Stolen car recovered after 42 years

• Tweet

DALLAS, July 11 (UPI) -- A Texas man said an exotic car stolen from him nearly 42 years ago in Philadelphia turned up at a Los Angeles auto dealership.

Bob Russell said his 1967 Austin-Healey was stolen from a Philadelphia apartment complex in 1970, when he was a graduate student at Temple University, and he searched for the cream-colored car for four decades until he found it listed this year on eBay, the Dallas Morning News reported Wednesday.

Russell, who still has the original keys and title to the car, said he contacted the dealership selling the vehicle and they offered to sell it back to him for $24,000, which he found unacceptable. However, he said Los Angeles police were unable to help him because there was no record of the theft in the national database.

Russell said he contacted Philadelphia police and they were able to determine the car had been listed under the wrong VIN number in the FBI database, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. They were able to fix the error without having to file a new stolen vehicle report.

The car owner said Los Angeles authorities were then able to impound the car and he was able to travel to California and retrieve it for a $600 impound fee in June.