RECOVERED!!! I FOUND MY CAR!!! Long post...
 

Well ladies and gentlemen, I have some good news...And some bad. I also have a cool story :).

The good - I got my car back, and shes safe at home in my driveway.

The bad - Theres not much left of her...

The story -

It all started the night the car was stolen. I headed back down to Duvall to the parking lot she was stolen from with my best friend. We looked around, and decided to talk to some locals who were there messing around fishing, drinking, etc. They told us that they had seen the car there last Sat. night until early Sun. morning. They had said they saw 3 people total messing with the car starting around 2:30 AM, until about 6:30 AM when they finally towed it off. The only description was that ONE of the guys was tall, skinny, kinda scruffy looking, with brown hair and a beard. I thought, "OK, I can work with this...". They said they couldnt see the other guy cause he was in my car. The third person was a female, and she was in the suspects car driving. The suspects car, turned out to be "a red Geo Metro or a similar small car". After hearing this, I thought, "oh great, a fucking Geo towed off my car?".

Well, even with as much help as these people tried to be, it didnt give me much to work with. I mean, come on, a guy with brown hair driving a red Geo or small red car? Hell, that could be anyone. Not being the type to give up or easily discouraged by a problem, I decided to work with what I had. I got myself a small 3 ring notebook, my camera, and some other "tools" and headed out to Duvall. Over the course of the last few days about 18 hours a day, I combed Duvall. Driving up and down roads, driveways, etc looking for ANY red small hatch back type cars. I finally came up with a list of about 8 that I thought were possibly suspects about Monday. Tuesday, I started investigating all these little red cars. I started sitting on the sides of roads, keeping a log of times and directions these cars went, as well as license plate numbers. I reported all the information I was getting to the Police, but they didnt seem to care (understandably). Well, I was determined, so one day, as I was sitting on the side of the road, a NEW red car that I hadnt seen before came around the corner passing me and kinda checking out my car (I was in an 85 GSL). I got a look at him, and he matched the discription of the guy that the fishermen gave me, and the condition of the car had me intrigued (up until now, most of the small red cars were teenagers or newer condition cars than I would have expected to have taken off with my car). I decided to follow this guy a little ways to see what was up. I pulled out onto the road behind him after he was out of sight, as I didnt want him to get suspicious. Unfortunatly, he was stopped at a stop sign and I caught up. He kinda looked in his rear view mirror excessivly as we were sitting there, which kinda made me wonder why he seemed so nervous. I decided that rather risking him possibly trying to get rid of my car (if he had it) by spooking him, I let him go his direction, and I went another way.

Unfortunatly, that turned out to be a mistake because I never saw the car again during my searching or logging of times and routes until last night. I was on my way home from seeing my GF, and decided that run through the neighborhood at 1 AM wasnt such a bad idea. I went down my usual route checking all houses, driveways, etc when lo and behold, I stumbled upon the red car again. It was parked behind a house, so it was a little hard to see, so I wasnt sure if it was THE red car, but it was still a red car at a house I had never logged a red car being at. So, the next day (today), I decided I would investigate it further hoping it was still there.

I got to the house today, and the red car was gone. I almost turned around and went home, but something told me that I should check it out a little further. So, I parked the car up on the next street, and walked down to the house and kinda looked around from the street. I noticed what seemed to be an unusual clearing of the tree line behind the house, like maybe a second driveway. After seeing that, I was hooked. I HAD to know what was back there. I decided that I would rick life and limb (guns and dogs are known to be there) to go find my car. I walked down past the house, down past where I was sure they werent the owners of the property, and began a trek into the woods. I slowly moved through the woods trying to make as little noise as possible so I could see around the back of the house. Oddly enough, my path intersected with ANOTHER "secret driveway" so I decided to go ahead and follow this one. As I followed it, it looped back around onto the property of the house. I followed it and looked around, but there were no tire tracks, no car parts, no nothing. I was begining to loose hope as I reached the end of the trail in the back yard. I almost got my ass caught too cause they were all sitting there around a bon fire ("all" meaning 4 BIG guys). I turned around to head back broken hearted when I noticed a small "Y" in the "secret driveway" I was on. I decided that one last ditch effort wouldnt hurt, so I followed it a little ways, and there she was. I knew it was her as soon as I saw it, but I checked the license plates to be sure. It was definatly her. It still had my "Mazda RX-7, The Honda Killer" frame on it and everything. I hurried out of the woods and called the cops.

