Lee and David, I don't doubt your legal facts at all. But I'm cynical about how much friction one might encounter when trying to unravel such a situation. It's really going to hinge on how savvy the victim is. How motivated are they? Do they have the force of personality to get multiple agencies to take on the issue?
Quick story- My El Camino got stolen. I promptly reported to my local police. I happened to visit the police station for an unrelated matter, where I saw on a whiteboard their list of stolen cars. My license plate was written down incorrectly, as was the model year and several details about the car's description. They were uninterested in correcting the information and suggested that I must have given them bad info in the first place. I ended up locating the car on my own, without the help of the police. When I called to let them know I found it, they flat refused to send an officer to the location. And this was a theft from a week prior, I can only imagine how they would react to a theft from 40 years ago.
Anyway, I made sure they canceled the stolen report, so I didn't get felony stopped. Not that they really would have known because they weren't looking for the right car in the first place. Then I simply drove off in the car and went home.
I just wonder if someone spends a year and a half paying a private eye or a lawyer. Shipping costs. Only to get back a beat-down shell of a car... Might be more practical to just buy a different Pantera at that point. I know it would be more satisfying and morally victorious to get the original back.
All that being said, I still would love to see this unraveled, and I don't want to discourage anyone, but I hope my experience helps to calibrate expectations.
I'll stop monopolizing the conversation so we can get back to the investigation!