The Great Corvette Scam

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  • Опубліковано 28 гру 2023
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 437

  • @billgoodman3213
    @billgoodman3213 5 місяців тому +178

    In 1990 I bought a C4 from Contemporary Corvette in PA. I was in my early 20's and bought an 86 from them. The owner took me in the back after I bought it to show me all the totaled cars and parts cars. He did this for 15 minutes and said...."Just remember, this is just a chevy....it doesn't have a force field, drive safe." In hindsight, this was a huge help to a punk kid.

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +25

      One note about Dave, he was very much the same. There was a local Corvette (88 perhaps?, newer at the time) that was in a bad drunk driving accident. Dave bought it from the guy's insurance and had it displayed in front of the dealership for a long time as a "this is why you don't drive dumb/ drive drunk" thing. The DMV in Wisconsin even took pictures of it and had an Anti-Drunk Driving poster in all the DMVs with this car. Deep maroon car, I remember it so clearly. Even scammers aren't dead inside - he did care.

    • @UberLummox
      @UberLummox 5 місяців тому +5

      @@nikkrueger5734 Greedy pricks can sometimes act almost human haha - Great interview!

  • @jringhisen
    @jringhisen 5 місяців тому +132

    Threw my arms up in celebration here at the office when he ended with the Ed's platinum rule of car buying - no one gets to hold the car, cash, and title all at the same time. PERFECT! Great story and would love to hear more like it.

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +5

      Thanks for watching!

    • @jpowe2822
      @jpowe2822 5 місяців тому +20

      Learn that lesson when my uncle sold me a 77 Monte Carlo. But didn't hand over the car or the title. So he had all three. I was 16 at the time. I told my mom like "yeah I'm just waiting on the car.." she called him back..hung up the phone and told me to go get my money back. ..cause he was selling it AGAIN!! Lol😂

    • @MattH-wg7ou
      @MattH-wg7ou 5 місяців тому +1

      ​@@jpowe2822dang. Thats cold. Sucks to get scammed by anyone but especially family!

    • @Zzus321
      @Zzus321 5 місяців тому +5

      The Cheese Heads call it MAD TOWN 😂😂

  • @williambush2924
    @williambush2924 5 місяців тому +47

    Tri-state Corvette in Edgerton Wisconsin, a town just south of Madison, was owned by the same guy... it burnt to the ground mysteriously full of classic vettes right around the time the state was sniffing around Capitol Corvette

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +2

      I don't recall this, only that the Tri-State Corvette Club is based out of Edgerton. I'll have to try to look this up!

    • @MrHurricaneFloyd
      @MrHurricaneFloyd 4 місяці тому

      Lilley to hide another $3 million worth of fraud.

  • @twistedcitizen5739
    @twistedcitizen5739 5 місяців тому +264

    As a young man I worked for Dave for a summer. Drove around the tri-state area picking up corvettes. Was a great job as 17 year old

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +10

      Sounds like an amazing opportunity - bet you have some cool stories!

    • @GameOver321
      @GameOver321 5 місяців тому +10

      Does he owe you $ too?

    • @twistedcitizen5739
      @twistedcitizen5739 5 місяців тому +37

      lol. No doesn’t owe me anything. I don’t even remember what we got paid back then. Heck, I probably would’ve done it for free just to drive all those cars.

    • @rnt45t1
      @rnt45t1 5 місяців тому +5

      so ah... about all that fraud...

    • @Whosaids0
      @Whosaids0 5 місяців тому +5

      ​​@@rnt45t1So ah.. Try harder champ. There's no value in your comment. "Don't do it fast, do it right." L. YS.

  • @gmorphan
    @gmorphan 5 місяців тому +9

    I've got a story about a guy who owned a junkyard in the 1990's that bought a stolen recovery C4 ZR1 "shell" at a New England Recovery auction. He paid more than anyone thought it was worth at the time. Fast forward a year the car is put back together and sold. The new owner brought his "new to him" ZR1 to the Chevy dealer because the airbag light was on. Chevy took this seriously, as they found an issue with wiring harness. When they researched the VIN, it came back as a salvage vehicle, but very interestingly...all its original parts were back on the car. Turns out the junkyard guy and his son would steal a car, strip it and dump the shell somewhere to be found. Then buy back the shell and put the car back together.

    • @RT-mm8rq
      @RT-mm8rq 5 місяців тому

      Same thing happened in Washington state but it was a Russian gang stealing Acuras and Hondas.
      Stripping them and then buying back the shell at auction.

    • @robredman8537
      @robredman8537 4 місяці тому +3

      Something like that, a fox body mustang, was dumped down the road from my house. Just a frame and tires.

  • @jshumphress13
    @jshumphress13 5 місяців тому +59

    As a (state) deputy prosecutor, I can tell you we love it when the Feds pick up the charges. We get to wipe our hands clean and move on with our day. They always have more resources than us.

