Stolen 1993 Civic hatch with aeromods... Update: FOUND!

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Cd

I was thinking I was just going to go without a car and save the $600 a year I spend on insurance, but my sister convinced me that this would actually be worse for my agoraphobia anxiey, since now I would have a good excuse for never leaving my apartment.

Gotta have to agree with your sister on that. On a sidenote, for a while I had considered getting some small motorcycle or scooter, as it would be quite easy to park it inside my apartment.

[Xist]

I am sorry, this seems like the perfect storm of bad people and people doing their job badly.

The police never tried to find the people who stole and damaged the car?

Can you file a complaint against the police for not responding to your calls or informing you they found it?

Needing to pay almost $500 to get the car for which you submitted a report is unthinkable.

How did everything sort out?

[Cd]

Originally Posted by Xist

I am sorry, this seems like the perfect storm of bad people and people doing their job badly.

The police never tried to find the people who stole and damaged the car?

Can you file a complaint against the police for not responding to your calls or informing you they found it?

Needing to pay almost $500 to get the car for which you submitted a report is unthinkable.

How did everything sort out?

The police never made any effort to find the people.
They were kids, and left an Anime hat in the car.
Also, there were several spray cans, and a bucket in the car that would have been perfect for getting fingerprints.
I asked the officer if I should save the evidence for fingerprints, and was told that there was no need to, since once the car is moved ( the guys that towed the car ) the evidence is no longer good.

( Yes, he actually said that. )

I think he is just too busy to bother with something as trivial as these kids destroying an old junk car.

- I get that.

But they made no effort to help me get the impound fee back.
That is what makes all of this like getting robbed twice.

As far as filing a report, the police followed standard procedure.

They have a contract with the tow company.
I was told that it is not unusual for them to haul off a car if someone in a neighborhood calls it in, and do so without informing the police.
Apparently, the tow company does not have to notify you immediately, but with 24 hours.
They send out a paper letter.
( How many of you check your ( paper ) mail daily ? )

I only found out the car was there by calling 311 myself.
I contacted them that day, but the car had been there a day already - and acruded a charge.
I'm wondering if that paper letter would have even been sent had I not gone there myself.

I asked why they did not call the police if they could clearly see that the car was hotwired and stolen.
I again got a reply to the effect that they weren't required to unless there was blood in the car.

The last word I had with the officer, he agreed to ask the tow company if I could be reimbursed for the impound fee.
He never called back.

At this point, I have just given up.

[MetroMPG]

Bummer.


What about the car itself? Are you driving it again?

[Xist]

We check our mail every day, but the mail gets his problems. Even if a notice went out the next time that mail was picked up, how long would that take to reach you?

Meanwhile, you are accruing fees.

There is absolutely zero reason for you to pay to get your car out of impound when you already filed a police report.

Honestly, I don't see the cop making the call he said he would. They hadn't put any effort into this.

The transmission went out on my first car and my friend let me park it in his spot, but it was towed. As soon as they picked up my car I owed them hundreds of dollars and I think the daily rate was $69.

I never received a letter, I just happened to visit my friend within a few days, and I was able to track down where it was. I called and they said I owed them $500.

"What if I get a ride and sign over the title?"
"We'll take off $100!"
"Die in a fire."

I looked into it and if I moved on with my life they would get my title after 90 days and I would pay the state $50, although the state later decided they weren't profiting enough, so the fine has been $500 for a while.

Were you able to get your car running again?

What do you still need?

Metro, can we crowd-fund this?

Put me down for $20.

[freebeard]

At this point, I have just given up.

Put me down for $20.

Lawyer up.

[Cd]

Guys !
Thank you, but no thank you.
You guys are good people.
In this day and age, it is considered the norm to put on a fake face of friendship, yet ignore the person when they are in need.
People will engage you in an hour long conversation, as if you are a friend, yet drive right past you if you are broke down.
And a true sign of friendship is when money or time is given for a person with no return expected.

I appreciate the offer, but can't take it.

Regarding the condition of the car, I was thinking of returning it back to the way it was.
Rebuild the Kammback / box cavity extension and all.
But then I started thinking I should just give up on the car and start over driving a normal car.
I have to admit that I use the art car excuse as a way to not be mocked for the aeromods.
I can say it looks this way to ATTRACT attention for my "business" ( which is simply a hobby really )
I find it interesting that not one person has called or emailed me since I added my contact information on the car.
Not even a search on social media to look at my art.
I guess the car wasn't good for advertising either.

I started sanding away the spay paint they put on the car, hoping I could salvage some of the art.
It's a total loss though.
I'll attach some images in the next post

I paint pet portraits, but also people as well.
The portrait of the girl is done in acrylics onto bare unprimed or prepared car paint, and I later added a layer or artist oil paints on top of that to experiment with how oil paints react to the outdoors.
( It held up extremely well.)

At this point in time, the car is sitting at my parents place.
I'm not sure if I want to bring it back to the way it was, or sell it for cheap.
I was seriously considering a used Volt, or Leaf, but just recently started changing my mind when I saw the 8-10 year lifespan and potential $10,000 cost of battery replacement. ( This topic will be a new thread )

Fortunately for me, the thieves wanted my car for themselves, instead of just wanting to destroy it.
Once hotwired, the car runs great, and I drove it over 100 miles to my parents home. ( A route I am comfortable with doing .)

BTW, even with the drastic change in aerodynamics - no kammback, no front airdam, busted spoiler jutting out in the breeze , etc, I could not tell much of a difference in the way the car felt.
To me, this showed just how hard it is to judge aeromods simply based on how the car "feels" ( Another thread topic later perhaps )

Thanks again everyone, but I can't accept the offer.

[Cd]

Here are some images of the art on the car before it was destroyed.
I tried to do variations in the art at times, such as Mother's Day, Farter's Day, holidays and such.
When Covid hit, I added a mask to the girl's face.

[freebeard]

That's actually pretty good.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itasha#Etymology

In the 1980s, when Japan was at the zenith of its economic might, Tokyo's streets were a parade of luxury import cars. Among them, the "itasha"—originally Japanese slang meaning an imported Italian car—was the most desired. Since then, itasha (as the decorated vehicle) was derived from combining the Japanese words for itai (痛い, painful) and sha (車, vehicle). Itai here means "pain(ful)", which can be interpreted as "painfully embarrassing", "painful for the wallet" due to the high costs involved, or "painful to look at" (an eyesore). The name is also a pun for Italian cars (イタリア車, Itaria-sha), truncated in Japanese slang as Itasha (イタ車).

https://i1.wp.com/japandaman.com/wp-...00%2C450&ssl=1

Originally Posted by myself

It's looking like a blank canvas from here.

[JSH]

Very nice artwork.