Great pictures and what sweet cars. I can remember the good old days when you could paint a Corvette any cool color you wanted and it was ok. Now you would have 40
experts a day telling you that it is not an original Corvette color (as if you didn't know). Makes me want to paint my '59 gold metalflake with a Gene Winfield candy fade job.
Charlie, a friend of mine from the old days, had a similar experience with his '57. It was stolen when he was in the Marines in CA in 1969. He never saw it again and didn't have comprehensive insurance on it so he was just out. He still has the title around someplace and I bug him about finding it occasionally. The reason being that a lot of water has passed under the bridge since back then and there is a possibility that either one of these cars could be around today. Even if the title was forged back then they could have changed hands several times and with title inspections and transfers could actually be out there on a legal title with the right serial number on it today. They didn't have the national data base back then like they do now and it was easy to take a stolen car out of state and get a legal title.
My point is that if you can get the serial number to that '57 you can check with a few sources to see if it shows up someplace. The NCRS has it on file if it has ever been judged and Mike Hunt has a data base of '57s that it may show up on. Whoever would own it now probably isn't the guy that stole it but if you have a clear title and never was reimbursed by any insurance for the car it's still yours.
I had a lead on Charlies car from posts on the NCRS board a few years ago. Of course I didn't say anything about the car being stolen. A guy in the St. Louis area said he knows a guy that bought a '57 that sounded like the one I was looking for. He bought it in '69 at camp Pendleton for really cheap, maybe $175. from a guy that was getting out of the service and had to get rid of it fast, or so the story goes. He drove it back to St. Louis and sold it later. I emailed a few times with the NCRS member and he told me in last email that he was going to see his friend over the weekend and would let me know what he found out. I never heard from him again and he never answered another email. I may have hit paydirt or else he got hit by a bus or something. The guy that brought it back to St. Louis may have known it was stolen or may have been the thief. It was strange that the member was so excited about talking to his friend and helping me with this search and all of a sudden went silent.
Of course a lot of stolen Corvettes were cut up, others had the serial numbers changed or it may be out there. Somthing to ponder. I'd never give up the search if it was my car. Here's a couple pictures of Chucks '57. It was a black hardtop only with '58 tail lights and coves. Had a flame in the cove and a custom interior. It was a fuelie bored to 301 and 4 speed.
Tom
