A Sad Sad Long Story!

[AlaskaK10]

Hello Everyone

I will try to make this long story as short as possibe so here goes.
I have had a 1966 Chevy Stepside for 50 years in Nome Alaska. My father aquired it through the estate of an old friend and then passed it on to me. At the time I aquired it from my father it had 1500 miles on it so it was essentially new. I drove the truck for years taking very good care of it. The last 10 years of use I was a gold miner and used the truck in our mining operation until 1994 when a tragic accident happened. I along with my son were driving into our mine site one day and we had a 55 gallon drum of gas in the back of the bed. As we drove into the site my son hollered Dad the truck is on fire! I looked back and saw the whole back of the bed was engulfed in flames! My son was on the passenger side I hollered for him to jump out. He and I both jumped out while the truck was going which was maybe 10 to 15 mph down a small hill. We were not hurt had a few scrapes but Okay. The truck rolled on down the hill and came to a stop against a dirt berm at the bottom. By then the flames had buned the cab to a crisp. the seat was destroyed as well as any electrical etc. Funny the fuel tank did not expolde behind the seat. Most of the heat went upwards when the gas barrel blew more like a flash fire not a slow hot buning fire with a long burn. Some of the wood in the bed floor was still intact. Paint was burned off half the cab and interior gutted. Front end and engine compartment were oK. I will say it was heart wrenching watching it burn but we were okay. After the fire burned out and truck cooled down we moved it to a spot out of the way in the mine. It sat there for the last 28 years. I left it there as it was our land and in an area at the time that was not that accesible plus it was away from the sea coast and salt air. Back then the truck was not worth what they are today. I hoped one day to restore it and give it to my son. I started out my young adult life in the body and fender business and also painting aircraft. I knew eventually I would be able to fix it but life had to go on and a project like that would have to wait.
Fast forward to 2022.
I am now in my early 70's not a young man anymore and I am thinking to myself that it is time to bring that little 66 step side out of Nome and do what I promised myself years ago to do and fix the 66 and pass it on to my son. I even kept the title in my dads name.
Now while I was moving to Washington state from Nome a fellow who I knew from my years in Nome and who used to work for me in my mining operation snuck into our old mine site with some buddies and stole the truck. This fellow had asked me numerous time about the truck and I told him it was not for sale . He with accomplices put tires on it and a tow bar and pulled it out of the site. This was in 2020. While this was happening I was busy transporting other items from Nome and building a new place here in Washington. A couple of years passed and I did not get to Nome and check on the truck.
This last winter a contacted a friend of mine to help me get the truck out of the old mine site. My friend was rather new to Nome and I never told him about the truck in the old mine site. When I told him of my plan and about the truck he was surprised I owned that truck. He had traveled back by the old mine site and noticed it sitting there and wonderred who owned it.
Now the bad news.
The friend of mine informed me he was driving the main highway that goes by the turnoff to the old mine site road he saw the truck parked alongside the road. wWhen he told me that I was shocked he said he did not no who got it but he would look around.
Now Nome is way out on the Northwest coast of Alaska. isolated by no connecting roads to other parts of Alaska. Goods have to be flown in or ocean barged in from Seattle. Very expensive place to live.
Once the friend told me of the situation I immediatly thought of several people that were suspect of doing something like this. I was concerned but not in a panic as it was Nome and I would find it in someones yard just sitting that is what usually happens. I first learned of the theft in November 2022 which was winter in Nome. I planned to go to Nome this spring (June) to search for the truck. When I got there I searched high and low and truck was no where to be found. I was surprised that I could not find it. I thought that these trucks now being alot more desireable someone might have it hidden inside a shop somewhere. But if you have a shop in nome most likely you won't be storing an old burned chevy you need it for your snowmachine andday to day stuff. I kept searching asking everyone I met if they had seen it. Then I came upon a guy who I knew that lives along the highway to the old mine site where I kept the truck and he said he had seen several guys towing the vehicle into Nome as they went right by his house. He knew them all and told me who they were and sure enough the ring leader was the fellow that wanted the truck and I would not sell it to him. He followed them into town and took the picture of the truck at the thiefs house. See top picture. The next domino to fall so to speak was I learned he had recently passed away so I could not talk to him to find out what he did with it. More investigating in tracking down the accomplices that helped him. one of them told me that he talked about scrapping the truck??? I was in disbelief . The accomplice also told me he had it outside his house for almost a year with other people offering to buy it. He would not sell it. Now the horror the accomplice also said that he talked of scrapping the truck! I was horrified he had even thought about that. Apparently the City of Nome rolled out a program a couple years ago where they would give you 100 dollars fo any old vehicle you wanted to scrap. The City requires you to fill out a small little form where if you have no title you can sign and swear by your signature that you are the lawful owner this form supposedly is designed to absolve the city of Nome of any liability of the vehicle being stolen.
So I immediatly go to the Nome public work dept who operates the dump. The man I spoke to who is also the superintendant remembers the vehicle and said he personally loaded it with a forklift on the haul away truck going to the scrap yard. I am just livid now and can't believe what I am hearing. So I ask the guy who claimed to have loaded the truck to tell me who was working at the dump site at the time who would have actually done the crushing? he did not know but made some calls. In the several calls that he made no one remembers it. I then went to the city office in hopes they would have the signed form...Nope can't find it! 3 days later still cant't find it??? In addition they would have paid 100 dollars for it in a check made out to the theif but so far they can't find that either. What a freaking joke. This saga is now just unfolding. More twists in the road ahead I'm sure
I hope they did not crush my truck but the guy that I talked to said directly to me they did haul it to the dump he had kind of that "oh #### "look on his face so it is a high probability they did crush the truck.
So in conclusion I still hope to find my original truck. No truck will replace the history of the first one though and that is the hard part. I have amassed a collection of parts over the last 4 years in anticipation of this build so I am in financially in the game now. I will continue trying to find out more from the City of Nome what they will do about it if anything so more drama to come. In the meantime I am thinking I will look around and see what 64 to 66 4X4's are out their and if I find one I will resume the journey. I am now asking the City if the will dig up the old truck as they bury them afer they crush them. They crush them with a froklift and bury them in stacks who knows really how bad its crushed maybe I can get some parts off of it to put into the replacement truck. This would at least meld the old truck with the new. At this time I don't know it the city would agree to do it be kind of like looking for a needle in a haystack. Anyway thats where it is now. I Would appreciate any comments thoughts ideas from anyone regarding the story.

[62c30]

That's a hell of a story hopefully it has a good ending. I'm redoing my Grandpa's 61 now.

[Steeveedee]

Man, that really stinks! Maybe the thief can get some jail time, once this clears up. Just a common thief.

[Braunschweiger]

Oh that's sad, I hope the truck still exists and you find it.
It's amazing that a truck can be scrapped without proof of ownership.

[AlaskaK10]

The city has no record of them disposing of it. The only knowledge I have about this is the public works superintendant said he remembers picking up the truck and getting the form signed. The other info was when an accomplice to the theft told me that the fellow that took the truck had talked about scrapping it but he did not know if he actually did. No one out at dump where the vehicles go to be crushed has corroborated what the guy that picked it up said. There are only 7 employees. They are supposed to get the person that wants the vehicle hauled away to fill out a small form and agree to assume all liability but as of now no form has been found. Plus they paid the guy suposedly 100 dollars and no record so far of that either.
So with the history and all of this truck being in our family all the years how would one value it?