Corvette, Mustang Top U.S. Most Stolen Classics List

Traverse City Michigan-based classic car and boat insurer Hagerty Insurance has released a study of the most stolen classic vehicles in the U.S. The Chevrolet Corvette was named the number one stolen collector vehicle in the study, which was conducted by the Hagerty Protection Network (HPN) between July 1999 through December 2002. The report, based on Hagerty Insurance claims data, indicates that vintage Chevrolets are the most stolen brand commanding close to 40 percent of collector cars stolen in the last three years.

HPN named the following models to its Top 10 Stolen Collector Vehicles list:

1. Chevrolet Corvette (1966-1982) — 13.3%

2. Ford Mustang (1964-1969) — 6.5%

3. Chevrolet Impala (1958-1967) — 5.6%

4. Chevrolet Camaro (1968, 1969) — 4.7%

5. Harley Davidson motorcycles (1941-1974) — 4.4%

6. Chevrolet Nova (1963-1972) — 3.6%

7. Chevrolet Chevelle (1966-1973) — 2.7%

8. Chevrolet Monte Carlo (1970-1978) — 2.4%

9. Cadillac DeVille (1955-1965) — 2.1% Chevrolet Pickups (1950-1971) — 2.1% Mercedes 450 (1975-1979) — 2.1%

10. Ford Thunderbird (1955-1963) — 1.7% Lincoln Continental (1964-1977) — 1.7%

Broken down by marque, Chevrolet tops the list by a wide margin at 39.3 percent of all Hagerty-insured stolen vehicles, followed by Ford (14.8 percent), Mercedes (4.7 percent), Cadillac (4.4 percent), Harley Davidson (4.4 percent), Pontiac (3.6 percent), Jaguar (2.4 percent), Plymouth (2.4 percent), Porsche (2.4 percent), Dodge (2.1 percent) and Lincoln (2.1 percent).

“By examining these numbers, it’s clear that Chevrolet and Ford easily account for half of our insured collector vehicles stolen since July 1999,” says McKeel Hagerty, president of Hagerty Insurance. “Our data also indicates that California (20.1 percent), Michigan (15.4 percent) and New York (10.9 percent) are the top three states in which collector vehicles are most likely to be stolen.”

“In addition, risk factors are in place for a significant increase in collector car theft over the next five years.This is due to the fact that classic vehicles are easier to steal than their modern counterparts, younger generations are stealing them more often for damage-inducing joy rides, and an increase in demand for their parts,” says Hagerty .

Parking lots are by far the most dangerous place to leave a collector car, with nearly 43 percent of Hagerty-insured collector vehicles reported stolen from various types of parking facilities. Keeping your collector car at home is safer, but not entirely safe, with 18.3 percent taken from driveways and 10.9 percent stolen from garages.