Stolen GT40 Jalopnik article

PeteB

GT40s Supporter
He did do a quite thorough job with the spray paint. Even painted behind the headlight covers. ;)
 
If anyone has any interest in the details of this story indicate that in this thread and I will fill you in since I am the owner of this early CAV.
 

Larry L.

Lifetime Supporter
If anyone has any interest in the details of this story indicate that in this thread and I will fill you in since I am the owner of this early CAV.

What the devil did the moron do to the passenger side door's gap/alignment? 'Door looked perfect when the car was yellow...but in the photo taken of the car's passenger side post-rattle-can it appears to be screwed up.

Regardless, 'glad you got it back with only cosmetic work necessary!!! 'Could easily have been a whole lot worse... :sad:
 

Pat

Supporter
I wonder if the 2003 CAV, (1A09MONOB66), that was stolen from Steve Toner in Utah, July 2004 was ever recovered. As with the '40 in the article, one would think these cars would be hard to hide.
 

Terry Oxandale

Skinny Man
If anyone has any interest in the details of this story indicate that in this thread and I will fill you in since I am the owner of this early CAV.

I'm somewhat fascinated by the whole bizarre thing. Curious on what was required for it to be returned to it original state after it was recovered, and any personal aspects to this.
 
If anyone has any interest in the details of this story indicate that in this thread and I will fill you in since I am the owner of this early CAV.


Steve,

Congrats on getting your car back. You'll have one heck of a story to tell at cars and coffee, etc. Really, I have a lot of questions for the dumb@ss who took your car.

Hopefully your insurance co made you whole.

Ron
 
Steve,

I would love to know the details. I also have an early CAV. I hope yours is back on its way back to looking how it should.

All the best,

Karl
 
This CAV was built in late 2000 and came to New York from the factory painted blue.
Purchased it from Fran Kress in 2004 which was set up with a 68 289 and Getrag 5 speed but was never quite finished. I was able to set it up for both street use and Shelby club racing for Road America at Elkhart Lake, Wisc. Had a couple of off track excursions at Road America over the years so spent a good part of the last 2 winters fixing fiberglass damage and beefing up the front suspension. Did a complete paint in yellow in Feb. of this year and had it quite showy. We live on a farm in Central Iowa so I had to trailer the car 3 miles on gravel to a hard surface road every time I wanted to drive it. Renting a storage garage in Marshalltown was a great solution to this problem since I could just jump in and go on a whim. I had used this storage for 3 months before the thief saw me either leave or return with the car because he cut the lock on my storage door which was 1 of 12. None of the others were bothered. the car was stolen at least two days before I discovered it was missing. What a sick feeling to open your garage door and nothing is there. I started mentally preparing myself that I would never see the car again.
 
Things that I have learned during this stolen car adventure
be very cautious about where you choose to store your car. I will now store in a gated storage facility where a card is required to gain entry
Be cautious about underinsuring your car. You know what it would cost to replace it if it is stolen so don't try to save money on insuring it for half its value like I was.
You need to be your own advocate if you have a car stolen. If you want it back get it out on social media asap. Facebook is your friend in a situation like this. Cars are stolen constantly but make sure you let the police know you want the car back. We had Crimestoppers in our community that offer a reward for info that solves a crime like this.
If you don't have a GPS tracking device hidden in your GT 40, order one tomorrow and install it immediately. I would recommend hard wiring it in your system and make sure you have an app on your phone that lets you know if your car moves just a foot or two.
As you know these cars draw a tremendous amount of attention. Be cautious about cars following you for extended period of time or being followed home.
This thief had a meth habit so obviously didn't think clearly. He didn't know how to mount the pin drive wheels so one fell off as he was driving the car which damaged the front clip. He removed one door and couldn't get it lined back up. Sanded the new yellow paint with 80 grit paper. He also tore into the wiring for some reason. I could go on but you get the picture. Looks to be approx. $10,000 in damage but Hagerty is making everything right.
 
Rod, Running a simple drivetrain of a 68 289 block with iron heads and a Holley carb with a Getrag 5 speed trans. Drivetrain was not touched while the car was being "borrowed". I have written about my adventure with this under this thread but it hasn't shown up yet. Would love to see your McLaren.
 
Just getting parts ready for this winter to do a complete suspension up grade got uprights fromantic Leon Macdonald , installing a Hollinger MFT 6 speed sequential, aluminum 430 in sb2.2 motor and the most important a/c. Any time your around you are more than welcome to check it out. Rod
 
Just received the door pockets that were not on the car when it was rescued from the thief
Extremely happy because they are no longer available from CAV in this configuration. They went back to the garage where the car received it's black paint job and found everything that was still missing.
Marshalltown police Dept. have gone out of their way to help retrieve all of the missing parts and I couldn't be more grateful. Also a big thank you to Jordy with CAV in South Africa for taking the time to replace everything else that was damaged or broken during this theft.
 

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Steve--we are all glad things are turning out well for you. You said you were going to share the entire story? We are anxious to hear it!
 
I will try to keep this short and interesting.
My CAV was built in late 2000 in Blue as one of the 17 cars built by CAV for GTD and came to New York to someone who had planned on being a dealer for these cars. Fran Kress ended up with it in 2004 with a 289 and Getrag but had never quite been finished so the car had 0 miles when I purchased it. I was able to configure it for both street and Club racing here in the Midwest including Road America.( Northwoods SAAC)
Changed color in spring of 2017 to Belgium Yellow and was enjoying it on the street here in Central Iowa. I was storing the car in town because of living on 3 miles of gravel road.
I parked the car on a Friday in its locked storage shed and went to drive it the following Tuesday morning but as I approached the door there was no lock on the door and jerked the door open and there was no car. You can imagine the thought process at this point.
I would never see it again. Marshalltown police dept. came to the scene. and took the information. Something I found interesting was when I explained what the car was and its color He brought up a picture of a nearly identical car on his computer which he sent out to the local law inforcement. Thursday morning of that same week I received a call from the Marshall County Sherriff's Dept. and told me they stopped the car with it's driver on a side street in Marshalltown with drugs in the car. They had used 3 patrol cars to box him in so he couldn't run.
 
The thief had a long list of charges from the last month including using a stolen credit card multiple times. He is still in our local county jail with a 10000 dollar bail.
Along with hastily painting the car flat black and sanding the new yellow paint job with 120 grit paper all of the Plexiglas was either broken ,or scratched, broken front bonnet from losing a front wheel, broken tail lite, and cut the wiring to the headlites. Estimate will be close to 10,000 dollars. Jordi Reddy with CAV in South Africa has been so helpful researching replacement parts for this early carand I am so grateful.
This is what I have learned:
Be very cautious about cars following you to your storage garage. These replicas draw a tremendous amount of attention on the street.
Be careful about underinsuring your car. I had made the decision to insure the car for about half of its retail value to save money which was really dumb.
If you don't have a GPS tracking unit in your replica order one tomorrow and install it immediately. They are cheap and they will message you on your phone if your car moves just a few feet. I would have given my right arm to have had one hidden in the car
You have to be your own advocate in the event your car is stolen. Social media is your friend. It was a tip from a citizen that had read about my stolen car on Facebook that made this all happen
Make sure the police dept. knows that you really want the car back. There are many cars stolen daily so they aren't the highest prority . Offer a reward.
This has all ended happily for me because Hagerty Insurance will make me whole again.
 
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