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +1

      That makes total sense!

    • @jimbojones1107
      @jimbojones1107 5 місяців тому +7

      May God have mercy on your soul

    • @shanewoods1980
      @shanewoods1980 5 місяців тому +3

      @@jimbojones1107I thought the same!! That should tell you everything you need to know about government employees

    • @racer89gt
      @racer89gt 5 місяців тому +3

      @@shanewoods1980yeah they’re overworked and not given the resources they need to do their jobs.

    • @shanewoods1980
      @shanewoods1980 5 місяців тому +1

      @@racer89gt but with great pay and pensions though right?

  • @tripprogers4814
    @tripprogers4814 5 місяців тому +23

    ..and eventually he decided to name his business "Carvana"

  • @frankjameson4919
    @frankjameson4919 5 місяців тому +8

    There was a guy just outside of Beloit, WI who worked on Corvettes in the late 90s I think. Apparently he worked at the GM plant in Janesville and was somehow getting Corvette parts for his shop sent there and eventually got busted.

  • @respectedprophet6247
    @respectedprophet6247 5 місяців тому +117

    I’ve never seen a guy dance around saying that the person they’re talking about is a scammer so hard. This guy was a criminal not “a guy who got in over his head”

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +30

      Just trying to be Midwest nice 😂

    • @Montana_Outdoor_Adventures
      @Montana_Outdoor_Adventures 5 місяців тому +3

      Was thinking the same thing

    • @simonwu7250
      @simonwu7250 5 місяців тому +10

      I think he's just telling the story describing how the scam happened there's no need to remind everyone he's a scammer every time

    • @respectedprophet6247
      @respectedprophet6247 5 місяців тому +6

      @@simonwu7250 he didn’t even say it once?

    • @HalfBackCrack
      @HalfBackCrack 5 місяців тому +10

      Didnt you hear how the scammer let him walk around the showroom unsupervised when he was a kid? That's how loyalty is created, bruh.

  • @colinschmitz8297
    @colinschmitz8297 5 місяців тому +11

    Oh, that is heartbreaking for the people he scammed. I can't imagine how devastated people would feel who saved up their whole life for this just to be ripped off in this fashion. Terrible!

  • @outlet6989
    @outlet6989 5 місяців тому +16

    There is a hierarchy of scammers: The Slick, the Slicker, and the Slickest. Here in Florida, they are as common as oranges on a tree.

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому

      Too true

    • @chesterstevens8870
      @chesterstevens8870 4 місяці тому +2

      There's an alligator in every pond, and there's someone trying to fleece you on every corner.

    • @outlet6989
      @outlet6989 4 місяці тому +1

      Thanks for your reply. Since I live in FL, I agree. I have one in the pond at my golf course. Wonder how many golf balls it's eaten? We have yet to lose any golfers. If you change fleece to scam, you're 100% correct. Have a nice day; we all need one of those.

  • @RobsNeighbor
    @RobsNeighbor 5 місяців тому +9

    Yes, I am 40 and as a kid I remember this so well! I am in New Glarus just south of Madison, Capitol corvette was aweseome!

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому

      I love hanging out in New Glarus!

  • @bikkiikun
    @bikkiikun 5 місяців тому +17

    5 years, 11 months is still rather lenient, if you consider the amount of damage he caused.

    • @brianallison1913
      @brianallison1913 5 місяців тому +3

      Yeah considering a person could use their own money that they legally earned and buy drugs and have a sentence longer than that. I'm not condoning drugs at all but am just saying there is a bit of imbalance going on.

    • @bikkiikun
      @bikkiikun 5 місяців тому +3

      @@brianallison1913: And that imbalance is not just intentional, it is by design.

    • @LuckyCharms777
      @LuckyCharms777 4 місяці тому

      @@brianallison1913
      Yeah, ‘cause fraud is so much worse than contributing to drug trafficking violence. People always make the lamest excuses for drug users. And don’t try to claim that drug legalization would change that because all it does is make it easier for buyers/sellers of illegally manufactured drugs. Research the huge problems with illegal marijuana grows in Northern California operated by Mexican and Asian cartels, and all the missing people.

  • @MikeJohnson-ld9rn
    @MikeJohnson-ld9rn 5 місяців тому +41

    That was a hell of an interesting story ! What could have been a great dealership and community relationship went asunder because he refused to hire a general manager who knew how to run a car business. Wanting to operate a business and knowing how are two different things !

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +3

      And there are so many small business owners stuck in the same situation of not wanting to bring in a business expert to help them - then its either failed business or worse ... this

    • @Jay.Kellett
      @Jay.Kellett 5 місяців тому

      And, if you get a really good general manager, he can cover up your theft scheme for over 20 years!

