If this were true, there would be giant piles of undocumented old cars in Texas that nobody could touch. Automotive recyclers have a way to 'scrap' any hunk of metal without paying $200. What they cannot do is sell any major components (frame) to JScott or any other private party for re-use.
I'm sure there is a bunch of loopholes that scrap dealers use, but as an individual, when I go to a scrap dealer, they already treat you like a crook...they lock you in a room, finger print you, photograph you from every angle, photocopy every form of ID you have and then they might take what you have. Dragging in an untitled car is more trouble that it's worth for me. If others want to deal with it, more power to them, but I will never deal with it myself.
If your car was stolen, isn't that what you'd want the crooks to face? That having been said, I've never had a problem scrapping anything. On the other hand, if I donate a running vehicle to goodwill for a tax credit, that's the last I'll hear of it, because the people whom goodwill sends to pick it up apparently never deliver the car to goodwill.
It is sad that we live in a world where people have to be so skeptical, but we do. There are so many scams out there these days, and most involve someone in a bad situation, that has had some sort of loss, and then wants to sell something.
Just last week there was a post just like this here on this very forum. It was a mother who's son was hit and killed by a drunk driver. He was on the way home in his fiance's car to visit his 10 year old brother. She was being forced to move, and needed to sell the car at below cost. Someone on here recognized the pictures of the car, and tied it to another very similar scam in the past. Here is the link to the entire post
It is horribly unfortunate that your initial story read as a perfectly planned scam. That being said, I am sorry for your loss, and please accept out apologies. Our initial disbelief was done out of an abundance of caution.
I wish you the best with the huge task at hand of having to deal with 100 cars, and that things start to brighten up for you.
Well said, John.
To Mr. Hodgell, I'm sorry you've joined the forum under such trying circumstances. My 88-year-old mother had her beloved Buick LeSabre totaled by a teenaged driver a couple of weeks ago. She's OK, but dealing with the doctors and insurance company has been a nightmare, so I can't imagine what you're dealing with in trying to sort out your father's affairs. A hundred cars and a bucket full of keys! I wish you the best of luck.
im very close to sheboygan, also looking for a project fiero. im more than willing to go look at these cars after work tomorrow and take pictures..... actually i am definitly going to go look at these cars tomorrow, the pictures might not be the greatest quality i only have my phone camera. ill make a list of the years makes engines, vins, i got this guys. !!!! excited......
im very close to sheboygan, also looking for a project fiero. im more than willing to go look at these cars after work tomorrow and take pictures..... actually i am definitly going to go look at these cars tomorrow, the pictures might not be the greatest quality i only have my phone camera. ill make a list of the years makes engines, vins, i got this guys. !!!! excited......
I contacted chris, he is checking his schedule and will give me a date i can go look at the cars after hours. Nice guy, and the story checks out. Seems they are working with the dmv to get titles.
I contacted chris, he is checking his schedule and will give me a date i can go look at the cars after hours. Nice guy, and the story checks out. Seems they are working with the dmv to get titles.
Thanks for following up on this story Josh. Keep us all posted, and good luck with your search.
ok so ill do my best, i went to look at the cars today, i found all 7 but none of them are in any sort of garage. i took a few pictures and will try to get them uploaded. it was really muddy today because of the nice weather and wasnt able to get a look at the underside of any of the cars.
all cars have the engine and trans in them and supposedly ran in 08, the yard is not a pick n pull so all but 3 of the cars are reletivly complete.
86gt- white, interior has water damage, sunroof is open interior is trash, sunroof automatic 1G2PM37R8GP249886, this car is the most complete according to the yard owner , again i wasnt able to get inside this one was locked so i wasnt able to get a milage reading or an idea of how much water damage there was.
87 2m4- silver poor interior the seats are demolished but all the windows are intact so there isnt weather damage, 173k miles 1g2pm37r8gp249886 automatic. mostly complete.
84 se- black rattle canned, looks like it was originally red, grey interior, the carpet and seats are the best in this car, this is probably the cleanest interior except the headliner is ripped out and whoever took it ruined the plastic trim. 109k miles big sunroof. 4 speed, 1g2af37r5ep332270 mostly complete
85 gt the whole car is trashed, the sunroof is missing and the decklid wires are hanging from random areas and a headlight is missing, the car is also filled with raccoon crap. and what looks like a bunch of buick parts. black 75k miles 4 speed. 1g2pe11r6jp212904
84 2m4 - white missing driver window full of more racoon crap, 80k miles, auto, i didnt get the vin on this one sorry.
84 se auto black, grey/black interior automatic, all glass is good, if i remember correctly this one has the best interior. 86k miles 1g2af37r2ep270178 complete car all glass is good
85 2m4 5 speed itsuzu, black, dark grey interior driver seat is torn and what looks like dead mildew on part of the seat and the carpet, small sunroof all glas is good, 1g2pm37rxpp202356 complete car.
im going to edit this and add the pictures in between each car once i figure it out. i didnt take alot but i tried to get all of them.
all 7 are notchies and only the first one i posted has the aero nose, the yard owner said the price would be $300-$500 depending on the car. he also said they just found a huge box of titles and these may be in there but we dont know yet. ill stay in contact with him.
The yard owner kept saying gt so i guess it stuck in my head. From what i saw a few are fixable but yes definitly parts cars. still cant figure out pictures... I use to use photobucket but im having problems. Ill keep trying.
pic 2 shows the two cars that were full of racoon crap, and you can see the rattle canned car in the right corner.
ps i know it says 2m6 on the back of the rattle canned car but i think the deck is off a diffrent car, probably the full of crap one without the deck lid.
pic 9 is the 86 se, with the aero nose, probably the most complete with water damage that i couldnt get into.
the other seat pics are the 84 with what looks like mold that died, the dash and center console didnt look spectacular so i didnt take a picture. as you can see the drivers seat is ripped but the passenger is intact.
that 85 gt looks like the hardest one to save unfortunatly.
pic 5 6 and 7 are the same car i think... sorry its the 85 not the 84, i dont have pictures of the other 84, it was tucked in really tight and couldnt get inside.
actually you can see both the 85 4 speed and the 84 auto in the first pic. there is an 87 2m4 picture, the silver car i thought i sent but ill check again, its also in good condition.
thanks for posting the pics for me, im trying to figure out pip, i downloaded it but cant figure out how to work it.
------------------ 1990 Thunderbird SC 5-speed.... i sorta painted it purple 1999 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor "Sinnerceptor" 1985 fiero 2.5 auto red, fell asleep and killed it. 1986 fiero 2.5 5-speed, bought as a parts car, drove it till the wheels fell off.
yea the carpet and seats have brown stuff on them that is rough and not moist that looks like it had been moldy but dried out. supposedly all these cars ran in 2008. all of them have complete engines and transmissions in them 2 are 2.8's and 5 are 2.5s. and most are faily low milage if you look at the list above. my impression was 3 strictly parts cars and 4 parts cars that could possibly be fixed.
