November 9, 2009 in City

Stolen van’s owner comes forward after news reports

Volkswagen taken 35 years ago turned up in L.A.

• Print
• Email
• Share

Michele Squires, a manager at the Cathay Inn restaurant, was the owner of the missing 1965 Volkswagen van reported stolen in Spokane in 1974 and discovered last month near Los Angeles. “I’m going to throw a party in the parking lot if I get it back,” Squires said.
(Full-size photo) (All photos)

Michele Squires hadn’t seen her old Volkswagen van for more than three decades, when a familiar sight cropped up Friday on the TV news.

It was a 1965 VW microbus, seized by customs agents in Los Angeles who discovered it had been reported stolen 35 years ago in Spokane.

“Wouldn’t it be funny,” she asked her boyfriend, “if that was my van?”

Turns out it was her van – a wagon she used for hauling around friends and teaching her brother and sister how to drive a stick shift, when she was a single woman in the 1970s, before it was stolen.

And now she’s wondering if it could be hers again.

The van was seized by customs agents in Los Angeles on Oct. 19, discovered in a shipping container headed for the Netherlands. Customs officials ran the vehicle identification number and found it had been reported stolen from an upholstery shop in Spokane on July 12, 1974. Squires said she had taken it there to have a bed made in the back for camping.

When the van was stolen, Squires was paid off by the insurer, Allstate Insurance Co., which then became the legal owner. So when it turned up at the Los Angeles seaport, officials seized it and turned it back over to the insurance company.

The van had likely changed owners several times over the years. Most recently, it had been in the hands of a custom repair shop in Arizona, which refurbishes VWs and sells them overseas. Authorities say the owners of the shop aren’t considered suspects.

Squires has contacted Allstate to see if she might have a shot at getting the van back in some way. Before she came forward, a company spokeswoman said Allstate would have the car appraised, apply for a new title and sell it at auction.

Asked Monday if Allstate would try to sell or return the car to Squires, the spokeswoman said the company was still investigating its options.

Squires said she probably couldn’t afford to buy back the van if it is indeed worth $25,000 or more, as the auto theft investigator on the case has guessed. But she’d at least like the first chance at purchasing it, she said.

Squires, 58, is a lifelong Spokane-area resident who raised three sons here, all while working at the Cathay Inn. She now lives in Chattaroy and is a manager at the restaurant, where she’s worked for more than 30 years.

Her memory of buying the van is a little faded. She totaled her previous car and received $600 in settlement, and used that toward the van, though she doesn’t remember the price. But she remembers having a lot of fun in the van, hauling friends from home to home for progressive dinners and on ski trips.

“I hauled all the parties around,” she said. “It was great in the snow. Lousy heater. … I kind of fell in love with it.”

• Story
• Photos 04
• Comments 03

Three comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  maria on November 09 at 5:47 p.m.

  What a great publicity stunt for Allstate if they were to give the van back to the original owner.

  Flag as inappropriate

• 

  Sugar Shane on November 10 at 1:02 a.m.

  Are you kidding maria? Allstate has a duty to its shareholders!

  Flag as inappropriate

• 

  Donn Dabney on November 13 at 3:36 p.m.

  I AM THE DEALER THAT SOLD THIS BUS TO A MAN IN GERMANY! Wow, I was stunned to get word of this situation. I am the owner of Left Coast Classics (dot-com) in Sonoma, California. I bought this bus from another classic car dealer/enthusiast. He purchased it from a local private party who spent a small fortune restoring it. There is a chain of victims involved here that aren’t being discussed. Many of the facts are incorrect, too. It is unbelievable that the DMV issued a clear title on this bus without doing any due diligence! (I thought by having a clear, California title we were protected). I really hope that there is a way for Allstate to see past the profit margin potential and make this right. The buyer is a terrific guy. He came and visited my family in the Sonoma Wine Country in early October from Germany. At the moment he is at the losing end, but really, many others are as well. Thank you all for following the story, hopefully it will have a happy ending. Here are the pictures I took of the bus: http://www.leftcoastclassics.com/1965…
  -Donn Dabney
  Owner, Left Coast Classics
  

  Flag as inappropriate