Picking up strays alongside the road

 I’m sure you guys of seen this scenario before, there is a car that apparently ran and there it is sitting alongside the road with a flat tire for days and days until it is finally towed away, the title invalidated, and sold at impound a month or three later. Sometimes you just wish you could get a hold of the person and offer them even just a couple hundred to get the title and try to do at least something with the car better than it turning into scrap. 

This one doesnt even have plates so who knows what the story is. The interior is as rough as you’d expect, at least up front, but still it got there under its own power.  It’s just a shame

Few things are more expensive than a cheap Porsche...Looking forward to having some Porsche DNA in my next beer can.

I'm feeling lazy so imagine that "don't want dog" meme posted here.

Once a guy advertised the original Sentra SE-R for a decent price and he told me it was on the side of I65 near Merrillville, IN and I would need to get it towed and he'd meet me with the title at the exit prior.  I couldn't make it they day.  

Leave a note on it. "I'll buy it from you, contact me @ ......."

Many years ago, I tried to rescue an abandoned 1959 El Camino. It was sitting on the railroad right-of-way. I managed to find out who it was last registered to, and called the phone number.

It was the number for the owner's mother, and she said he was working out of the country, and didn't care what happened to it. 

The only thing missing from it was the quadrajet and air cleaner and the bucket seats. The body was dent and rust free. 

I was working for minimum wage, and didn't have a way to dangle any money in front of the guy from a distance in order to get my hands on the title, and I was afraid to try and drag it home.

Eventually it got hauled off.

Could you look up the car fax to try to find the owner?

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:

Many years ago, I tried to rescue an abandoned 1959 El Camino. It was sitting on the railroad right-of-way. I managed to find out who it was last registered to, and called the phone number.

It was the number for the owner's mother, and she said he was working out of the country, and didn't care what happened to it. 

The only thing missing from it was the quadrajet and air cleaner and the bucket seats. The body was dent and rust free. 

I was working for minimum wage, and didn't have a way to dangle any money in front of the guy from a distance in order to get my hands on the title, and I was afraid to try and drag it home.

Eventually it got hauled off.

Really interesting back-story, more details would be highly appreciated.

In reply to RX Reven' :

I really don't have much more information to share. I'm sure the car got crushed.

This was sometime in the mid seventies, next to Longwood Ave (now Ronald Reagan parkway) in Seminole county, Florida.

To most people back then it was just another old car. Like I said, I was afraid to bring it home without having any legitimate way of proving that I hadn't stolen it.

I started by calling the department of motor vehicles, and also talked to the sheriff's department, who advised me not to touch it unless I could get the title.

According to the owner's mother, the guy didn't care what happened to the car. I think I could only spare about 50 bucks to offer her for him to get the title to me, or sign a form so that I could get one. $50 wasn't worth the trouble to him.

$50 sure doesn't sound like much today, but at the time that was almost a week's pay for me.

In my VERY poor days not so long ago, I traded up from a 95 Lumina + $500 for a 1992 Mustang LX 5.0 5 speed convertible with a 5 speed. MAAAAN I was stoked!

It had a tick and a wicked water pump leak so we towed it to my buddy's house. After tinkering with it for a while I was ready to take it on its maiden voyage. I dropped the top and went for a cruise on the highway... where it promptly developed a knock and seized up. This one turns out well, I sold it for $400 alongside interstate 35 in Olathe, KS.

I guess it wouldn't hurt to leave a note, presumably the owners still take that route. If I end up back that way today I'll use window chalk to make it very noticeable

yupididit said:

Leave a note on it. "I'll buy it from you, contact me @ ......."

That Cayenne and its owner will never be in the same zip code again.

I looked at a S on a little car lot a couple of months ago. 150k showing on the odometer. It had not aged well at all. Like worse than a comparable aged Chevy. The interior was falling apart, loose trim, torn up seats, paint worn off every button. Lots of issues including warning lights on the dash for the 4wd. I was pretty surprised at how badly it had gone down hill. Usually the German stuff ages well, but this one sure didn't. 

That's how I got my current mk1 Fiesta. I was actually looking for one after my previous one was totaled. Then, like a sign from above, I drove past one broken down on the side of 95. Keep in mind that this was circa 2008, and Fiestas were a rare sight here by the early 90s at best. I circled back around to it, and there was a note on the dash "please don't tow" with a phone number. I called it and asked what they were doing with the car. They explained it had broken down driving it home to PA, and they weren't sure it was worth towing/fixing. I told them I'd tow it if I could keep it, and they agreed to send the title. Score!!!

