One of Cook’s acquaintances, who was on the lookout for a 1968 Camaro, asked Cook to respond to a Maryland man’s social media advertisement for a blue 1968 near La Plata. When Cook arrived at the shop to look over the prospective purchase, he noticed a hoodless 1969 Camaro sitting in the corner of the garage.
The seller told Cook the pseudo-Rallye Green ’69 was originally Hugger Orange, the same color as Cook’s missing car.“It was kind of a hokey green they had painted it, resembled the [Rallye Green] they had on a ’69,” said Cook. “I thought to myself, maybe someone’s trying to hide a stolen car.”
The seller also told Cook the green ’69 was built in California. Cook knew all first-generation Camaros were either built in Norwood, Ohio, or Van Nuys, Calif., at what Cook and collectors call “The Los Angeles Plant.” Cook’s missing car was a California car that he transported on a flatbed truck from Arizona to the East Coast in 2001.
“I looked inside on the dash at the [Vehicle Identification Number] and it had an N code, indicating the car was built in Norwood,” said Cook. “You can’t have a Norwood [Vehicle Identification Number] if the car was made in California.”
Cook sensed something wasn’t quite right.
“So now, we’ve got an orange car, we got a California car, we’ve got a car with a hinky VIN number on it,” said Cook. “I was beginning to think, this is looking a lot like my car.”
Although the car didn’t have a motor when it was stolen, someone had installed a 350-cubic-inch engine along the way.
Cook went on to vehicle’s engine compartment where he found another VIN, carefully hidden by factory workers under the cowl screen. Cook said it appeared body plastic had been smeared over the plate, but the digits in the VIN were visible.
“It was a California VIN,” said Cook.
That evening, Cook compared the Camaro’s VIN to his stolen vehicle report and discovered the car in La Plata was indeed his car that went missing 17 years earlier.
Cook later learned his Camaro changed hands four times over the course of 17 years.
Gone in 60 seconds, back in 17 years!
ReplyDeleteLet's hope the bastards that did this are punished properly!
ReplyDelete