    • @UberLummox
      @UberLummox 5 місяців тому

      If by refusal to hire a general mngr you mean greed, then yeah...

    • @oldsjunkie1
      @oldsjunkie1 4 місяці тому +1

      No, the dude was a liar and a thief. Pretty straightforward.

  • @todthebod
    @todthebod 5 місяців тому +21

    Great job by Mr. Krueger. Very well spoken and comfortable in front of the camera. I dated a girl back in the early 90's whose mom did this same thing but with mobile homes. They owned a mobile home sales place. She'd have multiple liens on a home. Someone would buy it, make payments or pay it off, then it would get repossessed out of nowhere. She never served a day in jail.

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +2

      Thanks for watching. Wow - I couldn't imagine being in that kind of situation where your house you paid off gets repo'd, that's insane!

    • @baggerbenn
      @baggerbenn 5 місяців тому +1

      Sad

    • @JohnnyDanger36963
      @JohnnyDanger36963 5 місяців тому +3

      She never got shot?

  • @TrashcanGarage
    @TrashcanGarage 5 місяців тому +26

    Reminds me of the guy up in MN who ran a classic car restoration scam; ppl would ship him cars and (oftentimes rare) restoration parts and he'd sell the restoration parts and sometimes even parts off the cars themselves. It's suspected that some of those parts wound up here in KY after mysterious sale ads started popping up on Craigslist around that same time.

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +3

      Wow that’s insane!

    • @TrashcanGarage
      @TrashcanGarage 5 місяців тому +1

      @@nikkrueger5734 - It was. The scam reached across the pond over to England and Scandinavia and the losses are undoubtedly much larger than he was charged with. I knew of folks from overseas who bought cars here in the US and had them shipped directly to him for restoration along with boatloads of parts. So much was undocumented because they were lead to believe the shop was trustworthy.

    • @nathanl7018
      @nathanl7018 5 місяців тому +1

      Was that Mopar Mel?

    • @fooyong
      @fooyong 4 місяці тому +1

      Those parts wound up in Paducah & Murray

    • @TrashcanGarage
      @TrashcanGarage 4 місяці тому

      @@fooyong Thx. I recall seeing a lot of sketchy ads from Corbin around that same time and the Mopar forums were all warning of stolen parts.

  • @josefeibl8230
    @josefeibl8230 5 місяців тому +5

    I remember this place. My friend was going to buy a 67, right out of high school. I had my 69 427 coupe in high school, theft recovery, clean title, minor damage. Owned many Corvettes, 100+ vehicles, vehicles, worked for a few dealerships, obtained my own wholesale license and bought plenty of vehicles from auctions and never had a title issue. Still buy my daily drivers for personal use from auctions.

  • @ThatsSoReinke
    @ThatsSoReinke 5 місяців тому +6

    I moved to Wisconsin from California when I was 8 & lived in Madison for 13+ years from around 99’ to 2013. Coming from a place where exotic cars were common, I rarely ever saw exotic cars in Wisconsin growing up. I will never forget the time I saw a group of Lamborghinis one day in Milwaukee and absolutely freaked out about it in 2006. I also saw a Porsche Carerra GT sometime in 2007 in Madison & there was a black Aventador in the dells. It was only after I left back to California when I learned about the quiet “exotic” car scene in Wisconsin. I forget who it was, but for some time there was a Mercedes CLK GTR in Wisconsin, quite a gem in any collection… now you can see these cars all the time at Kerns in Johnson’s Creek.

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +1

      Yeah Wisconsin has quite the car scene, but you gotta know where to look! Elkhart Lake area for sure though!

  • @OMEGATECH
    @OMEGATECH 5 місяців тому +9

    This story is reminding me of what happened in California with CNC Motors!

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +1

      New players everyday, thinking they invented the game that's been being played for years

  • @gb23a
    @gb23a 5 місяців тому +3

    Only 5 years. Once again no consequences for crime

  • @FoxMacLeod2501
    @FoxMacLeod2501 4 місяці тому +2

    Re: the statement quoted at 10:36, "there's the title, the money, and the vehicle; no one gets all 3;" that wording kind of makes it sound similar to "anything that _can_ go wrong _will_ go wrong." Like it's an immutable fact, as in "that's just the way it is; try as you might, no one _ever_ ends up with all 3." What Ed meant by that, though, was that in a vehicle sale, no party should ever be _allowed_ to possess all three at the same time. If you let someone have all the cards, you've practically screwed yourself out of owning any of 'em again.

  • @BAMAJiPS
    @BAMAJiPS 5 місяців тому +15

    This happened to me with Palm Beach Triumph in 2006... and I couldn't get the Sherrif's department to do anything. They kept saying it was civil - but when dozens and dozens of us lose our motorcycles, its CRIMINAL.
    I ended up suing and could never collect. What a double waste.

