A stolen Jaguar convertible found later in life has made owner Ivan Schneider a happy man, seeing his all-time favorite automobile after it was stolen 46 years ago. The car appeared inside a container in a cargo ship in the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport, on its way to the Netherlands; after so many years, it had been painted white and black and was fairly beat up, mostly in its interior; however, experts were able to determine it was the same vehicle the lawyer had reported stolen in 1968.
The stolen Jaguar convertible, found later to Schneider's delight (the now-retired lawyer called the entire event a "miracle", NBC reports), had been stolen from outside Schneider's New York apartment in 1968, after having owning it for less than a year. The lawyer purchased the British sports car after a big check came in (after winning his first big case), and was madly in love with the car - until one morning he left his apartment and found it missing.
After waiting for the car to turn up for months, Schneider reluctantly bought a new sports car and then some others after that - but he never forgot about his first automobile love, and he always talked about it with nostalgia, the Los Angeles Times reports. Obviously, he never expected his stolen Jaguar convertible to be found later on - because, of course, nearly a decade after a theft, it's almost impossible to recover an item.
However, his stolen Jaguar convertible was found later, much later than expected. The ship had been at sea in the Pacific Ocean for two day when investigators discovered it contained the stolen Jaguar XK-E (along with a '69 Corvette, a '76 Mercedes, a 2007 Mercedes and a 2014 Camaro), and it was recovered by authorities.
After the stolen Jaguar convertible was found later, authorities called disbelieving Schneider late August, who at first thought was being scammed. After reuniting with the vehicle, he said he'd send it to restore to hopefully get it back in shape by the end of the year.
In its current state, the vehicle is worth $23,600, however, the same model when restored can be worth around $100,000.
