HELP! Stolen Hurst/Olds Amarillo Texas

EDIT: Still missing Thursday morning 18 August despite previous reports

Sorry to say this happened in my part of the world. The guy was staying in a motel on I-40, so the thing could be anywhere from Chicago to LA by now.

http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2011-08-17/mo-retiree-wants-his-last-hoorah-back#.Tku2BV0Zl94



When James Shapiro drove into Amarillo Friday evening, he was disappointed to find the car show he had heard about was not in town. When he checked out of his hotel Sunday, he was more disappointed to find his prized, ultra-rare classic convertible gone without a trace.
The 74-year-old retired federal police officer and body shop owner from Springfield, Mo., called hotel staff and then police to help him locate the 1969 white and gold Hurst/Olds convertible, which should be pretty hard to miss on the open road.

“It’s only one of 25 ever built,” Shapiro said. He said his is one of a few “clones” of the two convertible models Hurst/Olds manufacturers produced in 1969.

The missing convertible is white with gold racing stripes on its sides and down its center, has dual air intakes on its hood and a spoiler atop its trunk lid. The sides of the hood’s air intakes read “H/O 455.”
According to Amarillo Crime Stoppers, the car is worth about $75,000.
Shapiro said he left the car about 8 p.m. Saturday night at the Holiday Inn Express parking lot, 2806 Wolflin Ave., after locking the car doors. He said he did not leave his keys in the car and there was no security alarm device installed in the vehicle.

Shapiro said he hopes whoever has the car will either return it or leave it intact in a location where police can easily find it.

"I would like to have the car,” he said. “I’m 74 years old. That was my last hoorah. It was the thing that kept me out of depression, to go to car shows and meet people. It gives me something to do because I’ve had so much illness over the last few years.”

Shapiro said he has suffered four heart attacks, survived three open-heart surgeries and had 29 stents placed in his arteries over the last few years.

 

This blows...Hope they find it, and to the thief that took it; Go F*** yourself!

 

geez, that sucks.

does anyone put tracking devices in their expensive rods/customs/restored cars?

 

I thought I recognized that name. Never seen the car local that I can recall though.

 

I read that this morning on my daily run over the Globe News web site.My heart sank for the guy I hope it is recovered in tact.

 

Thieves should rot in hell!

 

What a shitty story, my day is ruined.

 

Ill keep my eyes open....im about an hour south of there. I hope they get his car back...theivin bastards!

 

is this the same car that was recovered in texas?
or did two cars get stolen .. sigh so many cars stolen this year doing with shows..
chris.

 

I think we have someone with a shopping list hitting all the shows. Until they get caught or shot its going to keep happening.

 

i will keep my eyes open in so cal

 

fuckers.

 

I just had a friend recover a stolen hotair balloon and trailer because he listed the items on Facebook. Somebody who is on Facebook saw the trailer and notified the police. Balloon was recovered and the thieves were taken to jail. There's a lot of eyes on Facebook. The more eyes the better.

 

This got me thinking. With the HAMB drags this weekend, is there anyone at the host hotel watching cars in the parking lot? I've heard alot of people are up till the wee hours on Friday night/Saturday morning. God help their soul if an POS was caught in the act, but it could happen.

 

What a low blow! I don't know the man or the car but I hope that it is recovered soon and in one piece. I like road trips with my cars but it is sure tempting to keep them safely locked in the garage. Springfield, MO OAAC swap starts Friday. It is huge and has a lot of stuff so anyone who is near Springfield ought to check it out.

 

keeping a eye out in wisconsin hope you find it dont loose hope

 

I seen on an old episode of two guys garage where he was building a cafe racer style bike and used an old cell phone and hard wired it into the battery of the bike and hid it somewhere on the bike. It was an active cell phone but you only paid so much a year to keep it active and you only paid for it when you used the phone to make calls. He said it would not give you an exact GPS coordinate but would narrow it down to like 3 city blocks. Just a thought for a cheapo lo-jack on your cars, if it cost you $20 a year and your car was stolen and you got it back it would be well worth the $20!!

 

Unconfirmed report it was found in a parking garage, still in Amarillo. Will post again if/when confirmed

 

Hoping for a positive outcome. Id like to see the guy get his car back.

 

Great news

 

Hope they catch the bastards.

I keep thinking back to: "29 stents placed in his arteries over the last few years"
WOW!!

 

if recovered they need to run prints, do a full workup on the car to try and isolate the petty little bastards who stole the car. We all need to take a more active role in protecting our rides---i bet the trunk has room to fit the POS thief.

 

That honestly sucks. Never thought it'd happen in such a mellow town as Amarillo. What car show was he trying to find?

And the fact that there wasn't a car show means that this theft was spontaneous.. Meaning maybe they saw the Olds drive in for the night and planned to get it. Or the theft just walked onto it.

Hope they found it!


iPhone - TJJ App

 

10:23 a.m. Thursday 18 August update: Comment was made on local news story that the car was found. I emailed the reporter, who graciously replied that he had checked with Amarillo PD, and no such luck. Car is still missing, please still BOLO for it.

Thanks

And I have no idea what car show he thought he was going to attend

 

Eyes open in N. Ga. for it

 

I'm curious about driving from MO to Amarillo for a car show that didn't exist? I'm from Amarillo and know that area well. It's hard to hide that type of car anywhere (much less driving down I-40). Amarillo is a just large small town and ths car can't be hidden for long if it's a local heist. I hope we hear good news soon.

 

X2. The theft had to be pretty spontaneous to steal a car like that in this town.


iPhone - TJJ App

 

OKC is on I-40, I'll keep an eye out this way for it.

Farkin' thievin' bastards!

 

This sort of thing is way out of control. We refuse to stay in a hotel any more at out of town events, and instead take an RV and keep the cars right next to us at the RV park. Hotel security and survailance is non existent, or a joke. How many cars get stolen from hotels and there is never any video or rent a cop around.

Absolutely sickening.

Don

 

Dont forget ... this was Amarillo... that thing could be painted 20 colors of candy flake in a day, rebadged, put on a set of 13" gold spoke daytons and be driving next you down I-40 in two days and you would probably never know it...