After 46 years, Ivan Schneider Finally Gets His Jaguar Back

By Adelyn Torralba Sep 29, 2014 08:33 AM EDT

1967 Jaguar XKE — (Photo : Creative Commons:Flickr)

After 46 years, Ivan Schneider Finally Gets His Jaguar Back

How would you feel if something that was stolen from you was returned after a long time? That's what Ivan Schneider found out when after forty six years; his 1967 Jaguar XKE was finally returned to him.

Schneider was 36 years old at the time he bought his beloved Jaguar. He bought the 1967 convertible Jaguar for $5000 after he won a big case. In 1968, right outside his apartment in Manhattan, his Jaguar was stolen. Schneider said, "I went downstairs and it was gone. I walked up and down Madison Avenue, then up and down 5th Avenue, and it wasn't there. I was devastated." Schneider added that he immediately bought a Corvette but his Jaguar was always on his mind.

The car was discovered after a routine and standard procedure was done by a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Analyst. The car came up in the list of stolen database. But there's another problem, the cargo ship that contains the car is already on its way to Netherlands. The vessel was immediately instructed to return because it contains stolen goods.

Crime Highway Patrol investigator contacted Schneider who now lives in Florida. At first, Schneider thought that it was a prank but after he was convinced, he got all excited about the news.

Schneider said, "I thought they were kidding me, who would think a car would show up 45 years later. When I found out they weren't, I was thrilled."

The car has its own story to tell. Before it was exported to Netherlands, the car was owned by a man in San Joaquin Valley who apparently owned the car for 40 years. What happened between the car being stolen in front of Schneider's apartment in 1968 and to the man owning it for forty years remains a mystery.

Schneider, now 82, seems a perfect match for the Jaguar. Both now of age, experienced and they will probably enjoy their last rides together. He plans to restore it to its former glory and plans to tell the story of a stolen car that eventually made its way back home.