I sat across the street from the house in my Dads 85 GSL reading a newspaper trying not to pound any lessons into skulls with rocks while I waited for the police. Needless to say, another RX-7 hanging around out front of a house that had just stolen one attracted some attention. The people came out from the back yard and sat at the edge of the street watching me trying to figure out what I was doing. They sat there smoking their pot, drinking their beers and swearing at me trying to get me to come onto their property. I just sat and kept reading the paper. Boy, you shouldve seen the look on their faces when the cruise rolled up :D.

So, the cops show up, and go up to the people standing around to ask them some questions after I explained what I did. They asked if they could look around, and stupidly, they said sure. Probably thinking they wouldnt find anything, but I had told them EXACTLY where the car was.

So, trying to make a REALLY long story short, the cops pulled it outta the woods (badass 4x4 Expedition), and then called a tow truck. So, she got a nice ride home, and Im about to go start the re-re-construction, lol.

Unfortunatly, theres A LOT missing and broken, but its still MY car, its back, and the guys are gonna get FUCKED for it. Theres apparently a multi family thing going on in there, but one of the Dads is already in jail for theft, and there was a whole lotta probation violations, as well as my car being stolen the place was covered with stolen parts. I guess the cops know the people and have dealings with them regularly, but they steal shit, then trade it for drugs. Crack, meth, pot, whatever. So, my parts have been distributed well by now, although, I have plenty of evidence to lay a BIG ASS case on them. Unfortunatly, I dont know where its gonna end up, but Im just happy I have her back.

I plan on just getting another daily driver as before (since the engine was dead anyway), while nursing her back to health again. Eventually, shes gonna have a 13BT in her. She deserves it after all that. Im just gonna give her a nice rest until I finish her.

Anyway, I think thats about all for now. Let me know if I left anything out... Im gonna upload pictures and shit, so Ill add to this after I do that.

~T.J.

1337

awesome investigating skillz! that was a great story too. my favorite part was when you were sitting in front of their house and they were watching you and then the cops pulled up..that was great :). what did they take/what was damaged? im looking forward to pics. after all that, she deserves a 20B :)

:D excellent!!!. GOD DAMN REDNECKS!, probally dont even know what a rotary engine is!.

Man, I'm so glad you found it. Get your baby back up. Hell is there any way you can get some money out of these assholes to help fund the reconstruction?

WOW! That's great, TJ! Good story, too. Sounds like you did some good sleuthing, there. I found my own car, too, after it was stolen. You pretty much HAVE to if you want to have any chance of finding it. Good work, man!:bigthumb:

Well, here are some pictures. Be warned theyre not pretty...

This is a picture right after the Cops showed up. There were actually two cruisers, but one was behind me.

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...3_123_full.jpg

Heres a picture showing the kids being questioned.

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...3_125_full.jpg

Right after being pulled outta the woods.

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...3_126_full.jpg

The back of the car.

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...3_127_full.jpg

A little bit of the Interior.

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...3_128_full.jpg

More of the interior.

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...3_129_full.jpg

From the hatch (whats left of it anyway).

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...3_130_full.jpg

The engine bay

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...3_131_full.jpg

More of the engine bay.

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...3_132_full.jpg

Being taken home (thats the house it was at in the background).

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...3_133_full.jpg

And last but not least, safe at home all sealed up.

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...3_134_full.jpg

hell yea tj. thats sooo badass. i would sue the fuck out of them. how much of the car was left? im curious to see what they took.


man... hell yea :D

from this...
http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...3_112_full.jpg


to this...