I have a friend who found a bulldozer in the bush so he started listing parts on craigslist. People would give him some cash and go pull the parts they needed. No one seemed to really mind and the carcass is probably still sitting there.

There was an SW20 abandoned behind an ex GF's place that I picked up about 12 years ago. It had multiple notices on it from the property management company. I literally called the police to have them run it, contacted the MVA for them to attempt to reach the previous owner. In the meantime I had the vehicle towed to a shop with whom I was friends with the owner. 

Then the waiting game.

After about a week the police said it's not stolen, storage at the shop until the previous owner could be reached or if the MVA would title it and register it to me was okay. 4 months in the MVA said the previous owner couldn't be reached and the vehicle was mine, but that without title or power of attorney being signed over to me for the vehicle, that I could register it. 

Enter the shop, the shop owner was able to put a mechanic's lien on the vehicle stemming for storage cost, then I was able to obtain power of attorney for the vehicle upon resolving the storage cost after which I was able to register and tag the vehicle. I ironically ended up selling it to a guy who ran it at Summit primarily doing hpde stuff and he didn't ever tag it. It was about 7 months and $450 all in to get it tagged and titled to me. 

A friend who lived in DC did it a few times with vehicles left in DC garages, apparently some foreign diplomats leave some nice metal behind before heading home. Some of his scores would've been amazing challenge fodder. He rolled in an E39 M5  for about 18 months complaining about fuel efficiency the entire time before selling it as some maintenance things were coming up. He's admittedly one of the craziest friends that I know though. He lives in Hawaii now, has an Isuzu impulse and basically is completely unable to source parts for it. 

A co-worker sold a car to some guy and it went away.

Four years later, he got a call from the police "We found your car!" Guy had never registered the car.

Co-worker cleaned it up and sold it again.

bearmtnmartin said:

I have a friend who found a bulldozer in the bush so he started listing parts on craigslist. People would give him some cash and go pull the parts they needed. No one seemed to really mind and the carcass is probably still sitting there.

That's like the people that just put on an orange safety vest and start charging parking fees on an empty lot they don't own.

Or, as Aircooled sez' "you can gain access to almost anywhere just by carrying a ladder". 

RX Reven' said:

bearmtnmartin said:

I have a friend who found a bulldozer in the bush so he started listing parts on craigslist. People would give him some cash and go pull the parts they needed. No one seemed to really mind and the carcass is probably still sitting there.

That's like the people that just put on an orange safety vest and start charging parking fees on an empty lot they don't own.

Or, as Aircooled sez' "you can gain access to almost anywhere just by carrying a ladder". 

My father was in the Air Force in the early '50s.  He always said you could steal anything in the AF just by sending a sergeant with a clipboard and 2 enlisted guys to move it.

I thought this was going to be  stray dogs or hitchhikers  !

I am about to run by it but forgot window markers. Shoot!

Maybe some obnoxious tape or something. It's about to rain but we'll see what I can come up with

Find out who does towing auctions in your area - they're open to the public and anyone can bid. At least that's how they work here in Georgia.  They may even be sold with a clean title - if not, it's probably possible to get a salvage title.

In reply to RX Reven' :

You can just about get in anywhere with a white van and a ladder rack.  I can walk into a building that normally checks everyone with my tool bag and a stool and get waved by the desk.  Same with gated communities with an attendant.  "I'm going to X address" and they open the gate for a work truck.  
 

apparently the best copper theives around cleveland used plain white vans.  Roll up to empty house, kick door in, walk out in broad daylight with pipes and nobody thinks twice because white van = they're supposed to be there.

In reply to Patrick (Forum Supporter) :

"I'm here to fix the copier" always worked well for me. Or maybe it was the fact I was actually there to fix the copier?

pizza guys get let in anywhere too. FexEx as well

I left a note on the car. we shall see. there are too many moving parts to make this very likely to happen but i got approval and executed

RX Reven' said:

bearmtnmartin said:

I have a friend who found a bulldozer in the bush so he started listing parts on craigslist. People would give him some cash and go pull the parts they needed. No one seemed to really mind and the carcass is probably still sitting there.

That's like the people that just put on an orange safety vest and start charging parking fees on an empty lot they don't own.

Or, as Aircooled sez' "you can gain access to almost anywhere just by carrying a ladder". 

Walk into a Wallyworld wearing a blue shirt, carrying a clipboard and the people who work there will try to look busy or just hide from you. 

drock25too said:

Walk into a Wallyworld wearing a blue shirt, carrying a clipboard and the people who work there will try to look busy or just hide from you. 

That sounds like fun !