Shortly after we were married seventeen years ago, my husband was having problems with his 1978 Chrysler New Yorker 300 that he had brought to the marriage. It had 14,000 highway miles on it, as the previous female owner used it on long, highway runs.
My husband took the car to a mechanic that he knew and who was considered, at that time, a friend. We had the part that was needed to fix it. It needed to be calibrated, something my husband was not able to do. Because the mechanic was backed up with work and we didn't need the car right away, we left it with him to work on at his leisure. Days became weeks, weeks became months, and months turned into years.
During these years, we made contact with the man as much as we could. He wasn't an easy person to find. And when we did catch up to him, he always had an excuse. We went to a magistrate where it was ruled that he was to return the car to us within the week. That didn't happen. Being the nice people we were back then, we left it slide hoping that he would work on the car and return it to us eventually.
And then one day we found out that he was, in a way, a scam artist. He was selling cars that didn't exist. Ours wasn't one of them as we knew exactly where it was at all times. He had it buried on his rented property with no way to get to it. The mechanic was the only person able to bring it out to us, as he was instructed by the magistrate at the first hearing. He operated an impound business and owned a wrecker. We kept believing he would bring it to us because at that time we had no reason to believe otherwise. Until, that is, we heard through the grapevine what he was doing on the side. Selling cars that did not exist.
By February of 2002 we had enough and sued him in civil court. And we got nowhere. Again. That female magistrate was not even two percent in our favor. The case was dismissed without prejudice. Knowing what we know now, we believe she was always on his side long before we appeared before her. Like giving him leads as to where cars were so he could retrieve them.
In 1997, when he was caught selling stolen cars (besides the ones that didn't exist), he was jailed and was able to post bond. New charges were filed against him and he was jailed again. That also was part of the problem as to why we couldn't find him, but we didn't know that back then.
Meanwhile, my husband's car had by now deteriorated to being not worth a plug nickel. So we pushed it to the back of our minds and tried to forget about it. For us it was considered a lost cause.
A few weeks ago I was reading the obituaries, and it seems karma has bitten that man's ass. Finally. He passed away suddenly in his home at the age of 52.
Karma...ya gotta love it!
3 comments:
that happens more times than you can think. My DH superbee was the same way. Gave the man the time and the money to do the work, and it eventually just disappeared. He did eventually get the hood back, but that was it. The man made a ton of money parting it out. So sad. LOL though as we have two 300's sitting on the farm. White with the red leather interior. Love that car.
Wow, that's quite a story there too. I often sit and wonder how in the heck these things happen, and why we let them happen. So you have two 300's...hmmmmmm.
Well, can he get his car back now?
Back when I gave a car (1972 Pinto) away to a couple of college kids for parts.
Several years later I got a call from a fellow in Galveston who had tried to sell the shell for junk but he couldn't do that now without a certificate of title.
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