Picture: Stan Aiton
We all like to believe that, put into a certain unfortunate circumstance, we would rise to occasion and do the “right thing.” But actually doing the right thing? That can be much harder than just thinking we can do it.
But according to Hemmings Auto Blog, two Texas men came across a sketchy car sale, and then they uncovered the truth of the matter, that the car was stolen. Then they buckled down and did the right thing, tracking down the original owner to give him back his car.
We regularly post lookouts for stolen cars, but the reality is that few of these cars are ever recovered, and other times they can take years, or decades, to return to their rightful owners. In the case of Stan Aiton, he had been saving restoration parts for a 1962 Dodge Lancer wagon for over forty years. Stan took a job in Texas and put the Lancer, a Dodge Colt, and box upon box of restoration parts into a storage trailer…that was stolen not long after.
The trailer was recovered, but the cars and parts were missing. Stan went on message boards hoping someone had seen his car, but to no avail; all looked lost.
Meanwhile, Stephen Ramsey and Adrian Britton at Ramsey’s Rods and Restorations were approached about a ‘62 Lancer for sale. The couple, who needed money to bail out their nephew, wanted just $1,500 for the car. The Lancer was missing its VIN numbers, and there are lots of boxes of parts to go along with it.
After coming across some of Stan’s postings, calls were made and soon three different police agencies plus Stan descended on the restoration shop. The police were even kind enough to let Stan take “Lancersaurus” home with him that day. It’s a rare happy ending for a stolen car story, and we just had to share. Thieves beware, karma has a way of catching up to you.