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +1

      Wow, that's terrible - hopefully insurance offered you some recourse at least

    • @BAMAJiPS
      @BAMAJiPS 5 місяців тому +3

      @@nikkrueger5734 unfortunately not. The dealer's bond was exhausted... it was bad timing. We moved from south Florida to north Alabama (thus the reason for consigning the motorcycle) and it was just a mess... lesson learned...

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +1

      @@BAMAJiPS yeah that sucks!

    • @Dave-sw2dm
      @Dave-sw2dm 5 місяців тому +1

      ​@@BAMAJiPS, hope you were able to get another bike. Great riding in North Alabama.

    • @BAMAJiPS
      @BAMAJiPS 5 місяців тому +4

      @@Dave-sw2dm I did well in the 11 years I lived in N Alabama - ended up buying and selling motorcycles, having a small repair shop... got into dual sports pretty heavy and found my favorite all time bike Suzuki DR350 (I know it might sound ridiculous)

  • @randallfabian6640
    @randallfabian6640 4 місяці тому +4

    Larson looks like Red Forman! He was from WI and had a Corvette too!

    • @justinsixx90
      @justinsixx90 4 місяці тому

      Most people think Red Foreman. My first memory of him was Clarence Bodiker lol.

  • @dadgarage7966
    @dadgarage7966 4 місяці тому +2

    Classic car dealers are car salesmen at the core, in it for maximum profit. A co-worker had an immaculate, built-from-a-shell '69 Camaro restomod with an LS6 and a T56. He was selling it privately for $125,000 USD. A local classic car dealer offered him $98,000 USD. These classic car dealers have a massive overhead and a large payroll they must feed. They're not your buddy-buddy chum-chum.

  • @car_pal
    @car_pal 5 місяців тому +39

    similar to what happened with the CNC dealership

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +5

      It’s like they stole his playbook

    • @higherstandard710
      @higherstandard710 5 місяців тому +4

      I was thinking it was them for a second 😂😂

    • @100proofcrew
      @100proofcrew 5 місяців тому +5

      Now the CNC building is full of broken Teslas

    • @markoz673bajen8
      @markoz673bajen8 5 місяців тому +2

      BeamNG wiki

    • @JohnnyDanger36963
      @JohnnyDanger36963 5 місяців тому +1

      ​@@100proofcrewthey are on consignment. Do you want one?

  • @daviswall3319
    @daviswall3319 5 місяців тому +5

    Never hand your hard earned money over to someone trying to talk you into something.

  • @KC9UDX
    @KC9UDX 5 місяців тому +2

    Shows what most people don't know about Wisconsin.

  • @skat5268
    @skat5268 5 місяців тому +18

    Sounds like we should be doing title insurance on cars now just like homes. Make sure there aren't any duplicates or liens.

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +1

      For some of these cars - maybe not a bad idea

    • @LuckyCharms777
      @LuckyCharms777 4 місяці тому

      Or states could just require stringent verification for car title transfers. Just look at the most recent scam of people stealing homes by transferring deeds due to lax county records departments.

  • @CrunchyNotes
    @CrunchyNotes 5 місяців тому +8

    This has “bro trust me” written all over it.

  • @Selmerpilot
    @Selmerpilot 5 місяців тому +4

    This is also very common with ambulance chasing injury lawyers!

  • @williamparker2922
    @williamparker2922 5 місяців тому +4

    We had a performance shop in my town in my teens and twenties. Really only speed shop for miles around. Was a good shop, but the owner owed everyone money. Auto parts stores(i worked in auto parts), snap on, bank for the land the shop was on. Dude ended up just leaving one day and fleeing to another state where i heard he did the same thing again. The scam was a speed shop. He would bleed it dry and move on.

    • @oldsjunkie1
      @oldsjunkie1 4 місяці тому

      "Was a good shop"... LOL.

  • @dismalsmith294
    @dismalsmith294 5 місяців тому +1

    I grew up on a farm outside of Ellwood City, PA. There was a Corvette Specialist that that rented a few acres from my uncle. It was a

  • @joshua.snyder
    @joshua.snyder 5 місяців тому +12

    This is a guy VINWiki needs to have back regularly!

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +4

      Thanks! Hopefully some day 🤞

  • @billvoltmer2569
    @billvoltmer2569 5 місяців тому +8

    This sounds like "robbing Peter to pay Paul."

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +3

      Except Peter and Paul both end up broke in this one 😂

  • @robbie5984
    @robbie5984 5 місяців тому +47

    Early morning scam stories on a Friday. Deal.

