At the beginning of the month we told you about the situation that befell Jake Jarvis: while he was in town for Street Car Takeover in Charlotte, North Carolina, his 1999 Pontiac Firebird, Ford Super Duty and enclosed trailer all vanished without a trace. The Ford and the trailer wound up being recovered, but we only just today have learned the fate of the Pontiac. It was found yesterday in a wooded area of Ellorie, South Carolina, stripped of it’s drivetrain, cut apart, and with acid poured all over it. It’s a sad end to an ordeal that we’ve seen happen too many times. In 2015 Jason Tabscott’s 1975 Camaro, GMC tow rig and trailer were all stolen out of a restaurant parking lot near St. Louis right after Drag Week. The truck was recovered, the Camaro was gone without a trace.

I can’t imagine what it must be like seeing everything that you worked your ass off to build suddenly gone, without a trace. Back in 1994, I remember reading the editorial in Car Craft that announced the theft of Project Heavy Metal, a top-tier build 1965 Chevrolet Impala that got stolen out of one of the magazine’s lockups. The amount of furor that bled out of the words on the page couldn’t be ignored. I could feel the anger in the barely censored take on the violation that everyone who ever had anything to do with the Impala were feeling at that time. One of the most visible cars out there, with it’s Steve Sanford paint job and magazine print time…gone. Traces of the car didn’t even start to pop up until 2003, and more than likely those recovered fenders are the last thing anyone will ever see of the Impala.

From the biggest builds to the junk in my front yard, we all can appreciate the time, sweat, blood and money that is poured into a personal build. Nothing I own will ever make a magazine cover, and the only reason it makes any digital ink is because I’m the guy writing the story. But if that Imperial or that 300C were to go poof in the middle of the night and disappear, I’d be out for blood. It’s not that the car is stolen…both cars are insured and can be replaced. It’s the memories, the nights spent turning wrenches, the rubber I’ve burned off of the tires, the long trips to nowhere taken. That shit is all gone, thanks to some greedy asshole who needed to roll off with what was truly mine. That’s the part of a stolen car that sucks the most.

Take your precautions, keep your insurance up to date, keep photos and information at the ready at home, and if you catch the thief in the act…no mercy, no quarter. Cover your back end properly, readers. We hate seeing another gutted shell as the end to a horrible story.