1965 Stolen Bus Stolen From Spokane - Missing for 35 years.

[mtb7001]

[LAGrunthaner]

Thanks for the clip Randall,
I don't see how the dealer wasn't caught up in all the finances on this deal. Why wasn't the dealer liable?

She said the bus "everything inside was like I remembered it" but how can that be it is all new? Then again she isn't into these buses like we are, "obsessed" In as much as a fresh restoration of any vehicle is nice looking there is something about OG that I am so attracted to, that karma, or just the thought of each and every scratch in the paint or tear in the material, the history of every mark. Do some of you think like that wondering how each mark was made on your OG bus, car or bike of classic age?

I suppose we need to remember she has that Karma connection but sad for those who lost thousands.

[Braukuche]

[jennyt]

[Dave24]

[jennyt]

I should retract and clarify....I'd say that within 200 miles of my town, a fair amount of 1970's and older VW's are more likely to be sold in the weekly shoppers, the daily paper classifieds, posts on community billboards, mere "for sale" signs on the vehicle and other non-Internet methods. It's just that most every time I follow up on them, it turns out to be neglected junk some old codger is trying to sell before it dies.

[Dave24]

That makes more sense... thanks. I was about to subscribe to your local paper.

[GeorgeL]

[Randall]

[///Mink]

Well, this thing ended up on Jalopnik today. So much ignorance in the commentary. I tried to deal with a few, but gave up.

http://jalopnik.com/5714601/stolen-vw-bus-returned--after-36-years

[jennyt]

Scared me for a moment...I thought Mikey put the bus on Jalopnik's concourse auction lot. Scroll down into the commentaries--a couple links are clickable providing a little more edutainment, but still all of us are reading only the Reader's Digest version which is as far as anyone can go using desktop resources. So...unless 60 Minutes or Dateline sink into this when it's all said and done and all the PO's & players have their sayso (maybe a trip in the wayback machine uncovers the thief), it all comes down to the clear title in the end.

[devesvws]

after reading all this i'm not sure who's side i'm on the kids sure look happy, that kinda made me smile.
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THE FEW THE PROUD THE ORIGINAL VW WATERBOXER -> looking for a original 91 vanagon owners manual with 1991 on the cover http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmuiG2tUsP4&feature=share https://picasaweb.google.com/101290228103300323836/BostonBobFlywheelVideo#5543000332201103922

[Randall]

Here's a new article dated Dec. 20 from the Wall Street Journal by Miriam Jordan, who also covered the subject back in November 2009 when the story went national and international. (There's also a link to the old article within the link below.)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703395204576023581783563822.html#articleTabs%3Darticle

After reading this I now feel that Michelle Squires didn't get something for nothing. As it says in the article, "Months passed. The van sat in a Copart.com warehouse in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

The parties finally reached a settlement that enabled Ms. Squires to get the bus back. Ms. Squires says she agreed with Copart and other parties not to disclose the terms of the deal, revealing only that she borrowed money from her boyfriend, Earl Roethle, to acquire it."

It all worked out good in the end. Nice guy, that Earl.

[cdennisg]

http://www.ketv.com/news/local-news/triumph-motorc...index.html

I missed this story back in November. I have reached out to the NICB agent involved to see if we can get any answers for the vintage car hobby about the possibility of any of our vehicles being stolen long ago.
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nothing

[campingbox]

[cdennisg]

[Malokin Martin]

[cdennisg]

I just received a return call from an agent with the NICB. We spoke for over a half hour about this process. There is so much information in my brain that I need some time to process it. I now have a better understanding of how this can happen.

He gave me a contact for the local agent, and I plan to speak with him soon.

The NICB database sees stolen vehicle reports as far back as five years, but they see purged vehicle reports back into the 1940's (as per my recent conversation) The clincher is that if the NICB sees a purged vehicle issue, they must contact the agency who filed the original report, and hope that the agency still has the theft report in their records. IF so, the investigation can proceed. But, if old reports have been destroyed by that agency, then there isn't much to be done. Many agencies destroy those old records to gain storage space and/or to save money.
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nothing

[Randall]

The prediction by pyrOman 4 years ago on this thread came true.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4266348&highlight=#4266348

[cdennisg]