Ed, one of our Souther California Chapter members is also a member of the Pickup Limited club - they have several 56 Fords they display. I have attended their events.

Anyway, he sent me the following email:
How would you feel?

One of the last “good guys” in the hot rod / racer circuit here in the Los Angeles/Orange County area is Don Hampton. Don made a name for himself in the area as one of the priemer motor builders and then went on to develop some of the finest superchargers anywhere. I have known of Don for years but met him and his wife Kathy for the first time today only to hear some terrible news. Don recently came upon some real bad luck when his pride and joy ’33 Ford Paeton (see attached flyer) was stolen from his shop in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com[img] /><st1:City w:st=[/img]Downey</st1:City>…trailer, tools and all. How you would feel if this happened to you? Well I think Don feels even worse than that. Don has even consulted a Physic as a last ditch attempt to find his baby…he told me “I didn’t have anything to loose by trying did I?” The Physic (who seemed to be spot on with much of the information about the car and trailer) had the car and black trailer traveling someplace down the I-10 corridor towards the <st1:City w:st="on"><ST1Palm Springs</st1:City> / Yukipa areas which we all know around here as the home of the shallow grave.

Most of us here at the Downey P.D. feel that if this car is still in the country, that it is probably still inside the black trailer that you can get a peek of in the last photo below. The one distinctive mark on this trailer is behind the left rear tire, there is some minor cdamage underneath where a tire blew going down the highway. Often a stolen item like this was on someone’s shopping list so a real professional was probably involved. If you see or hear anything that may be even the slightest clue, play it safe and DO NOT CONFRONT THE PERSON, but get the information and contact your local police department, the California Highway Patrol, or the Downey Police Department at (562) 861-0771 and ask to speak to someone about a stolen vehicle.

Wherever you live, please pass this information on and let’s try to help Don. For further information or updates you can check the Hampton Blowers websites at

www.hamptonblowers.com or www.hamptonblowers.com/stolen.html<O></O>

Thanks for your consideration,
Chris Travers, Pickups Limited of <ST1<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Orange</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></ST1<O</O

ctravers@pickupslimited.com, www.pickupslimited.com, www.f100westernnationals.com


Please be on the lookout for this rig - you know it is more like having a child kidnapped than a normal stolen vehicle.

 

Wow Clint,

That sucks. I doubt it is heading north, but I am on I 80 everyday and will keep an out.
Karl

 

That would definitely suck. You know the person who took it can't just drive it down the street without being seen, so it is most likely locked up tight somewhere. Maybe somebody will get lucky and find it. A good end to the story would be real nice.

 

It's either on a boat heading somewhere or in parts by now....damn shame.

I hate ****** who steal anything.