Looking for a 77 Cobra by VIN

welder4956 said:

Try plugging the VIN in here:

https://www6.hsmv.state.fl.us/rrdmvcheck/mvcheckinq

Click to expand...

Indeed, Florida was where I last knew of it to be. But I expected it would be somewhere else since then. I was surprised to see Florida listing the title as "active", and the date is a bit of a surprise (July 2001).

I guess I can release what I know about this car now, since the odds are slim that its owner is here anyways.

The story goes back to the spring of 2001. I was working on my undergraduate in Minnesota, and driving a 78 II coupe. I was casually browsing for other II's for sale, and I bumped into an ad for this car. By the time I saw the ad the price had been reduce a couple times, which I should have taken as a sign to walk away. Instead I took it as a sign to consider purchasing.

I contacted the seller - the now semi-infamous Timothy Wayne Steinmetz (see also his equally infamous wife Rhonda Sue Steinmetz). At the time they lived in Clermont, FL. Indeed, I believe this is the "tim s" that was listed with the car in the registry on the mustangii.org site.

I was interested in the where-abouts of this car because Mr. and Mrs. Steinmetz conned people out of over six figures worth of money by selling cars and knick-knacks that they didn't own. However, this car he apparently did own - at least at one time. I also have the numbers of the (Florida) plates that were on the car in a picture of it he took in 2001 (T51 PDH) and the VIN number of the (1922 Taurus) car that those plates belonged to (1FALP5341NG151325), which was a car that he also owned at the time.

Now, I was waiting to bring this up because I don't mean to insinuate tha the current owner is in any way associated with the convicted felons known as Mr and Mrs Steinmetz. I am just looking for the car out of my own curiosity, to see what has happened to it since then. The fact that it even shows up as an active VIN is somewhat surprising, considering it was likely seized by the FBI after the capture of the two in Texas later in 2001.

I would be interested in trading notes with the current owner, to see if the car is all that Steinmetz claimed it to be back then. The notes I have from him don't even match 100% with what was posted in the registry.