Too Good To Be True

My wife and I had worked together several years before we had started dating. In April 1983, I had noticed a 1982 black Corvette parked in the lot outside the building we worked in. I had always liked Corvettes and had to talk to the person who owned it. After finding out it was Jana’s, I stopped by her office to inquire about her car. She indicated her father had recently passed and had left her a small inheritance, which she had purchased the car of her dreams with. She felt the Corvette was his last gift to her. After several weeks of talking we started seeing each other and Jana and I hit it off immediately and started dating, we were married six weeks later on June 18, 1983.

In September of 1983, work arranged for me to travel to Oak Brook Illinois, which is a suburb of Chicago, for training. Jana and I thought this would be a great trip to drive the Corvette. We drove up on a Tuesday, and saw the sights of Chicago in the evening. On Friday morning I went out to get the car to put the suitcases in, and to take off for home but I couldn’t find where the car had been parked. I went back into the hotel and asked Jana where she had parked the car, she walked out to the parking lot, and turned white as a ghost, she screamed the car is gone! We went to where she had parked it and sure enough, the only remnants of the car, was glass laying on the ground. We immediately contacted the local police department and filed a report. They informed us we would probably never see the car again, it would either be shipped out of the country, or sold as parts. Jana was devastated, the car had a little over 5,000 miles on it, was her car of her dreams, and was her last gift from her father. I felt so helpless, and frustrated, this had happened. We flew home in disgust after wiring for money to purchase airline tickets. My in-laws picked us up at the airport in Columbus, Ohio, and once Jana saw her mother she just burst into tears, she was devastated over the loss of the car, the car meant more to her then fiberglass and rubber. It is strange how individuals become attached to things, which you associate memories and happy times.

I arrived at work in the morning in late September 1997. My secretary, Lori asked me if I knew someone by the name of Jana Kane. I told her yes, my wife’s maiden name was Jana Kane. Lori told me she received a call from security inquiring if anyone knew someone by that name. I gave security a call and was informed they had received a call from security at a facility my wife and myself were employed at in 1983. They stated the caller indicated someone from the Illinois State Highway Patrol was trying to contact someone by the name of Jana Kane. As I thought about why in the world would someone from the Illinois State Patrol be calling Jana. I immediately recalled Jana’s stolen 1982 black Corvette and thought to my self, no way, it wasn’t possible, could they have found the car which had been stolen during a trip to Oak Brook, Illinois in September 1983? I called security back to find out who had called and what the phone number was. I was subsequently informed by security the person who had taken the call did not get the caller’s name or phone number, but stated the security guard had the name of the individual who had called. I immediately called the individual, but to no avail he did not have the Illinois State Patrol Troopers name or phone number. He stated the trooper was trying to contact Jana to inform her, her Corvette had been found. I couldn’t believe it, 14 years later and the car, which meant so much to my wife, had been found. I thought to myself the car had to be in pieces, burned, stripped, no telling what condition the car was in, but no way could the car be in any kind of recoverable shape.

I called Jana at home to tell her of the news. She couldn’t believe it, no way, the car had to be in horrible shape. She immediately asked who called what was the phone number? I told her they had no idea, no one could recall the trooper’s name or phone number. Jana then went to the phone and started to call everyone she could to try to track down the car. We had moved four times since 1983, from Ohio to Tennessee back to Ohio and twice when we came back to Ohio, she was becoming very discouraged because she could not find out any information about who had called about the car. After several more weeks and a $175.00 phone bill we still had heard nothing about the car. One of our friends, who happened to be an Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper, gave her the name of the individual who was in charge of the stolen vehicle division of the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Jana called him and he gave her a phone number to the National Insurance Stolen Car Registry. She called them, and they immediately asked her, “who gave you this number? You cannot call here, only insurance agencies and law enforcement agencies can call this number:” After Jana had explained what had occurred the women said, “I can’t help you, and don’t call back”. Jana was almost in tears at this point, so I suggested she call the Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper back. She called him back and he could tell she was upset, he looked the information up himself and found, using the Vehicle Identification Number, who the contact trooper’s name was and phone number. Jana was ecstatic she immediately called the number, only to get his voice mail, for the next two weeks. He finally phoned her back and informed her; her car had been recovered. She immediately asked, “in pieces”? He stated no, “the car was complete, and appeared to look as it was when it was stolen, and subsequently parked in a garage, left there for 14 years. Unbelievable, this was not possible. The trooper explained the FBI had busted a crack house about 10 miles from O’Hare International Airport and found the car in the garage. The car’s tires were flat, the car was dirty, but overall the car appeared to be in pretty good shape. He stated the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) plate located under the front windshield, indicated the car had belonged to someone else who had been insured by Allstate Insurance and did not want the car back. Allstate Insurance hired a detail shop to clean the car up and prepare the car for auction. The detail shop while working on the engine compared the VIN plate on the block to the VIN plate on the windshield, and you guessed it, they did not match. After research they found the car had belonged to Jana, and the rest is history.

