Jim Morrisons of the Doors missing 67 Shelby GT500

[TransamEd]

Until it will be found....some inspiration what to look for.

At least an idea for a future museum display instead of being in a Mecum glass box.

[tesgt350]

Some facts - it was common for stars etc to have business managers who took care of the details such as car registration. This also created a different address so fans didn't show up on your doorstep.

Each year you got a new registration card - There was one pink slip issued that would have the same info.

It's known the car was crashed - ads by Ray Wolff don't mention crashed or inoperable. It appears to be a complete viable car while on his lot. So it did not end up in a junkyard at that time. This also dispels the rumor that Morrison totaled it. He may have crashed it but it was repairable.

When sold the pink slip gets filled out with the new owners name address etc and surrendered to DMV who issues a new one in the name of the new owner.

When the DMV updated their computer system (late 70s?) they only included currently registered cars. The Morrison car was not registered in CA at that time.

Certain people (law enforcement, insurance adjusters) could hand search the early non computerized DMV records. When DMV found fraud was occurring (in the mid 80s) due to those searches they cancelled access without a warrant.

So someone got the car from Ray Wolff - or he sent it to a dealer auction because it had sat on his lot for quite a time. A new owner got a title in his name for the car. When DMV switched computer systems it was not registered in CA. It could have been still registered in another state. If registered in another state the title would have been sent to CA for cancellation. The new owner may have totaled the car in CA prior to the computer change and it wouldn't show up. Even if totaled the salvage could still exist without paperwork - the insurance company gets the title and sells the salvage. DMV gets the title from the insurance or junkyard and it's cancelled.

How was the Car crashed?  What was the Damage?

[FL SAAC]

Some facts - it was common for stars etc to have business managers who took care of the details such as car registration. This also created a different address so fans didn't show up on your doorstep.

Each year you got a new registration card - There was one pink slip issued that would have the same info.

It's known the car was crashed - ads by Ray Wolff don't mention crashed or inoperable. It appears to be a complete viable car while on his lot. So it did not end up in a junkyard at that time. This also dispels the rumor that Morrison totaled it. He may have crashed it but it was repairable.

When sold the pink slip gets filled out with the new owners name address etc and surrendered to DMV who issues a new one in the name of the new owner.

When the DMV updated their computer system (late 70s?) they only included currently registered cars. The Morrison car was not registered in CA at that time.

Certain people (law enforcement, insurance adjusters) could hand search the early non computerized DMV records. When DMV found fraud was occurring (in the mid 80s) due to those searches they cancelled access without a warrant.

So someone got the car from Ray Wolff - or he sent it to a dealer auction because it had sat on his lot for quite a time. A new owner got a title in his name for the car. When DMV switched computer systems it was not registered in CA. It could have been still registered in another state. If registered in another state the title would have been sent to CA for cancellation. The new owner may have totaled the car in CA prior to the computer change and it wouldn't show up. Even if totaled the salvage could still exist without paperwork - the insurance company gets the title and sells the salvage. DMV gets the title from the insurance or junkyard and it's cancelled.

How was the Car crashed?  What was the Damage?

Here ya go:

There are two stories the majority of rock historians and Morrison biographers gravitate towards.

One story is that Morrison was driving one night and recklessly hit a telephone pole on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles.

He began to inspect the damage then wandered up the street to a bar for the rest of the night.

When he returned hours later, the car was gone. Another story has Morrison parked his car at the airport for an extended period of time while going on tour.

 Once again, the car was missing when he went to retrieve it, having been towed. No one has been able to fully confirm these stories, but what's for sure is that the car was lost.

The Mystery of Jim Morrison's 'Blue Lady' Mustang - McLarty Daniel Ford Blog
https://www.bentonvilleford.com/blogs/7512/the-mystery-of-jim-morrisons-blue-lady-mustang

[shelbydoug]

Well here is story three.

He was wasted. He crashed the car. Abandoned it on the street and reported it stolen.

That was the "first" one that I heard of somewhere around 40 years ago.

That was the last time that he crashed it. There were more times.

...something about driving it flat out up a dead end street until he ran out of street...

 

[SFM5S159]

How does one explain the newspaper ad from the early '70's (pics online) with the CA license plate number of the car?  VRD 389 I think it was...   

What's to explain, you register it in a State that does not issue Titles to old Cars and then you Lie and Cheat on the Forms.

If you contend the car didn't survive Morrison, how do you explain the newspaper as selling the car in 1971 in California ?  Someone was planning to profit from the car (being Morrison's) when they ran the ad?  20 years before Al Gore invented the internet ?   Clearly the car existed in some form after Morrison owned it.  Being for sale, not as a wreck or salvage, but as a used car.   Can't explain that away...  Yes, the car could have been wrecked after Morrison, but it survived him, that's been established, that's the point I am making.

[Bill]

How does one explain the newspaper ad from the early '70's (pics online) with the CA license plate number of the car?  VRD 389 I think it was...   

You actually you can explain it away, someone with the VIN to the car, perhaps someone who did work to the car, tune up, oil change, new tires or brakes placed the ad in hopes of coming up with a lead on the car in hopes of buying it, after of course hearing the story of it being totaled. There was a similar ad for a 68 GT500 KR convertible out of NYS in 1993, which was a known wreck, rollover, total and parted out car I had the drivers door and complete tags for. I had someone call me about it, when I called and responded, the person on the other end "Mike" folded like a cheap card table, and the ad was never placed again. By then, SAAC had already been notified of my findings......Could that be the case with 67402F2U00939 , we may never know.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

Someone was planning to profit from the car (being Morrison's) when they ran the ad? 

