The 1969 Nova that was not to be...

RedVenom48

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Im going to tell you a story here gentlemen that, had it not happened directly to me, Id not believe it. Every word I type here is true. This is the story of a 1969 Nova that I owned for less than a day. No TL;DR, you gotta read this one.

For the last month, Ive been looking for a classic Chevrolet muscle car. Ive got the 2011 GT500 and its a great car, but I suppose that deep passionate love I had for it isnt there as it once was for many reasons. I bought a Fox Mustang to turn into a Grudge drag car to satisfy that raw drag car feeling, but I couldnt help but think that for all the effort Id need to put into it, I could do the same to a classic muscle car and get more satisfaction from it.

So, I started looking and decided that what I wanted was a Nova. Compact-ish, lightweight, somewhat easy to back half, easily accept big blocks... ok Nova it is. Found a few, many were either rotted or too expensive or missing a ton of parts. I found on craigslist a 1969 rolling chassis. What drew me in was it had this gaudy yellow 4" cowl hood but it had copper flames on it. I hate yellow, but for some reason the Copper flames spoke to me.

Up front, it was a no-title rolling chassis; no engine no trans. But what it really had was good clean rust-free rot-free bones. Needed new doors, front and back glass, an interior, pretty much everything. It used to have fiberglass doors, but they were so beat up the seller replaced them with some semi-functional doors he found on craigslist. But it was a great start for a classic race car. Met the seller at his house and confirmed it was rough, but it was a solid core to build from.

Seller's son bought the Nova for him as thanks for being a great dad. Got the Nova from a mutual close friend that deals in classic Chevy truck parts. Truck parts guy got the Nova as part of a package deal and sold it to the kid for a great price. Seller used to build high performance drag cars, but had since tapered off a lot. Wanted funds to restore his dads F100 that was bought new and in the family forever.

I took down the cowl tag and the VIN number. I called the local State Attorney General's office to ensure it wasnt stolen. The VIN came back clean, not reported as stolen. Alright, it could be eligible for a bonded title! I contacted the AZ MVD and was essentially told that since Im not an owner of any sort yet, I could not be given any information on liens or prior owners to contact to start the bonded title process. I wasnt going to buy a classic car and not get to drive it on the street! Annoyed at the MVD, I mulled it over.

I talked it over with the wife and decided that the car was the one to go after. Contacted the seller, made an offer and he accepted. He even threw in essentially an entire Big Block Chevy's worth of parts (no pistons or rods, or intake).

Thursday after work: I got the cash together, got a trailer, and went to the sellers house. Exchanged cash for car with ADOT notarized Bill of Sale. Super cool guy, helped load it and the parts, shared stories, met the neighbor and wife. Great experience all the way around. I got the car back to my house, left it on the trailer as I was heading straight to the MVD in the morning.

Next day (Friday) I made it to the MVD and parked my truck with the Nova on trailer in the parking lot. Only spot big enough for truck and trailer was along the street. I went inside and stood inline for probably 25 minutes.

Im playing candy crush, minding my own business when I hear someone say my name. It was a uniformed PD officer. He said "Could you come with me please". Ok fine. At first I thought it was an ADOT Compliance officer who recognised me. We work on their equipment all the time. It was actually a Glendale PD officer.

Following him I realized we were headed for the trailer and he says to me "We got a call from someone claiming that his car is on the back of your trailer". I figured it had to be a prank. "No sir, no prank and he says he has his title on the way".

Ok, what in the **** is going on! We get to the trailer and there is this random ass dude talking to another officer saying that this car was his and he knew it was because of the flames on the hood. I tell the officer who walked me out "Sir, I literally purchased this car yesterday. I have a notarized bill of sale from the seller and before I even made an offer, I called the AG's office and was told it wasnt stolen. Seller was told by them it wasnt stolen. His friend who sold his kid the car says it wasnt listed as stolen."

"Well the title is allegedly on the way and well check VINs to see if they match"

Literally a minute later, dudes wife and the title arrived. The other officer verified the claimer's ID, matched his ID to the title then climbed up on MY trailer read the VIN and.... ****... it matched.

I was ****ing dumbfounded by what was occurring. Almost at a loss for words. How could a random guy driving buy see this car, know it was his, call the cops and ACTUALLY HAVE THE ****ING TITLE?!?!?!?

I asked the cop how is this possible? It wasnt listed as stolen. They even verified the VIN was NOT listed as stolen at that very moment.

THIS is what happened: The now verified owner's father passed away in early 2020, with his house in a not good part of Phoenix. Apparently word got around to the crackheads that this house was unoccupied and had some shit of value in there. Verified owner though he had some time to get his dads estate sorted before he needed to worry about it. He was VERY wrong.