Now began the long, long struggle with the insurance company. Jana had the car insured with American Automobile Association (AAA) when the car was stolen. The Illinois State trooper indicated he could not release the car unless Jana obtained a clear title and the VIN plate was replaced with a new VIN plate, which is issued by the state of title. Jana contacted AAA, and as expected they had no record of her, the stolen car, or our settlement. Jana explained to them what had occurred and what we needed to recover the car. The individual she spoke to indicated she would need to have an adjuster get back to her. After two weeks, no word, Jana then called them back and explained how important this was, and asked them if they wanted to settle, so we could recover the car, again they said they would need to have someone get back to her. In the mean time an attorney friend of ours made a suggestion, why don’t you go down to the title bureau and see if they transferred the title. We’ll Jana did just that, and no, they had not transferred the title. Jana obtained a duplicate copy and immediately called the Illinois State Trooper hoping we could at least get the car back to Ohio and work out the details with AAA later. But, as we suspected, the trooper said no, he said he needed something in writing from AAA before he would release the car to us. Finally after four weeks AAA called us back, they said they finally found the paperwork and were willing to settle. You probably have guessed it, they said we need what we gave you for the car when it was stolen. Of course we would not agree, we made a counter offer and they said no. Initially when all this started they indicated they would give Jana the first option in getting her car back. But as discussions continued and we could not settle on an agreeable amount they said, “we will make a deal with the Insurance Auto Auctions impound lot and let them auction the car off”. Jana had to decide if she wanted the car back, we discussed it with several of our friends, some who said, get it back others who said forget it, the car had sat for 14 years, no telling what kind of shape the car was in. However, a close friend of ours, Doug, who had owned Corvettes several years, and at one time had five, who worked on Corvettes just because he loved them told Jana. “If you let it go, you will never see it again, you will never have that last gift your father had left you, you will never know was all your worry and apprehension worth it.” Jana and I decided we had to go up to Chicago and see the car. We left on a Thursday afternoon, drove to the Insurance Auto Auctions impound lot so we would know were it was, so we could find it the next morning. We woke early the next day, too early, we just couldn’t wait. We drove to the lot, and waited an hour before they opened; we were shown to the car. The car was stored inside; we walked up to it, pulled off the cover and could not believe what we saw. The car appeared just as we left it. I thought to myself, it looks as though we just left it parked here for 14 years. Jana and I immediately got on the phone with the insurance company and we told them we wanted to settle this and made them an offer. They subsequently countered offered and said we needed to settle with Allstate also, because they had invested in the car originally. Jana and I decided we had to have the car back, so we agreed on a mutually acceptable amount.

After many more phone calls with both insurance companies, Illinois State Trooper, our attorney, the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, etc. We finally were able to go up and pick the car up in Chicago. I called Doug and asked him if I could borrow his trailer to pick the car up. He couldn’t pass up the chance of going up and picking up the car, so we both left headed to Chicago to bring Jana’s pride and joy home. Before we had left for Chicago I called the Insurance Auto Auctions office and inquired is there anything else we needed to bring or arrange for to pick up the car. And as I suspected, there had to be something else. They insisted we pay them for the cost of the storage since the car was recovered. I couldn’t believe it, were we ever going to get this car home? I asked how much, the clerk indicated $2.00 per day for a total over $900.00. I told her how could we be responsible for this since we had no control over when we were notified the car had been stolen, nor could we pick it up until all the title issues were worked out. She stated the manager originally wanted to charge us $5.00 per day, starting when the car had been recovered. I said, “no way, the car had been recovered in February 1997, this was April 1998, the bill would have been over $2,000”. She finally said, bring the check, or don’t pick up the car. We arrived at the Insurance Auto Auctions impound lot and the car had been moved outside, battery was dead, and the car was dirty, but we quickly got it jumped, loaded on the trailer and Doug and I finally got on our way. As we got closer to home I told Doug we needed to stop and wash the car. Once we washed the car, it definitely needed some work. Wheels were in bad shape, paint needed polishing, and, it appeared something had been spilled on the rear deck. Oh well, not bad for a car, which had sat in a garage for 14 years! The closer we got to our home the more excited I became, I could not wait to see Jana’s face. When we pulled down our road and saw Jana on the porch Doug said, “we need to get this on film.” I got the camera ready and we pulled into the driveway, Jana was already crying, she was overwhelmed with emotion. She hugged Doug, and kept thanking him for helping her make up her mind, she would not let go. After we all calmed down we got the car off the trailer and I gave Doug the keys, “take Jana for a ride, you be the first person to drive it since we brought it home, Jana may not have decided to bring it home if it wasn’t for you.” They were only gone for a few minutes, when they came back we just could not believe it, what luck!

Other then a few minor problems, heater core, radiator cap, and thermostat needing replaced we had no problems with the car. The car appears to have had some kind of bodywork, blemishes in the paint, or something spilled on the car, who knows what the car had been through. We cleaned the car, rubbed the paint with tender care and stripped the wheels and polished them to their previous luster. We have now logged over 2,000 miles on the car, and plan on keeping it in the family for a long, long time!  In fact, the red 82 Corvette we purchased when the black one was stolen is still with us. Jana just can’t let the red 82 go, too many memories she says.

Our friends kept telling us we needed to share this story with all those Corvette lovers out there. We thought to ourselves why not, so this was our story, and we hope you enjoyed it.