At that time being Morrison's car wouldn't have been a big draw.
I forget the time of the Ray Wolff ads. (looks like Nov 70 - Oct 71) Morrison went to Paris March 11, 1971. There are ads for his girlfriends VW at first offered for sale by her at the Themis boutique she and Morrison started and later after she left for Paris with the phone number of the Doors office.
Found ads in an earlier 14 page thread that didn't solve the location problem either......
https://www.saac.com/forum/index.php?topic=5229.195
One thing in that thread that popped out said the registration card was found in Paris.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIwP-A65Vdc

[98SVT - was 06GT]

How does one explain the newspaper ad from the early '70's (pics online) with the CA license plate number of the car?  VRD 389 I think it was...   

You actually you can explain it away, someone with the VIN to the car, perhaps someone who did work to the car, tune up, oil change, new tires or brakes placed the ad in hopes of coming up with a lead on the car in hopes of buying it, after of course hearing the story of it being totaled. There was a similar ad for a 68 GT500 KR convertible out of NYS in 1993, which was a known wreck, rollover, total and parted out car I had the drivers door and complete tags for. I had someone call me about it, when I called and responded, the person on the other end "Mike" folded like a cheap card table, and the ad was never placed again. By then, SAAC had already been notified of my findings......Could that be the case with 67402F2U00939 , we may never know.

1968 - 1993 is a far different time frame than 69-71 when 939 goes silent. I can pretty much guarantee that Ray Wolff wasn't looking to add a clapped out GT500 to his inventory.

[SFM5S159]

How does one explain the newspaper ad from the early '70's (pics online) with the CA license plate number of the car?  VRD 389 I think it was...   

You actually you can explain it away, someone with the VIN to the car, perhaps someone who did work to the car, tune up, oil change, new tires or brakes placed the ad in hopes of coming up with a lead on the car in hopes of buying it, after of course hearing the story of it being totaled. There was a similar ad for a 68 GT500 KR convertible out of NYS in 1993, which was a known wreck, rollover, total and parted out car I had the drivers door and complete tags for. I had someone call me about it, when I called and responded, the person on the other end "Mike" folded like a cheap card table, and the ad was never placed again. By then, SAAC had already been notified of my findings......Could that be the case with 67402F2U00939 , we may never know.

Okay so they placed an ad in 1971 knowing that the car would someday be sought after and worth millions ?  The individual in 1971 placed the ad for a car he knew was totaled so he could get a lead on the car?  That just doesn't make sense in 1971, when the cars had no real value and people weren't aware of the whole Ford VIN and Shelby VIN thing.  Occams Razor applies here, it takes mental gymnastics to come up with alternate explanations...

[Bill]

How does one explain the newspaper ad from the early '70's (pics online) with the CA license plate number of the car?  VRD 389 I think it was...   

You actually you can explain it away, someone with the VIN to the car, perhaps someone who did work to the car, tune up, oil change, new tires or brakes placed the ad in hopes of coming up with a lead on the car in hopes of buying it, after of course hearing the story of it being totaled. There was a similar ad for a 68 GT500 KR convertible out of NYS in 1993, which was a known wreck, rollover, total and parted out car I had the drivers door and complete tags for. I had someone call me about it, when I called and responded, the person on the other end "Mike" folded like a cheap card table, and the ad was never placed again. By then, SAAC had already been notified of my findings......Could that be the case with 67402F2U00939 , we may never know.

Okay so they placed an ad in 1971 knowing that the car would someday be sought after and worth millions ?  The individual in 1971 placed the ad for a car he knew was totaled so he could get a lead on the car?  That just doesn't make sense in 1971, when the cars had no real value and people weren't aware of the whole Ford VIN and Shelby VIN thing.  Occams Razor applies here, it takes mental gymnastics to come up with alternate explanations...

You asked, I gave a far fetched yet plausible explanation. The fact it was owned by a celebrity is enough to cause some fans to do unorthodox things. Especially in the 70's where recreational pharmaceuticals were widespread and easily obtained. 

[tesgt350]

How early was JM's Shelby?  Did it have an S in the Ford VIN?  Did it have the scribed Z in the Shelby VIN? Who said the Car was actually "Totaled"?

[Coralsnake]

I have always wondered what a Facebook discussion was like and here it is....never ending stupidity

[FL SAAC]

How early was JM's Shelby?  Did it have an S in the Ford VIN?  Did it have the scribed Z in the Shelby VIN? Who said the Car was actually "Totaled"?

Jimmies car probably did have the Z stamped on it

The Z stamped cars were generally built after April 27, 1967, and continued through the rest of the 1967 model year.

Probably a few exceptions with out the Z

But since this car has evaporated...we may never know

To be continued

[Bill]

I have always wondered what a Facebook discussion was like and here it is....never ending stupidity

Says the man looking for 004 
Have you reviewed old phone books?
Google satellite maps?
Tried to track down old dealer owners or employees?

[capecodmustang.com]

Wouldn't it be something if a SAAC member owned it and just wasn't ready to discuss it or how he found it?

Bret