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News; Meet the man who unwittingly restored Tarantino's stolen "Pulp Fiction" Malibu

Anonymous
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https://autos.yahoo.com/news/how-quentin-tarantino-s-stolen-chevy-from--pulp-fiction--was-discovered...

"Bill Hemenez of San Leandro, Calif., spent over $40,000 to restore a classic 1964 Chevy Malibu that he'd purchased from a collector more than 12 years ago. He drove the car to countless shows across the state and was continually investing money into keeping it meticulous.

So Hemenez was a little puzzled when police called him last year asking after a stolen Malibu in his driveway — the very same one he'd put so much money and time into.

It turns out that Hemenez's little red Chevy was none other than the car Vincent Vega drove during his troubled date with Mia Wallace in "Pulp Fiction" – a car that went missing outside of director Quentin Tarantino's home nearly two decades ago."

 

So a guy spends $40,000 fixing up a car he thought he had legitimately bought which is then taken from him as it belongs to Quentin Tarantino who it is returned to...and Tarantino doesn't get in touch.

Tarantino has every right to do nothing and if he was some middle-class nobody this wouldn't be a story and he wouldn't be expected to do anything. 

The fact is, he's worth about $100 million and the guy who spent money to keep this car immaculate for 20 years (not knowing its origin) is not. When he got the car back and noticed it wasn't a dust-covered, rusted-out bucket, Tarantino should have asked some questions and tried to reach out to this guy. He doesn't have to do it, but it'd be a nice thing and he's perfectly capable of doing so. 

This also brings up the thought of Theseus's Paradox that raises the question of whether an object which has had all its components replaced remains fundamentally the same object. I would imagine that $40,000 into such an old car would involve ALOT of new parts, so although legally its Tarantinos car by registration but how much of it actually still is?

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jonsie
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Interesting point. I find it such a shame when the rich and famous miss these opportunities to maybe change public opinion of the 'them and us' devide which exists in todays society. a simple acknowledgement would go a long way. A reimbursement would be a lovely gesture. Allowing the guy to keep the car would be magnificent and something Tarantino could well afford and would enhance his reputation and peoples respect.

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Anonymous
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Yeah what Jonsie said

:wink:
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sheepdog
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So much for the insurance - I would have thought that once the original insurance company paid out on the claim then its a written off cost, at least they would claim ownership of the vehicle in the event of recovery. Handing it back to the original owner sounds strange (or did they offer him to repay the original payout in return?) and the current insurance company would then recover costs from the original insurance company.  

Wonder if TT will respond in any way.

 

 

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Anonymous
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Thats a good point, Sheepdog! Tarantino must have had some sort of payout at the time...and now he's also got the car back!

I believe the mans insurance company stated that they don't insure stolen cars so are sticking to their guns and not paying out anything for it. I just feel so sorry for the guy now being out of pocket by so much and with nothing to show for it.

I know over here when my friend had his car stolen the police got back in touch with him about 6 months later to say they had it in their pound and he was able to go and get it back, I'm not sure about the insurance details surrounding that though.

 

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