To Catch A Thief

Remember my poor stolen car? We savaged a few things from it after it was found--a road atlas, a few old tapes. There also was a bag of receipts--we wanted to rip them up rather then leave them in the car for someone else to find. So tonight, Nick was going through them and ripping them up. (Yes, we could have done that almost 10 months ago, but you know--what's the rush?) In the process he found a receipt from April 12th. "Who would have thought that it would be your last time driving the car," he said.

I looked at the receipt suspiciously. I definitely did not go to a CVS Pharmacy in Dorchester at 9:40pm on the night I parked the car for the last time. I did take the car through a car wash, but I was home by 8:30pm at the latest. The more I thought about it, the more I became convinced that this was not my receipt. In fact I parked the car for the last time on Tuesday, April 10. I remeber because it was the day of the Red Sox home opening game, and it took me forever to find a parking spot. And it was not until the fateful morning of April 13 when I returned to find my car missing.

I brewed over this receipt for a few hours. (Nick carefully deposited the evidence in a clear Ziploc bag.) Finally I could stand it no longer. I called police. Yes, they could have used it if I had found the receipt earlier. The police could have scanned through the pharmacy's security video tapes around the time on the receipt to try and identify the thief, but those tapes usually get destroyed after 30 days.

Oh, the rush of hopes and the disappointment. How many more cars did these guys steal, and are they still in the chop shop business?

No More Car

With the license plates taken off, and the title signed and sent away, only fond memories remain:

- being taught by Eric how to start the car on the uphill
- getting pulled over for excessive/inappropriate "blinking"
- driving my grandfather around Seattle
- listening to U2's "Achtung Baby" for months while driving South on I-495
- listening to Dave Matthews' "Two Step" while driving in snowy Walla Walla
- driving across the country, watching the car "turn" 100,000 miles near Chicago

Perhaps less than interesting numbers:
When I first set foot into my car, it was exactly 43,000 miles. Last time I saw it, the car was 107,877 miles.

The Car Has Been Recovered

Minus its entire interior and a few other small things such as side mirrors, rear spoiler, radio antenna (what would you do with a broken off antenna?), wheels and tires (the ones you see here are not mine).

The thieves were nice enough to leave us the club, our road atlas, all of my registeration documents and about a pound of pennies.

Apparently the key to turning the steering wheel of a car locked with a club is cutting the steering wheel. The dark arts of disabling the alarm and jump starting the car are still a mystery to me.

A Driver's Lament

My car has not been recovered yet. "Yet" is a deceptive concept in this case. Will it ever be recovered? Statistically, if a stolen vehicle is not recovered in the first 2 or 3 days, chances of it being recovered rapidly approach zero with every passing day.

Of course I would like to stay optimistic, but reality is starting to set in. Who would take a locked, alarmed, 11 year old car with a club on its wheel? Someone did tell me that a manual transmission car is easier to jump start then an automatic transmission one. Yet I am still guessing it would have to be professionals. The model is among the top ten most stolen vehicles--stolen for parts.

Is my car in parts? Has my car been painted, its VIN reetched, and shipped to another country? Sad. As I stare out at cars going by on Mass Pike as I ride the train, I find myself looking for my car. Even if I could never have it back, I still wish I knew what happened.

What would my grandpa say about all this car stealing business?

Where Is My Car?

It is Friday, the 13th, and today is definitely not my lucky day.

As you might know I take the train to work, while my car spends most of its time socializing with pigeons in the safety of a garage in the suburbs.

I brought the car home on Tuesday so that I could drive to work from my dentist appointment this morning. Why Tuesday and not Thursday night, you might ask? To avoid driving the car home without a purpose, I decided to go skating, and the ice time schedule dictated that I go skating on Tuesday night.

This morning, when I walked over to where I parked on Tuesday night, my car was not there. Not only was I about to miss my dentist appointment (a hard-to-come-by "commodity" indeed), but I was also carrying two gigantic plastic bags full of clothes for donation.

I called Nick to the rescue, and he ran down to meet me and free me from the bags. I grabbed a taxi to the dentist. Dad was very nice and let me borrow his car so that I could still get to work on time for a meeting.

Then the calls began: Boston Tow line, state police, two more tow companies, state police again, etc. No sign of my car anywhere. After work I went to the police station. Again they went through the lists of towed vehicles. Nothing.

My car is now officially declared to be a "stolen vehicle". We are still hopeful though. I believe that my car will fit into the category recovered stolen vehicles (62% according to some statistic). Nick believes that the car might still turn up in towing company's lot. We will see.