I'm so confused. The cars have been at a shop since 2009/2010 and you haven't seen them since? The shop owner is like a dad to you, yet he sold your car? The owner is like a dad to you, yet he's been working on your cars for 14 years? How long ago did the cars disappear? Were the cars titled in your name? Anyways, I know none of my questions helps you to find your car, but there are just so many gaps in your story. I wish you the best in finding your cars.

 

1. Yes, i haven't seen my 68s for a LONG time
2. Yes, he's like a dad to me. No, he didn't sell my car, he essentially lost them.
3. Yes, he's like a dad to me. No, he wasn't working on the cars the whole time, he got ill and something happened to his shop (i'm not 100% sure exactly what). The mechanic he had doing the work ended up taking at least one of them to their rental as a result.
4. I became aware of the cars being missing in 2020, but they may have been missing since 2014. I have been actively taking steps to find them since 2020.
5. The cars are titled in my name, and i have possession of both titles, though someone has re-titled the second mustang (VIN: 8R01T125496)

Hope that clears the gaps for you, and thanks for pointing them out, as well as for the well wishes. I hope i find the first one still. the second i've probably lost now, but it would thrill me to get it back.

 

Thanks for the additional information. Again, good luck in finding your cars.

 

Pretty sure there is something called the Police in your area. Why dont you see if they can help? Are you sure the cars were taken without your permission and not sold after a lien was placed on them?

..what are the laws regarding abandoned property in your state?

 

Thanks for the reply!

I have contacted both Portland and Scappoose Police. Portland was pretty sure this is a purely civil matter. Scappoose got contacted as soon as i found out that the second 68 had gotten re-titled and registered.

Yes, the cars were taken without my knowledge or permission. I have never stopped paying the comprehensive insurance on either of them because i had thought i'd get them back.

Both were completely paid off. I got my initial loans through my Credit union, which at the time was Legacy Federal Credit Union, which merged with CCCU.

I don't know the laws about abandoned property unfortunately, but i am pretty sure i'm about to get a hard crash course in it. I never abandoned either vehicle and i have a feeling that Pops' inaction may have lost me both cars.

thanks again!

 

I'm afraid if someone filed an abandoned vehicle/storage lien on that one car and gone through the legal steps to get it titled you might be kissing that car goodbye.

 

Yeah, i'm starting to think they both might be gone in spite of my doing everything i could afford to do.

 

I don't know...I'm scratching my head wondering why you waited so long to search for your cars?

 

Because i was told that they were being cared for and it was being handled. Being that i didn't have money at the time to continue pouring into the vehicles (new baby jan 2013 after unemployment ran out in dec 2012), i trusted Pops. That was my mistake. When i knew for sure that even he hadn't seen them, i started searching.

 

14 years is long enough for these cars to rot away if stored improperly and in the wrong place. What happened in the 1st year or so that you walked away in the 1st place? Sorry to say but you've pretty much abandoned these cars after all this time, hopefully they have better homes now.

 

crap man, that's pretty harsh.

I never walked away, i just trusted in people who didn't make it a priority while i was in rough spots. Job lost in 2011, 2 years on unemployment while going to school, and as unemployment ran out, i was about to have a kid. A year later i was in a car accident that i never fully physically recovered from, and my fortunes didn't start turning around until around 2015, only to have the company i was working for implode and layoff nearly everyone in the first 2 months of 2016.

not that i really needed to explain any of this to you. I mean, i'm looking for help to try to find my cars, and i'm mostly getting criticism for what happened.....yikes man.

 

Don't know Oregon MVA procedure, but as an owner you might be able to get a title history. That will, at least, explain how the one car was "sold."

You've been criticized enough, so I won't add anything on the point. Your life consumed you, and you lost track of things that weren't that important in the big picture. As you noted that chapter in your life might be history.

 

I appreciate that, thank you.

I'll look into both MVA procedure and title history. any little bit helps, i feel pretty stupid and uneducated about all of this.

 

As someone who has bought some cars like this:

For whatever reason, the vehicle is declared abandoned or has a lien attached. Shop may have changed hands, work done, but not paid for, the reasons are many.

Bottom line though, a notice is placed that on such and such a date, the vehicle will be sold at auction. Whoever buys it get a "clear" title from the state.

The lien holder, shop, whatever, gets the money.

The previous owner gets nothing and has no recourse.

Laws vary by state as far as timelines, proof, notifications, etc.

Paying insurance is not any method of retaining title, as the insurance company is not linked to the motor vehicle title.

Get a title search on the one that is still "alive" and you will probably find out that the was a legal lien sale years ago.

I do not want to sound like a Debbie Downer, but unless the cars were reported stolen before a lien sale, not holding out much hope.

What I would check is if a duplicate title was issued, and your name was forged. Different story.

 

The only thing the DMV would tell me is that a title was issued about 3-4 months after i had the title in question replaced.

It is most definitely sounding like i will have no choice but to sue Pops/the old shop, which will likely not go anywhere since he's pretty much out of cash.

i've tried doing VIN lookups but that got me nowhere. your mention of a title lookup helped me find a possible path to chase, and i thank you for that.

 

I bought ours without a title (he was 92 years old and had stored the car for 42 years) but he had insurance paperwork dating back to '67 when he bought it. I had to take the car to the state patrol who inspected the visible VIN and the door tag and looked over the whole car. He then did a stolen car search and came up empty so they issued me a "probationary title" for 3 years. After 3 years I was able to get a real title.

Yours is a different situation and state, but the state usually has a procedure to be sure that cars aren't stolen and re-titled. My guess is it might have been done through a work lien by the shop that gives them the right to sell the vehicle for non-payment of the bill for work done. Still kinda shady since you knew the shop owner pretty well.

Good luck in you search....I hope you come up with at least one of them.

 

From the minimal facts presented here, I'm guessing the cars were treated as abandoned as you were out of the picture for 14+ years. When I was 15 years old I almost wound up with a 1965 C code coupe the same way as it was abandoned on a friend's property. With 28 years of law enforcement experience, your dilemma appears to me to be a civil issue. Law enforcement generally does not handle civil issues as a rule of thumb. You're not going to like this next piece of advice, but I would speak with an attorney on this.

 

I appreciate the reply and the advice. an attorney search will be the next step after the local police get back to me on that report.

 

Sorry to say that insurance policy probably wouldn't have provided you any coverage since a policy generally requires a certain degree of possession, care and control of the vehicle.

 

i kinda feel like that's the way they will go with it also, if for no other reason than they want to not have to pay out. Oddly enough, i did specifically ask my agent's office what coverage i needed to specifically take care of a situation like this, being that the cars were being worked on and not driven, but i wanted to ensure i had coverage for damage or theft while they were in the shop's possession.

My guess is that if anything were to come of it, the insurance company will claim that i should have realized the shop was no longer in proper business operating condition and that i should have taken issue up with them much earlier. this is what i get for trusting folks i guess.