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...3_131_full.jpg

that makes me want to cry.. i would beat the fuck out of them...

SUE, SUE, SUE! Or something... At least get enuf molah outa those f*ckers to drop a 13bt in and fix it up!

It's great to know that you have your beloved 7 back now :)

FS

Congrats TJ ... I'm happy to see Lucky in "life" again! You've done a good job to find her. ! Thumbs UP!

T.J.- that is ONE fucked up ordeal. At least you had the fortitude to see it to the end. I take from the pic's you would be hard pressed to squeeze a nickel from the bastards' couch to help pay for re-construction. I hope the law in your area is fairly decent and will prosecute with any and all charges available. Unfortunately there is scum like that everywhere. It takes a lot of all balls to do what you did and you definately get the brass plated nuts award for the month!!!

Great story TJ and I'm glad you got your car back! Gotta hand it to you... that was some good detective work and it took some balls (or shear stupidity ;)) to go searching someones property for it like that. Though I don't think I would have shown as much restraint as you did while waiting for the cops to turn up. :)

Wow. That's awsome dude. I figured you wouldn't be one to give up easily, looks like it paid off. I would think you should be able to get some kind of compensation for the stuff they stole too.

EDIT:

In short, fuckin aye!!!

You should become a detective! Looks like you have excellent "honing in on the badguy" skills. Ability to follow leads effectively is hard to be good at. But it looks like you have the tools and the special drive it takes to do.

Can I paintball the shit outta their house? :D

I have pretty piiiiinnnkkkkk

looks like pepto-bismol :D

goddamn, man that really sucks to see your car like that. And like everyone else here I agree that you should "sue the goddamn fucking shit out of those assclowns untill they go home to their sad pethetic existance of a life crying like the pussys that they are"

I dont think I can ad much to that.

yeah, i say sue. then when its all said and done------BON-FIRE!
but i'm a dick.



late

Hellz yeah! Good stuff TJ. Looks like it's time for a new beginning with that 7.

Thats great man! good luck recovering your stuff and fixing her!

As much as I would like to see those rednecks burn in hell, I'm not sure suing them will do any good. Look at their house. My friends boat trailer is less trailer than that thing! You couldn't trade in that house for a pack of cigarettes it's so worthless. I'd value a port a potty higher in the real estate market. If they had any money at all they wouldn't have to steal shit from others to pay for their addictions. Also if they have known problems with the law and are still free then they must not have much to lose since they keep doing it. The good news is that they are probably too poor to sue you should something unfortunate happen to them. Its great to see that you got your car back and it sucks that they took all the good shit but at least you found who it is. Be careful and watch your back. They know who you are now too!

their house is worth at least as much as his car parts :eek: I'd sue their asses off, then the bank'll sell their house.

true...i say sue....wat the heck mite as well try rite.....and i say watch out for these mofo's cuz they gonna come at u once theyr'e out...i say u get together with a couple buddy's and go beat the crap outta them as soon as theyr'e out.....or wait till they out of their house one day and steal all their shit....i know it's stooping down to their level but hey u can bring ur baby back to it's old condition....so all this time T.J was all quiet and shit he was doin all this....the guy had sad faces every where he posted....lol and he was upto all this shit...good job Teej i'll call u if my rex gets stollen....and ur 83 gsl is still my 83 gsl's role model :D

peace bro

Yeah, well my Mom said we can possibly sue them, so what I plan on doing is going to the Mazda dealer and getting a quote for the broken and/or otherwise missing parts, then taking my collection of reciepts to the judge and saying "I want this back". And of course, as we all know, the dealership over charges for everything, so IF I ever even get a dime from them, I can get most of my parts used, then fund a new project too :D.

But, if that doesnt work out, at least I have my car back and will have the joy of restoring it again. Im not even being sarcastic either. The time Ill have rebuilding her again will really make me feel good and at peace with my car again, lol. Maybe it will make up for leaving her all alone that night :).

~T.J.