    • @enigma20005606
      @enigma20005606 5 місяців тому +4

      Friday afternoon after work scam stories. Deal

    • @blondeblocks8680
      @blondeblocks8680 5 місяців тому +3

      It was some tough negotiations, but we finally got here

    • @robbie5984
      @robbie5984 5 місяців тому +1

      @@blondeblocks8680 shrewd negotiations but the weekend is almost here…

  • @Rekuzan
    @Rekuzan 5 місяців тому +4

    LMFAO, they say the SAME thing about Boulder Colorado!!!
    '20 square miles surrounded by reality?'
    Well, 17, but yeah! 🤣🤣🤣

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому

      Haha, its a nickname that you could apply to a few places, that's for sure!

  • @MrTineghe
    @MrTineghe 5 місяців тому +16

    Car + Title = Money
    Car + Title + Money = Jail

  • @boostdmarkii8659
    @boostdmarkii8659 5 місяців тому +4

    Somewhere around 1995 96 a friend of my fathers asked him to sel 3 corvettes at the auction thry had almost no miles and he wanted short money which shoupd have made it obvious but back than people weremuch leds skeptical.. Thry brought the cars to auction sold them and a few hours later when they colected there checks for the day two federal agents whete there to cuff them and come to find out someone was taking totaled vin cars and putting the vins on stolen ones and selling them my father luckily was able to tell them where he got them and his friend was also able to tell them were he got them and neither wound up in much trouble

  • @patricksterling7389
    @patricksterling7389 5 місяців тому +6

    Interesting I used to drive by that place when going home for Christmas and then it was gone one year. Always wondered what happened to it.

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому

      Yup, and now you know. Sad really 😢

  • @Rapidmotorcars
    @Rapidmotorcars 5 місяців тому +5

    Its sad that this happens so much in the car world. Lots of my customers have been scammed by shops in some sort and lose their faith in resto shops and mechanics in general. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been lost to some of my customers it makes me sick and its not even my money. I change all that by being the most honest shop you can find and treat people right and fair. We are all car people and need to be able to trust who has your baby to do the right thing. Everyone tells me (why couldn't i have found you sooner!).. I guess i just like providing that good old fashioned service!

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +1

      It sounds so simple - just be honest and fair, yet so hard to come by apparently.

    • @Rapidmotorcars
      @Rapidmotorcars 5 місяців тому +1

      It really is, its a shame the car community has to do this to eachother.@@nikkrueger5734

  • @PumaPete
    @PumaPete 5 місяців тому +2

    What a mistake trading a 78 silver anniversary vette for an 86!

  • @nothingtoseaheardammit
    @nothingtoseaheardammit 5 місяців тому +1

    Every "special" vehicle vehicle has a handful of dealers like this who get in over their heads and the whole situation just spirals out of control. When I bought my H1 I almost guarantee that the dealer I bought it from was doing this... I was the last sale before he disappeared into the night. When my engine exploded 3 months later, he was nowhere to be found.

  • @rnt45t1
    @rnt45t1 5 місяців тому +5

    THIS is why no one trusts dealers.

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому

      It’s sad because there are good ones out there, and also ones like this 😒

    • @jimarcher5255
      @jimarcher5255 5 місяців тому

      98% of car dealers give the rest a bad name.

  • @patrickmcwilliams3957
    @patrickmcwilliams3957 4 місяці тому

    Something similar here in Spokane. A local dealer floored his vehicles through several banks and flooring companies. When he sold the floored cars, he would transfer the title to the new owner using a LTA (lost title affidavit) with forged signatures of the previous owners. When the flooring companies came by to do their monthly inventory check, they would notice the cars were not on the lot. He managed to pay them off for a while, but it caught up to him. He spent time in prison too. His issue was an online gambling problem.

  • @lukewalker1051
    @lukewalker1051 5 місяців тому +4

    Incredible story. Well explained and thanks for sharing.

  • @ogles824
    @ogles824 4 місяці тому

    Great story, I grew up around the auto business in Louisiana and saw this happen to a new car dealer. I also recently saw this happen with a local bank, kind of the same thing but from the lender end. Dead customers and current customers children taking out loans.

  • @therosejewelrailroad489
    @therosejewelrailroad489 2 місяці тому

    Thanks for explaining what happened in simple terms. I always wanted to visit the place. I worked across the road for 28 years. Finally one weekend I was going to visit the place. That week everything went down. It was all over the news. Of course the news didn’t have much information at that point. With no internet I couldn’t research it easily. I always assumed it would get over this bump in the road and become a corvette dealership again. But it was more than just a bump in the road.Very interesting story thanks for posting.

  • @OldBoldBiker
    @OldBoldBiker 5 місяців тому

    There was almost the same story about a Corvette dealership in Wayne, NJ in the 80's I believe. I used to love going there to see the cars. Road and Track did a story on the place after it was shit down. I believe it was called "The Glass Car Co."

