Remember that cherry red Chevy Malibu convertible that John Travolta drives in Pulp Fiction? You know the one that he crashes, trying to get help after Uma Thurman overdoses? Did you know it's been missing for 19 years because it was stolen? Well, it's not missing anymore.
The car, which belongs to filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, turned up in the Oakland, Calif., area, according to the San Bernardino Sun. Officers were able to locate it through the sleuthing of a law enforcement officer farther south.
Earlier this month, a San Bernardino sheriff's deputy saw two men taking parts off of a car in the town of Victorville, which is about 85 miles northeast of Los Angeles. The deputy questioned the men, says Jodi Miller, the public information officer for the sheriff's department, as part of an "investigation of suspicious circumstances." Everything was in order, she says, and the car was found to be in the care of its rightful owner.
But in running the car's vehicle inspection number, or VIN, the deputy noticed there was another vehicle in the Oakland area with the same identification. He notified authorities there, and Miller says these officers discovered a second vehicle using a "cloned VIN," or the same identification number belonging to the San Bernardino County car. The Sun says that second car turned out to be Tarantino's missing wheels. The Associated Press reports the present owner of the red convertible isn't thought to be part of the theft and is considered a fraud victim.
It's unclear whether the Pulp Fiction convertible is back in Tarantino's possession; a message seeking comment from him was not immediately returned. But the thief may want to think about the sage advice Travolta's character delivers in the movie: "Don't f - - - with another man's vehicle."
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