This actually happened a couple days ago now, but we weren't sure if t was stolen or towed for some reason. The police calle dthis morning, they are 100% sure it wasn't towed now
In 1984, as a birthday present to my mom, Dad bought a 1982 VW Jetta with the 1.7l gas engine. It was zippy and handled like a champ.
A few years later, mom, not being good at upkeep on the mechanical side of the car, managed to make it stop running. It sat for about a year in the driveway until Dad broke down and bought a battery.
A few years later again, it was t-boned my a Mustang. The stang hit squarelt on the back wheel, and did alot of damage to the unibody. It was written off. Mom was quite attached to the car however and decided to keep it. She had it repaired at great expense, but the result was perfect.
Flash forward a couple years. While driving my brother to his friend's cabin, mom drives over a line of gravel scraped by a grader. She picks a spot with a foot tall rock in it and tears out the entire underside of the car, pushes the spare tire pot up, pushed the engine up into the hood and tore out the exhaust. The car is written off, and she fixes it anyways... again
Flash forward about 5 years. The Jetta is stolen out of the driveway. It's gone for 6 months before being found on an indian reservation outside Edmonton, Alberta. It's been stabbed, the interior is gutted, and the once new tires are worn to the cords. A guy tried to register it despite the fact that it was obviously stolen. He put $2400 or so into the car, he got reinbursed $0. Idiot.
Another few years go by and I attain the ability to drive. The car is awkward to put into reverse, so on my first trip out, I drove it through the hedge in front of the cabin
A few years later I have aquired the Jetta from mom. I do alot of work on it including suspension, a fiberglass bodykit, and 14" GTi wheels. It looks awesome and drives like a go kart. I replaced the original guage cluster which stopped working when the car hit 278,000 kilometers. I would guess at that point it was closer to 380,000 I would still be driving it today but...
1999, while driving around in Calgary, I got rear ended by a suburban at about 80kph. The suburban impacts my trailer hitch with his lower bumper and shoots my car across the intersection into a subaru. I took his frnt end with me when the hitch caught his bumper. I won! the entire ass end of the car was destroyed... but I fixed it.
While it was being repaired,wich was a 2 year project, I bought mean green, my 96 Contour with a duratec and a 5 speed. I gave the car to my brother who used it to get around in university. He still drove it up until a few days ago.
If I do see it again, it will likely be a lost cause so I'll just assume it's gone. Last time I drove it, the "new" cluster registered over 300,000 kilometers again. It was the original engine, original transmission, 2nd clutch (replaced for the first time in 2001) and only the 3rd set of brakes (Although they were pretty worn) The car never needed a rebuild, never smoked, never sputtered, and even in -40C weather it started right up.
I'll miss that car, it was probably the car I'll remember more than any other car I'll own.
1982 Jetta, RIP
Thieves suck
This is the only picture I have of the car... I never had a reason to take one before I had an internet connection...
My mom says I shouldn't talk to conservatives.