1969 Camaro L89 with JL8 option at Kissimmee

[dabigpud]

Good evening everyone...

Hopefully some of you see this and we can get to the bottom of this fraud discovery together. I'm confident this could be the start of something very exciting.

Here's the quick run down on my discovery. By the way, this happened literally today.

I am a local law enforcement officer in Southern California and just this week purchased two project 1969 Camaros from a woman whose husband passed away two years ago here in Orange County, CA.

After meeting with her a few times last week before we struck a deal, we had shared various stories with each other in the process. During one of our conversations, she had mentioned they once had owned a 3rd Camaro; but it was stolen out of a parking lot circa 1990.

Any who, I didn't think much of it initially until reviewing some of the documentation in the stack of folders she gave me for my other 2 cars I purchased. As I flipped through the pages, I came across a couple documents related to another car with a different VIN. In her initial story, she mentioned their 3rd Camaro had been red in color. The document listed the VIN#124379N690139, a red 1969 SS 396 Camaro; dated 4/7/1990.

I still really didn't give it much thought until I turned to my friend while we were on the couch at my house and I loosely joked, "I wonder what will pop up if I Google their old VIN number on that car of theirs that was stolen 28+ years ago."

My mouth dropped as I looked at the results of my search. Well I'll be damned! There was their car! It was resurrected from the depths, painted black and given a fake history before crossing the Mecum Auction block at Kissimmee in 2014 and selling for a whopping $200,000!

During my search on Google, I also came across this very thread and was delighted to see 10 pages worth of criticism about the car's dubious history and suspect looking documentation.

I immediately called Mecum and left a voicemail for a gentleman who is supposed to call me back.

We HAVE to find out more about this car and bring justice to the last true owner of this Camaro! Any details about the vehicle's current owner would also be amazing!

[parkbrau]

Good job! Did you let the true owner owner know of this new discovery?

[ZLP955]

124379N690139 doesn't show up with a record in an NICB check......
Interesting, but would advise caution until it could be proven that was the car that the PO said was stolen.

[dabigpud]

Tim,

Right now I’m treating this as very preliminary. I notified the woman I purchased the 2 Camaros from of my initial findings on this 3rd Camaro they used to own and she will be going into the depths of her house in an attempt to find additional supporting documentation. Apparently, the car was stolen when her husband was on a road trip without her. I even joked with her and asked if it was possible that her husband gave her a false story and secretly sold the car while he was away and didn’t have the heart to tell her. But she was adamant that he wouldn’t have done such. However, she was confident he would NOT have had insurance on the car because he had a tendency not to have such on his play toys. Even though that sounds a bit moronic, I’m having to take it for face value. The other difficulty is she is unaware as to which agency would have taken the police report at the time as the car was being driven on a road trip at the time of its taking.

They owned the car for approximately 8-9 years throughout the 80s from about 1981/82-1990. Her husband restored the car himself at that time and it was red. Hopefully she can find me some more documentation and/or photographs.

With all of this being said...even if it was determined the car was NOT stolen (very unlikely based on her information), the black car being sold as an original with loads of supporting documentation definitely appears to be fraudulently sold as something it’s not.

Ryan

[cook_dw]

What docs do you have on the car in question? Is it just a police report that the car was stolen or ?? Great work nonetheless.

[dabigpud]

Darrell,

Right now, it is limited to only a few pieces of paper as it appears the paperwork was accidentally slipped into the two folders that were given to me for the two other Camaros I purchased from her. Mostly mechanic slips, etc.

However, the most interesting piece found so far is paperwork from an old (now defunct) auction house under the name of Donen-Hazard SPECTRUM Vehicle Auctions (Oxnard, CA) where it appears her late husband had made an attempt to sell the vehicle at one time. Based on the paperwork, the auction took place on Sunday April 8th, 1990. His vehicle was slated as Lot #425.

I've included some snippets of the paperwork showing the vehicle's description and VIN on the paperwork while cropping their information for privacy reasons.

Now clearly at this point, it's just an interesting story. I will gladly concede defeat if this new found discovery of mine gets debunked. However, at least initially, there appears to be no reason to believe the story so far is inaccurate.

When I spoke to his wife a bit more, she says it is entirely possible she may still have their original title for this vehicle buried in the paperwork. It may take some time, but I'll uncover as much as I can.

I think what makes this story more interesting than most is the fact that so many of you were speculative from the beginning on the accompanying paperwork that came with the car as it rolled through Mecum in 2014. Plus, the fact that car sold for so much dang money is also intriguing.

This is as much about getting justice for the last true owner of the car as it is for the current owner who unwittingly may have purchased a falsified car.

[cook_dw]

Correct and I agree with everything you have stated. I was just curious/hopeful the docs would have been a pop or dealer invoice etc. Unfortunately the info listed could be due to a paint change and the trim tag still code 10-10. Playing devils advocate. Though I doubt that was the case since this cars trim tag was/is fake.


Hopefully the gentleman's wife will find more important documentation about the car or better yet track the car from the state it was stolen to the first known state this car reappeared in.

[dabigpud]

I can assure you I will delve deeper into the story and uncover as much as possible if I find anything.

Is it sad that I'm more interested in the car she no longer has than the two I bought!? I guess it's the hunt for the truth that makes this exciting.

Hey, at least I got a 69 Z/28 and a 69 Pace Car outta the deal!

[cook_dw]

Nice! Start a new thread and post pics of those with info!!

[dabigpud]

Just posted a new thread regarding the other two Camaros