonod: :nonono:

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER BUY A CAR WITHOUT A TITLE!!!

How can you be so sure a title, which is nothing more than a piece of paper, is enough insurance that the car is still not stolen? A lot can happen to information in a 40+ year period of time. And in some states, there is no title, only a registration as proof of ownership.

There was an one and only time I tried to do a title search on one Healey I was interested in and found out that it was at least listed under the current owner. But that still doesn't hold enough weight it is owned by that person.

To think of all those Healeys I've seen out there and why a good number of those VIN # plates were removed from the bulkhead. Can anyone explain to me what's up with that?! Is it for personal protection [against fraud] or soemthing else?

I can only feel relieved my Bill of Sale was NOTARIZED so no one can never say "I" outright was involved in stealing the car.

Am I too nervous??

Paul
 

BJ8Healeys

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What isn't said in the stories is that it was the BJ8 Registry that notified Bob that the car was being offered for sale on eBay. Bob had contacted me in February 2007 to see if I had any record of the car. He told me it had been stolen from him in 1970, so I made an entry in the registry for the VIN he gave me with the note that it was reported stolen.
A few months ago, I saw the car on eBay and sent Bob an e-mail. The surprising thing to me was that his e-mail address from 2007 was still valid.
I asked him not to mention the registry in his contact with the dealer. My concern was that it might convince the dealer not to continue identifying the VINs of the cars he has for sale in the future. At that point, I wasn't even sure Bob was going to be successful in getting the car back. What can be a benefit to one side in such a situation can obviously be the opposite to the other side. Since this story now has gone viral, I realize that maintaining silence about the registry role is missing a good opportunity to demonstrate to the Healey world one of the benefits of listing a car with the registry. And yes, for someone who happens to have a stolen car it can be threat, unfortunately.
 

bighealeysource

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Steve does a great, great job with the BJ8 Registry and he's a great guy to deal with also. This is a perfect example of how getting our cars registered is a good idea. Bill Meade with the 100M Registry provides the same kind of help and surely has cut down on the number of fake 100M's and wouldn't be surprised to find out he has helped someone like Steve did.
Regards,
Mike
 

pkmh

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bighealeysource said:
Steve does a great, great job with the BJ8 Registry and he's a great guy to deal with also. This is a perfect example of how getting our cars registered is a good idea. Bill Meade with the 100M Registry provides the same kind of help and surely has cut down on the number of fake 100M's and wouldn't be surprised to find out he has helped someone like Steve did.
Regards,
Mike

Agreed! I am glad to have registered mine soon after purchasing.
 
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pkmh said:
... To think of all those Healeys I've seen out there and <span style="font-weight: bold">why a good number of those VIN # plates were removed from the bulkhead. Can anyone explain to me what's up with that?!</span> Is it for personal protection [against fraud] or soemthing else?
I expect that 99% percent of them are missing for <span style="font-style: italic">honest</span> reasons; the screws vibrated and fell out, were removed for painting, or to "keep in the housee" near the parts ordering catalogs and were never (properly) reattached to their respective cars.

I prefer to think that most people are good, decent and honest, than to automatically assume the opposite...
 

BJ8Healeys

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There are a TON of BJ8s out there now with missing and scrambled plates and identities. In many cases, unless the owner has compared the BMIHT certificate data with the numbers on his car, he doesn't even know that the number plates are from several different cars and that the number stamped into the chassis doesn't match any of the plates or components installed. I've seen many replacement VIN plates that appear to be "home-made" since they are stamped so crudely. There is even a car in a museum in Sweden that has a non-original VIN plate with a bogus number, a body plate belonging to a car 8,035 chassis numbers later than the VIN suggests, and the engine from a third car.
I'm finding from circumstantial evidence that some cars fell into the hands of restorers who weren't all that particular about putting the original serialized components and identity plates back on the car they came off of. That includes some who might surprise you.
I am always suspicious when a seller of a car is reluctant to divulge its VIN.

The BJ8 registry has current and historical records for 7,859 cars worldwide, which is approaching 50% of them originally manufactured. This includes certificates for 757 cars and a couple thousand more with BMIHT data but no copy of the certificate. Consequently, the database allows discrepancies to be spotted easily.

Helping to verify true identities, and to restore the original VIN to cars that have lost their identities or have an error in the paperwork, is a service provided by the registry and one that has been used many times.
 

pkmh

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I prefer to think that most people are good, decent and honest, than to automatically assume the opposite... [/quote]

I can't help thinking the way I do because I am a stone throw from areas like Newark, South Bronx, Harlem, Bedford Styvesant, etc. and some didn't want to show me proof they had the Vin plate, which I found odd.
 

Johnny

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pkmh said:
Johnny said:
:nonod: :nonono:

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER BUY A CAR WITHOUT A TITLE!!!

To think of all those Healeys I've seen out there and why a good number of those VIN # plates were removed from the bulkhead. Can anyone explain to me what's up with that?! Is it for personal protection [against fraud] or soemthing else?

Am I too nervous??

Paul

Paul, I don't think you're too nervous.
It has been my experience that it's normal for a junkyard to remove all the VIN plates from a car. A lot of Healey's have been purchased with salvage titles. From the body numbers and engine number you can obtain a BMIHT certificate that'll provide you with the VIN#.

In my opinion if you apply for a title and one is granted with all the proper numbers, you have every right to ownership of that car.
 

HealeyRick

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BJ8Healeys said:
The BJ8 registry has current and historical records for 7,859 cars worldwide, which is approaching 50% of them originally manufactured.

Fine job by "the Registry", by which I mean you, Steve. That's a great figure that almost 50% of the cars are accounted for. Once you've accounted for all 6,567 Golden Beige Metallic cars your work will be done. :devilgrin:
 

BJ8Healeys

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Johnny, I agree that if someone has a legal title to a car, he is the legitimate owner -- provided that the car wasn't proved to be stolen before the title was issued. However, if the VIN plate is missing or incorrect and all that is available is a body plate, engine serial number, or gearbox number that is no guarantee that the certificate received from BMIHT will have the correct data for the car in question. It will have the correct data for the car that left the factory with that body number or engine or gearbox, but the VIN according to BMIHT might not be the true identity of the car.
For a BJ8, the best thing to do before ordering a certificate would be to get in touch with the BJ8 registry. The registry can help verify the correct identity of the car before money is spent for a certificate.
 
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