Classic thieves left unchallenged
Starting HANDLE
Cards on table, I’m not a fan of classic banger racing and I would never do it. But I believe in 'live and let live' and I would defend the community’s right to race freely. There is an argument that it is better for a basket case classic, stripped of useful and reusable parts, to go out on an oval rather than dissolving in a back garden.
But this issue we carry two really worrying stories that lead me to ask the banger racing community to, please, get its house in order. The Ford Country Squire, stolen to be raced, put the whole banger racing world in a dark place. With an owner beside himself with grief and frustrated at the police’s inability to protect his pride and joy, or prosecute those responsible, there’s now an apparent green light for this sort of thing to happen again.
Got to say, it is beyond theft for me. When someone pours their heart and soul into a project or simply loves their car, to take it is bad enough, but to then destroy it for fun in public is pretty inhumane. If you do it, you deserve to go to prison, simple. The banger racing authorities repeatedly condemn these actions and that’s heartening, but thefts still happen. Some racers still nick other people’s classics and destroy them, for fun, in public – it has got to change.
There’s also still an apparent joy to be had in racing and destroying rare or irreplaceable cars. This just makes me sad. Surely racing is about the thrill of the event itself and classic racing is about the nostalgia of reliving those thrills. Why do it in something that might be a car that will be valued by future generations? Value though… there’s the thing. If we don’t want these cars to go to the track, when we see them for sale, we need to bid, and then we need to use and restore them.
There is still no comfort for owners, after a stolen 1985 Ford Crown Victoria Country Squire and a 1965 Pontiac Grand Prix were very publicly destroyed at a race meeting at Ringwood in Hampshire. Police investigations have proved inconclusive leaving classic enthusiasts nervous and classic car thieves unpunished. Mark Wright, from Andover owner of the Country Squire was stolen from outside his house in mid-June was left feeling ‘disgusted’. He said: ‘My case has been bounced around three counties and the police have filed it. This is a complete travesty – awaste of time because there is nothing to show for it.’ Hampshire police released the following statement. ‘Our officers have carried out a full and thorough review of all available lines of enquiry in relation to the theft of the vehicle. Unfortunately these have not been able to provide the evidence required to identify those responsible for the theft. The incident has been filed pending any further l