  • @joelpierce3940
    @joelpierce3940 5 місяців тому +4

    That’s Great! 20 square miles surrounded by reality!

  • @zurnie
    @zurnie 4 місяці тому

    This story reminds me of a situation I ran into during my college internship. I did it at a Court Services office. In my state Court Services works with the Judges and Prosecutors to make sure any plea bargains were in the nest interest of the public, the State and the defendants. We had a case that started small and blew up to massive. A small town just up the road from the courthouse had a city treasurer embezzle what started as a small amount of money then ballooned up into $75000. This in a mountain town with a population of 18 people. As sentencing approached we started getting tons of calls from citizens acting as character references for the defendant. Some of them got rather rude, including one of the local church pastors. Kind of odd talking to a man of "faith" that is yelling, cussing and denigrating you on the phone because you worked for the court system. The defendant had the entire community fooled as to their true nature. The Judge on the case would have been friends with Wyatt Earp if they had lived in the same era. He had no Fs to give and almost didn't go with the plea agreement due to all the flack this defendant caused.

  • @randywheeler3914
    @randywheeler3914 5 місяців тому +4

    I believe mershons in Springfield Ohio has a similar story

  • @ericejd5569
    @ericejd5569 5 місяців тому

    So good to see you Steve! Keep working and looking forward to seeing you back on a crawl only when you're ready!

  • @PatX2
    @PatX2 5 місяців тому

    Had the same thing happen in Lubbock Texas back in the 70s. Sad to see a specialty dealer like that go down in flames.

  • @ronerrickson166
    @ronerrickson166 5 місяців тому +12

    You guys need to do a story on this woman who ones over 15 saturns in her collection and hear her story !!! She’s had a big article made at Hagerty called saving Saturn but I’d love to see it as a video not just an article!!! Definitely unique!!! Definitely never see a female own such a huge unique collection even a low mileage Camaro too !!

  • @mitchr6232
    @mitchr6232 5 місяців тому

    I grew up just on the other side of the hill from there. My dad took me there quite a few times and it was a really cool place to go.

  • @stevep756
    @stevep756 5 місяців тому +1

    I am 60 and all I can say is they are over priced fiberglass junk!

  • @jacksonsmith5490
    @jacksonsmith5490 5 місяців тому +2

    Why is the intro so long? Get with the times, I clicked the video so I already know which channel I'm watching. Love the content.

  • @bryanrussell6679
    @bryanrussell6679 4 місяці тому

    You can tell it was people with money that came up with the punishment guidelines for these fraud crimes.

  • @trcythmpsn
    @trcythmpsn 5 місяців тому +6

    I worked for a classic car dealer in Clearwater Florida that had a similar story. The owner would take in consignment cars and sell one to pay another then he delt with this shady pastor who would come in and hand out 100.00 bills. I remember I wouldn't take one and he was offended. The other business partner that did late model collision out of the shop was respectable and saw what was going on and left. Eventually the house of cards fell and last I heard the owner did prison time too. It sucks because we had such a beautiful location and beautiful cars and a full restoration service staff. We worked on some amazing cars. I quit after checks started to bounce.

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +1

      Its crazy how these shops get into these messes!

    • @trcythmpsn
      @trcythmpsn 5 місяців тому +4

      @nikkrueger5734 I feel it's desperation to look successful. He had a smaller warehouse style shop that I think ran smooth but he upgraded to an abandoned car dealership that was like 5x bigger.

  • @al1383
    @al1383 3 місяці тому

    I can see selling someone's car and using the money for something else while planning to pay the owner back later. And it escalating.
    The getting duplicate titles is corrupt asf!!
    He should've got more than 5 years!!!

  • @Kharma710
    @Kharma710 5 місяців тому +8

    Cheers to a great year and for a better one in 2024. Thankyou Ed for all the hard work this year!

  • @DblIre
    @DblIre 5 місяців тому

    Actually, there's a great exotic car service/ restoration shop in NE WI. They do all the service work on ZZ Top's Ferraris

  • @JimmyJinIA
    @JimmyJinIA 5 місяців тому +1

    I remember CC, drove past that all the time on the way to Road America or Oshkosh. Always wondered what happen to that place.

  • @aliassmithandjones9453
    @aliassmithandjones9453 4 місяці тому

    you know somethings not right when you pass your Corvette on the street after Dave told you it hasn't sold yet

  • @windronner1
    @windronner1 5 місяців тому +4

    Really well presented. Great story. Sad ending. Unfortunately true.

  • @guysteel
    @guysteel 5 місяців тому

    I went there looking for vette. I saw the three level racks. It was pretty cool.