About 2 months after father passes way, owner gets a call from dead fathers neighbor that whoever they rented their dads house too was rude, and had been making loud noises for days now. Demanded they come down and deal with it or they were calling the cops. Family rushed over to house and found a number of squatters had broken into the house. Cops were called and squatters were booted out of the house.

Owner ran back to the backyard and found ALL of the cars his dad owned were gone including his High school drag car he built with his dad. A one 1969 Chevrolet Nova with yellow flamed hood. House was ransacked. His dads car titles were lost and couldnt get duplicates until he got the death certificate. He lost his title for the Nova years earlier. Since he could NOT produce titles at the time to prove ownership, Phoenix PD refused to file stolen vehicle reports.

Owner tried to get duplicate titles but this was just as the COVID response kicked into high gear. All state offices were closed, no one would help him. He finally gave up and tried to salvage what was left of his dads estate and move on until he could find the time to chase these stolen car reports.

About 3 months ago, his wife found his Nova title in a stack of papers they were about to toss. Still, life got in the way and the car was gone and on the back burner his search stayed. Until he saw his Nova on my trailer at the MVD as he was driving by to get his wife a Dunkin Donut's frappe....

Cops determined that there was no criminal intent on my or my sellers part. However, they did determine the Nova WAS stolen but now reunited with the rightful owner. I literally no longer had any ownership claim out of the cash I paid and... there was no recourse but to contact my seller and try to get my money back.. somehow. Based on the amount I paid, it wasnt even enough to be a felony. Would have to go through small claims.

After realizing what this dude had been through, I couldnt be mad at the guy. He was wronged in the most egregious way a car guy could be and from his dead fathers house no less. Turns out he lived not even a mile from the MVD. I dropped it off for him and told him "I hope this can start to bring some closure to you, but I do hope you can find some of the other cars stolen from your dads house". As we were unloading, he asked if I saw the fiberglass doors. He and his dad hung fiberglass doors and was hoping I had seen them...... this is no shit his car. No way he knew this car had fiberglass doors unless.. unless this really was his. ****. His house number ended in a 4... its my daughters lucky number (born 4:44 am on 4/28/2020) on Michelle Drive. ...my sister in law is named Michelle......

I went home, smoked about a half a pack of cigarettes and contacted my seller. Stunned disbelief followed only to be backed up with the official police report number, responding officer's ID # and name. I was preparing for a huge fight. What I got was silence for a second and then he said "Well, we need to get you your money back. Text me your address and Ill be there in the morning".

Saturday: Seller showed up at about 9am and told me he had called and Glendale PD verified my claim after we had spoken. He had a family meeting and they called their friend who sold them the Nova. Oh... he was ****ing LIVID that he unknowingly put his friend (Seller and seller's son) in that spot. His kid got a full refund of his money he spent on the car. This was a guy you just did NOT mess with. He doesnt deal in stolen shit and he was embarrassed that he was had. Apparently there are some things in motion to find out how that car got to HIM and... I have every confidence that theres going to be a number of tweekers who are about to have VERY bad days ahead for themselves.

He pulled out all the cash I had given him not even 48 hours earlier. I got back EVERY dollar. All he wanted was his cylinder heads back. Done deal. He was a man of God and is even inked to show his devotion.

I cannot describe how so many stars aligned in the right way at the right time for all these events to have happened in the way they did. Im not even a religious person myself. But I believe that the good Lord set a plan in motion a long time ago to get this car back to this man and his family on his father's behalf. I cant shake the feeling that my seller and I were meant to meet and make a deal. I think God knew that my seller was genuine enough to actually live by His code when the time came. I think God knew Id do the right thing with the car and try to get a bonded title as soon as I could at the MVD and giving the owner a chance to see his car. I genuinely think that I was a part of Divine Intervention for the owner. Its the only thing that makes sense.

And that is how I owned a 1969 Chevrolet Nova for less than a day. Thanks for reading.
 
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PC03GT

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That's a crazy ass story. Glad you got your money back and the car ended up with the rightful owner
 

CobraBob

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Wow! THAT is quite the story, and fortunately you got your money back quite easily. The seller was a straight up nice guy. Sorry you lost out, but happy the rightful owner has the car back and YOU got a full refund.
 

DSG2003Mach1

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I wonder wtf would have happened if he came by an hour later after you had finished the title work?
 

svtfocus2cobra

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Damn, that is wild. Crazy how a situation so twisted up and born from ill intentions can completely work itself out in almost complete fairness. God is certainly always at work.
 

SHIFTYBUSINESS

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That's a crazy story for sure, glad it ended with you getting your money back. Maybe you should buy a Chevelle instead, JK.
 

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