In January of 2006, Alan Poster was stunned when authorities notified him that his stolen Corvette had been recovered ... 37 years after it disappeared from a parking garage in New York City.
As a 26-year-old in the late 1960s, Poster indulged himself by buying a brand new blue Corvette for $6,000. Three months later, in January 1969, it was stolen from a parking garage in Manhattan, and since he was unable to afford theft insurance -- Poster lost the car and his $6,000. He never imagined he would see his car again.
In January of 2006, authorities notified Poster that the car had turned up in Long Beach, California. Apparently, an American collector was selling the car to a buyer in Sweden when a routine Customs check flagged the vehicle as stolen. The collector isn't suspected of any wrongdoing, and nobody knows where the car had been or how many hands it had passed through.
With the help of the California Highway Patrol, the Customs Service and the New York Police Department, the car has been returned to Poster.
"This is definitely a miracle," said Poster. "Because in speaking to the police, the odds of them finding me were a million to one."
The car Poster paid $6000 for in 1968, is now worth anywhere from $20,000 to $60,000 today, according to a Florida classic Corvette dealer.
