Richard, the Virginia Beach neighbor who bought 'Beirut Taxi', my rusty but nice-running '81 240D, called my up his morning with a sad tale. Seems a carpenter hired to help enlarge the loft above his garage turned out to have a phony name and a felony rap-sheet. After several days work, said carpenter (hereafter known as Dirtbag!) became familiar with where Rischard kept the car-keys.
Ignoring the keys to Richard's nice 2.6 190E, and the wife's late-model Volvo SUV, Dirtbag decided to help himself to Beirut Taxi. After an unsuccessful attempt to fence the old car, Dirtbag then drove to a deserted street near the Virgina Beach Pick-N-Pull and torched it. Unfortunately for Dirtbag, he was unaware that security cameras at the nearby industial-park, caught his bonfire on videotape!
About a week after the car dissappeared, the arson investigator for the local fire department showed up to inform Richard the his car had been found and would he like to accompany them downtown for questioning! Richard informed them that he'd reported the theft to the police the previous week, and that the car only had liability insurance coverage, which probably took some of the wind out of the arson investigator's sails.
Dirtbag was arrested, and with his prior record, they say he's facing a minimum 5-years for arson, plus grand-theft charges.
Unfortuately, Richard is still out his nice-running 240D, plus what he spent for the new brake master-cylinder, timing-chain, shocks, tires and stereo.
Despite it's cosmetic flaws, Richard and his wife really came to like that car. Just a week before it was stolen, they drove it down to Beaufort SC for a weekend holiday.
To top it off, Dirtbags attorney called Richard to claim his client was owed $2500 for the work on the garage! Richard replied the amount was actually closer to $150 and Dirtbag was caught red-handed on tape.
The attorney's response "Well, he hasn't been convicted"
Richard's final word "Go ahead and sue!"

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW