In most metropolitan cities, if your car is stolen, your odds are slim to none of ever seeing it again.
Back in 1969, Alan Poster was just 26 years old, a young man who had only owned his new Corvette a few months before it was stolen in January out of a parking garage in New York City. He couldn't afford theft insurance, and likely never planned to see the car again.
He didn't, for almost 40 years.
But this past January, Poster received a call from authorities telling him his Corvette had been found, 37 years later. The car had been identified by a customs check in Long Beach. It was being readied for sale to a collector in Sweden.
The seller was not accused of any wrongdoing because no one could identify how many times Poster's Corvette had changed hands since it was stolen. Once the car was returned, it was restored with some $15,000 in parts donated by Corvetteamerica.com and displayed at Corvettes at Carlisle--one of the nation's premier Corvette shows. Its nickname is, appropriately, Reunion Blues.
The car cost $6,000 the year it was stolen, and is currently worth up to ten times that amount.
Perhaps Alan Poster sums it up best:
"This is definitely a miracle, because in speaking to the police, the odds of them finding me were a million to one."
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| Photo: Dave Scavone, CorvetteAmerica.com) |
He didn't, for almost 40 years.
But this past January, Poster received a call from authorities telling him his Corvette had been found, 37 years later. The car had been identified by a customs check in Long Beach. It was being readied for sale to a collector in Sweden.
The seller was not accused of any wrongdoing because no one could identify how many times Poster's Corvette had changed hands since it was stolen. Once the car was returned, it was restored with some $15,000 in parts donated by Corvetteamerica.com and displayed at Corvettes at Carlisle--one of the nation's premier Corvette shows. Its nickname is, appropriately, Reunion Blues.
The car cost $6,000 the year it was stolen, and is currently worth up to ten times that amount.
Perhaps Alan Poster sums it up best:
"This is definitely a miracle, because in speaking to the police, the odds of them finding me were a million to one."