Recovered after four-plus decades, stolen 1972 Corvette may not return to its original owner

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Recovered after four-plus decades, stolen 1972 Corvette may not return to its original owner

Kurt Ernst at 8:58 am



Terry Dietrich’s former 1972 Corvette. Photos courtesy Allstate.

In 1972, a young Terry Dietrich of DeKalb County, Georgia, purchased a new Corvette coupe, a car she still refers to as her first love. It was blue, with a T-top roof, and just six months after bringing the car home from the dealer, it was stolen from the parking lot of her employer. Forty-two-plus years later, the car has been recovered by police, but there’s still a good chance it won’t find its way back to Terry’s driveway.

When police arrived to take her statement in 1972, investigating officers told Terry to prepare for the worst. Her Corvette, they advised, had probably been parted out already, its frame dumped unceremoniously in the Chattahoochee River. For over 40 years the car’s disappearance remained an unsolved mystery, though Terry’s insurer, Allstate, had long since paid the claim for the car’s theft.

As 11Alive, via Corvette Blogger, explains, all that changed in early 2015 when Forest City, North Carolina, car dealer and restorer Gary Green purchased a blue 1972 Corvette coupe from a local woman whose husband, the car’s owner, had recently died. Gary was so familiar with the car, which had been a local fixture since 1975, that he never thought to question its origins or the legality of its ownership. That changed when he purchased the car, and quickly realized its VIN was for a 1969 Corvette convertible, not a 1972 coupe with the T-top roof.

A closer inspection revealed a different VIN on the Corvette’s frame and engine, and Gary immediately notified the authorities. His Corvette turned out to be one stolen from Terry Dietrich in 1972, and police in North Carolina impounded the car. To secure its release, a title matching the original VIN is required, but here’s where the trail grows cold.

[JayhawkSD]

1. Why should she get the car back?

The insurance company has paid her the value of it, and it is the insurance company who is the owner. It should be returned to the insurance company after a "lost title" process has been completed. This silly reporter is upset because the original owner cannot have both the insurance compensation and the car? Give me a break.

It is absurd to assume that North Carolina does not have procedures for issuing a new title when the original is lost. The reporter is engaging in nonsensical sensationalism.

[sir pball]

2. Yup. It should be issued a salvage title and resold, boo hoo.

That was the case with my old 240SX, had a salvage title so I had a mechanic friend inspect it...no crash, fire or flood damage, after a bit of hunting it turned out to have been stolen in Boston and recovered after the payout.

Now, giving the original owner right of first refusal, for the cost of the original payout (adjusted, obv.), would seem to be the fair thing to do.