Getting your car stolen is awful. First there is the confusion, “ummm where is the hell is my car?”. Then anger, “someone stole my car!” Followed by sadness, “I loved that car man!” And eventually there is acceptance, “insurance check came, let’s go get a new car.”
Ivan Schneider went through that 46 years ago when his Jaguar was stolen from in front of his New York apartment. Of course, he never expected to get the call he got last month – the Jag was found! The LA Times reports:
Last month, he received an unexpected call from Lou Koven, a special agent with the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Customs agents had found Schneider’s beloved two-seater — in a container on a cargo ship en route to the Netherlands.
“He was in a state of disbelief,” Koven said. “He thought it was a scam.”
Who wouldn’t?
The Jaguar and four other missing cars were discovered in late August by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, who were assigned to inspect cargo leaving the Port of Los Angeles. Some were already at sea, destined for the Philippines, Sweden or the Netherlands, by the time a computer search of vehicle identification numbers showed they had been stolen.
They included a 1969 Corvette taken during a burglary in Portland 26 years ago, a 1976 Mercedes 280 fraudulently obtained through a real estate scam in 2002, a 2007 Mercedes E350 fraudulently leased in Glendale in 2008 and a 2014 Camaro ZL1 with illegal paperwork.
Schneider bought the Jag for $5,000 back in the day and in its current state it is worth a little under $24,0000. He plans to have it shipped to New York to be restored, which could cost as much as $100,000 (nice to have that kind of coin lying around eh?). Hopefully, he also installs an alarm.
Classic 1967 Jaguar stolen 46 years ago in New York has been recovered at the Port of L.A. http://t.co/YmhEBp1VwN pic.twitter.com/71vxsZnv88
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) September 18, 2014