  • @grahamrobson9292
    @grahamrobson9292 5 місяців тому +2

    As soon as owners / buyers are emotional the player has an advantage this happens easily with dream cars and VW camper vans

  • @TheSnipesdaniel
    @TheSnipesdaniel 5 місяців тому

    When are you going to update the VinWiki app? Last update was 2019?

  • @darrenp1549
    @darrenp1549 5 місяців тому +1

    Similar thing happened in Mass at Visone Corvette....

  • @z33317
    @z33317 5 місяців тому +6

    There was a similar crime in south Florida (known for scams) also involving a classic Corvette dealer. The store was The Corvette Collection in Pompano Beach, FL.
    The owner's name was Paul E. Alexander and he must have learned his craft from Dave Larson as he went down a similar path.
    This was in the early 2000's. Same type of consignment deals, and while the cars were in his showroom, he allegedly took parts from some cars and installed them on others.
    He of course was also not paying his taxes, which became his downfall among the other illegal moves he made. Eventually the IRS padlocked the doors and held an auction
    to get back the money he owed the gov't. The sad part was that the owner's of the cars that were still in the building were left high and dry, as the IRS got all the money for
    their cars, and they got nothing. There must be info on this scum bag online. I know he went to prison but I don't know for how long.
    And of course there were the other shady south Florida dealers restamping Corvette blocks to make them matching #'s again. A couple of them were also caught
    and did prison time. I know a few that were never caught that are probably still at it. Hard to trust any car dealer here in south Florida.
    I think it was a well-know Porsche dealer (Champion Porsche) I also believe in the Pompano area that pulled some shady deals and were closed down and owners sent to prison.
    That was probably about 5 years ago.

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому

      It’s so sad to read the comments here and see how common this is!

    • @ronunderwood5771
      @ronunderwood5771 5 місяців тому

      Hard to believe this could happen in a state founded by ship wreckers!😂

  • @gabrielramirez-bb9xe
    @gabrielramirez-bb9xe 5 місяців тому

    Crazy story ...thank you for sharing.

  • @geoffhurley8103
    @geoffhurley8103 5 місяців тому +4

    I have a relative who owned a dealership and had this happen. It started out as just coming up a little short one month and eventually went over his head. He wasn't a bad person, it just happened. Lots of people lost their money and he went to prison.

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +1

      It can happen to any business owner who isn't great with the books. Not everyone is a great business owner. The difference here I think is how Dave let it get SO out of hand

    • @JohnnyDanger36963
      @JohnnyDanger36963 5 місяців тому +5

      He was a criminal,and was BAD.

  • @cpl_0503
    @cpl_0503 4 місяці тому

    What a great story. And a really good story teller. Very Cool.

  • @mws3779
    @mws3779 5 місяців тому

    I never knew about this story. I have seen the dealership when I go to Mad City. I hate crooked dealerships, and I hate thieves.

  • @bigbad253
    @bigbad253 5 місяців тому +1

    Wow, a crooked car dealer? Surely that is a rare thing....

  • @user-mq2vh1vq4y
    @user-mq2vh1vq4y 5 місяців тому +3

    I grew up in Milwaukee. I've more often heard it called "The People's Republic of Madison", but same idea lol

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +1

      lol I've heard that one often as well

  • @SeptemberWhite
    @SeptemberWhite 5 місяців тому +1

    In cases like these the speculating investors should always get the short end of the stick because both buyers and sellers bought and sold the vehicles in good faith but the investors knew that by investing there was a certain level of speculative risk and they should always be the last ones in line to be paid back!

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +1

      Very reasonable. The big issue here is there was (often times) not even money left over to compensate the sellers - hence why they had to go to their insurance for help. And for some of them, the insurance claim was a real uphill climb

  • @mareksw
    @mareksw 5 місяців тому +1

    There's a series of Larson dealerships in WA. Any relation?

  • @jamesomahoney2181
    @jamesomahoney2181 5 місяців тому +3

    This would make a great "cop show episode " like law and order..

  • @MrWuWatt
    @MrWuWatt 5 місяців тому +1

    Is this how the movie “Fargo” got the part where the guy was defrauding a GM dealership? I just watched it.

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому

      I am pretty confident no woodchippers were involved in the Capitol Corvette scam

  • @AAAskeet
    @AAAskeet 4 місяці тому

    This happens in tons of consignment sales businesses

  • @glynnjohnson3531
    @glynnjohnson3531 5 місяців тому

    Typical scenario apparently popular with consignment car sellers such as CNC in So Cal. Sell the car, keep the money, bull shit the seller, float checks and mismanage ownership titles and motor vehicle documents,

  • @ScottOmatic
    @ScottOmatic 5 місяців тому +2

    Still a more honest business than the other classic car shop in Madison.

