It was stolen in 2012 from the front of a restaurant, but the GNX was seized with around a dozen other cars in a Newark drug and gambling operation bust in 2019.
So, that's 7 years of being in the hands of the car thieves, but just because it was found didn’t mean it was returned to it's lawful owner who it was stolen from... nope, it took 7 years to prove the car was his.
Why would it take so many years to prove who was the rightful owner of a rare vehicle?
After Essex County law enforcement seized the car along with $1.1 million in drugs, weapons and luxury watches, officials claimed the GNX belonged to the county.
The owner was required to go to court to obtain it. Studies have found that authorities almost always win in civil asset forfeiture cases and frequently make big money for local governments, which use the funds for padding budgets and funding community programs and equipment upgrades for the police force.
During the hearing, the drug dealer insisted the muscle car was his, stating he bought it in 2012 and it was one of the six Buick Grand Nationals he had previously owned.
However he had tampered with the VIN and scratched off the serial number to obscure the true identity, and ownership related to the VIN and serial number. A mechanic testified that the car showed signs of tampering, including oddly spaced VIN numbers and a scratched-off serial number.
The drug dealer also claimed the documents proving ownership were all seized by law enforcement and had no proof.
The judge allowed the owners’s mechanic to inspect the car. A 19-page report proved that the car was the same Buick that the mechanic had worked on before it was stolen. To top it off, it was found that the VIN on the car which appeared to be tampered with matched another Buick Regal GNX that was previously reported as a total loss from fire and rollover damage.