SoCal Stolen Cars Club: Meeting's in the Backyard

So, this is a weird one. It looks a like an overzealous and less-than-legally upright individual in SoCal has acquired a collection of amazing cars worthy of a hip-hop star, and then in a strange twist, just let them sit there. Didn’t do anything with them. What?!  

That’s right, on March 22, the California Highway Patrol raided and arrested an individual under investigation, and in the backyard, found what to many would be their most prized possessions (aside from our children … maybe) collecting dust and rust among the weeds.  

Details are light on what the investigation entailed. The CHP’s Facebook post and press release announcing the bust simply said that the suspect purchased the vehicles fraudulently and had a firearm and some marijuana plants. But omitted was how the fraud was committed, which kind of makes sense. If they had busted a meth lab, we wouldn’t want them to post the ingredients for meth, right?  

But our unfulfilled curiosity as to how the fraud was committed is totally secondary to what we believe to be the real crime here: If you’re going through the trouble of scamming your way into an awesome car collection why wouldn’t you use it?  

And folks, we’re not talking about a collection of Nissan Versas here. Nothing against Nissan Versas but we’re talking about a collection estimated to be worth $2.3 million. At 35 cars seized in total, that comes out to an average of $68,000 per car.  

The ill-gotten collection includes a 2022 Corvette, which we’ve covered before, and this car is a serious supercar well worthy of any track day on the books. It’s stunning to look at and to drive, so why didn’t they drive it?  

Another entry in this bizarre mystery is an Aston Martin Vantage! A base Vantage comes with a 4.0L V8 that can generate more than 500 horsepower. Even if your ultimate goal was to sell the car for a profit, which it likely was, why wouldn’t you take it for at least one or two spins? We’re sitting here salivating at the mere mention of it.  

Honestly, if we were this individual’s lawyer, we’d try to cop an insanity plea. No right-minded jury could refuse the argument! But the biggest crime here are California laws about cars seized like this. Meaning we won’t be able to bid on them at an auction. Booooo. 

Related: California Car Culture Returns to Pomona Swap Meet