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому

      Well Dave is still out there for whatever that’s worth 🤷‍♂️

  • @billjanke72
    @billjanke72 5 місяців тому +3

    In Wisconsin You basically have Zimbrick,Wilde,Bergstrom and Russ Darrow. All shit ass dealers too. Madison is it's own little area. Milwaukee too. There's hidden gems in Wisconsin but I'm not telling where.

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому

      There are a few good gems around the state for sure!

  • @RobsMusicBox
    @RobsMusicBox 5 місяців тому +3

    theres an even bigger story about this guy who embezzled and defrauded a Lot of Very high up people in the Mopar world.
    he even scammed Banks !!
    Fred M. Engelhart, 57, of Elkton Minnesota,check that one out if you want a helluva lotta views on a vid,just the mopar gearheads alone will probably hit a million views.
    this guy was one of the big dogs,until he got caught.
    try that story on for size,and bring in someone who knew fred for the narration :)
    edit: or someone who got ripped off by fred.
    when you look it up,youll see 3 final charges BUT this guy had forked over a Lot of people and was running the same Ponzi scheme as the vette guy shown here.
    again,theres a Helluva backstory on this one.

  • @thomasburke7995
    @thomasburke7995 5 місяців тому +1

    The problem with scamers and thiefs they alway get greedy , and 90 % of the time is the working class people that lose the most. 5 years 11 months.. he got off easy.

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому

      Agree - so many people lost such a huge financial (and emotional) asset, so sad.

  • @chrisrosenberg7963
    @chrisrosenberg7963 5 місяців тому

    As a Wisconsinite, I will say with complete certainty He’s not wrong about that 20 square miles surrounded by reality. I like this guy already. Ope!

  • @andydhillon1977
    @andydhillon1977 3 місяці тому

    VinWiki, you should look into the story of Griffith Acura in Glen Burnie, Maryland. It, too, was forced to close due to fraud. I don't know all the details but i know of someone who does.
    Just a suggestion.

  • @hermanmunster4949
    @hermanmunster4949 5 місяців тому

    Had I been one of the fellows who worked and saved for years to buy my Corvette only to lose it to Dave in a car title scheme, I would patiently wait for Dave to serve his time so he could "sleep with the fishes".

  • @brock9872
    @brock9872 5 місяців тому +2

    I really wanted to buy a corvette and that was the place to go. I had cash in my pocket to buy the car. I'm sure he thought I was a broke tire kicker. He blew me off so I left. I really wanted the car so I was going to try one more time and all this went down.

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому

      Wow - just think, you could have been tied up in all this if you had bought a consignment car!

    • @brock9872
      @brock9872 5 місяців тому +2

      As soon as it all went down, I realized how lucky I was that he ignored me that day.

  • @joesshows6793
    @joesshows6793 5 місяців тому +2

    You guys ever work with corvette city out of Georgia and New Hampshire? It would have been around 99-2001 era

  • @0thers1d3
    @0thers1d3 4 місяці тому

    As a Wisconsinite, can confirm everything said about Wisconsin.

  • @rj8288
    @rj8288 5 місяців тому

    I have always wanted a 1983 Corvette. Does anyone know of one for sale?

  • @jrharryman32
    @jrharryman32 5 місяців тому +1

    Corvettes are what poor people think rich people own.

  • @Niko-br9ql
    @Niko-br9ql 5 місяців тому +4

    CNC motors has entered the chat

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому

      LOL, its like they looked at this and said "Yeah but I bet we can do the same thing and make it work"

    • @0Heeroyuy01
      @0Heeroyuy01 5 місяців тому +2

      lethal performance taking nots from over CNC shoulder

  • @maddie44477
    @maddie44477 5 місяців тому +1

    Luv watching this channel ❤️

  • @Crymeariver676
    @Crymeariver676 5 місяців тому +1

    They now own full circle restoration in madison

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому

      I know he had Blue Chip for awhile after he got out - it was in his son's name. But yeah, sounds like Full Circle is his now. To be fair, that man knows cars really well - great resource for getting a restoration right. I'd just not let him near the money or titles

  • @Reality2Rediculous
    @Reality2Rediculous 5 місяців тому +3

    You speak FAR too Highly of this guy. He scammed, knew he was scamming, continued scamming, expanded his scams, hurt a lot of people, and never put himself in a position to pay off his debts. I hope that he was never allowed to sell cars again in his life.

    • @nikkrueger5734
      @nikkrueger5734 5 місяців тому +1

      Just tried to relay the facts without adding emotion, I think the whole thing sucked. He did lose his dealer license but I think ha has been part of a few resto shops since getting out.

  • @kmking1986
    @kmking1986 4 місяці тому

    I wonder if that's the same dave larson running larson financial in wausau

  • @amadoxxxx7593
    @amadoxxxx7593 5 місяців тому +2

    Did somebody say ….. Dave “Larcen” ….. tee hee hee 😅