It’s a sad fact of life in the automotive world that cars get stolen. No car is immune to the blight but some are more susceptible then others. Often times cars are stolen only to be recovered a bit later, sometimes they are never recovered, or sometimes 20 years later they are recovered. That is the case with Quentin Tarantino’s Malibu. Yep that Quentin Tarantino the movie director guy.
As it turns out a few decades ago his car was stolen, then a fella named Bill Hemenez bought that car from a collector. He of course had no idea it was stolen. Bill had the car restored and he cared for it like he loved it because he did. The car was showed, driven, and kept in tip top shape. Then one day it was found out to be Tarantino’s stolen car. Here’s a piece on it.
Now I’m going to get a little ranty.
No doubt Tarantino should get the car back. However the Hemenez restored it, love it, cared for it, and gave it back to him in better shape then it was before. What is Hemenez’s reward? Nothing. Which is kind of a dick move. Not only did Tarantino get the insurance money when the car was originally stolen, but he now gets a restored and perfect Malibu? The restorer gets nothing? Man that’s not right and that’s a seriously dick move. Mr. Hemenez has a great attitude about it all saying he’s glad the car is back with his rightful owner. However after getting a bit of the shaft from Hagarty and a big shaft from Tarantino you can understand he feels a bit disappointed.
Of course Tarantino is under no legal obligation to compensate Hemenze. However the guy restored and cared for the car. Shouldn’t get get something for being a good custodian after all those years?
The original story about this whole mess appeared on Yahoo if you want to check it out here.