In the late 1960's, our '65 Coronet was stolen in Brooklyn and repainted into a 'gypsy cab' (semi-legal in NYC at that time). My father later spotted it parked on the street (the thieves painted right over the dents and dings) and the police impounded the car. The police would not release the car to my parents claiming they couldn't verify the VIN. The real reason, in my opinion, was that when the car ultimately got auctioned off the money would go to the police pension fund. My mom was an employee of the NYPD and she called the Auto Squad commander. She told him that if the car wasn't returned to us, she would inform the media (newspapers and TV....) that the police knew of the hot car ring and had identified a particular body shop that was doing the paint jobs. About 15 minutes later, the commander called my mother and told her he had good news...Chrysler had magically verified the VIN and we could pick the car up from the pound that afternoon.