<VV> This is not a joke

[Marc Marcoulides]

Took this off of a 55-7 Chevy list



-------------------------- 
From:"Chop-Shop Customs" <chopshopcustoms at comcast.net>
 
please pass this along to anyone you know- the more people
who know, the less 
chance theives have of taking this overseas....
    Reward posted for stolen hot rod
    By MICHAEL JIGGINS
    Staff Writer
    A U.S. custom car company hopes a $5,000 reward will
turn up the heat on the 
    "crooks" who stole a one-of-a-kind hot rod from a
Brockville parking lot.
    "Five grand will get a lot of jaws flapping, I think,"
Brian Ferguson of Rad 
    Rides By Troy told The Recorder and Times on Friday
afternoon.
    Ferguson said he hasn't had any leads since someone
drove off with his Ford 
    pickup truck and trailer, which contained the 1937 Ford
convertible, around 
    6 a.m. Thursday.
    The distinctive burnt-orange custom ride is worth
$450,000.
    The locked truck/trailer unit was parked in the A&P
parking lot, adjacent to 
    the Comfort Inn where Ferguson stayed Wednesday night.
    He said Brockville police told him they were
investigating two possible 
    sightings, "but I haven't heard anything back from
them."
    City police had no update Friday.
    Ferguson stopped in Brockville on his way to an
automobile show in Quebec 
    City this weekend where the custom-built Ford was to be
the featured 
    attraction.
    He'd left Manteno, Illinois, home base of the company,
Wednesday morning and 
    stopped in Brockville that night.
    Ferguson, who plans to fly back to Illinois today,
sounded depressed when he 
    spoke Friday.
    "I'm just frustrated. I've never been this frustrated,"
he said. "I hate 
    crooks to start with. We work hard every day to get
where we were, 10 hours 
    a day minimum, and then some asshole does this."
    He said there were 8,500 man-hours in rebuilding the
classic car, of which 
    every part was custom made.
    The car is owned by an Iowa entrepreneur, said
Ferguson.
    "The owner has never even driven it. ... This car has
been like a dream of 
    his," said Ferguson, who has broken the news to the
owner.
    "He wasn't really happy, as you can imagine."
    Ferguson is convinced whoever stole his truck and
trailer had no idea the 
    classic hot rod was inside.
    And because the car - dubbed Chocolate Thunder by auto
writers - is so 
    well-known in custom circles, he said it's unlikely
they'll be able to move 
    it.
    "The guys in the car world think that that thing is
going to be so red hot, 
    that (the thieves) are going to want to ditch it right
away," he explained.
    "They're not going to want to mess with that because
it's too hard to hide."
    Which leads to Ferguson's biggest fear.
    "My fear is they will burn it or they'll destroy the
car trying to steal 
    what things they could," he said.
    Ferguson said he's been in touch with Ontario custom
car companies and has 
    spent the past two days talking to people and searching
for the car himself.
    He even hired a plane to fly him along Highway 401.
    "It just drives you crazy because that's the only thing
you can think about. 
    You just keep thinking if I drive another mile, I'll
turn the corner and see 
    it," he noted.
    The truck is a white 1999 Ford F350 four-door crew cab
with dual rear 
    wheels. It has a 32-foot goose-neck enclosed car
trailer hooked to the back 
    of it. The trailer is white with blue logos on either
side which read, Rad 
    Rides by Troy.
    Both the truck and trailer have Illinois licence
plates, number 799 68D on 
    the truck and 722 5TE on the trailer.
    Rad Rides will pay the reward for information that
leads to the return of 
    the classic car and arrest and conviction of whoever
took it.
    While hopeful the cash will spark some leads, Ferguson
still pegs the 
    chances of getting the car back at only "50-50."
    Ferguson has travelled with the car to 14 major U.S.
cities, and to hundreds 
    of other shows in his seven years with Rad Rides and
"never even had so much 
    as a scratch on one."
    He admitted the experience hasn't left him with fond
memories of Canada.
    "Especially when you start talking to people around
here and they talk about 
    how bad the auto theft is," he said.
    Indeed, Ferguson's truck and trailer was one of two
stolen from north-end 
    hotels overnight Wednesday and among three taken in the
city this week, 
    according to Brockville police.
    Published in Section A, page 1 in the Saturday, April
8, 2006 edition of the 
    Brockville Recorder & Times. 
    Posted 10:00:08 AM Saturday, April 8, 2006.