Hurricane Mopars, Stolen Split Windows, And A Morbid Ending To A Car Chase

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This week on the Motorious Podcast…

We’ve all seen the pictures of the Plymouth Superbird and Dodge Charger Daytona damaged by Hurricane Ian, and we find out the full story. A rare 1963 Chevy Split Window Corvette is stolen during a car show, and a GT500 thief is killed in a morbid way. Another disappointment from Dodge, and a 15-year-old crashes his family’s Challenger. Then, we share our inventory picks from the week.

Headlines:

Hurricane Ian Takes Out Two Mopar Wing Cars

A rare Plymouth Superbird and Dodge Charger Daytona were torn out of a garage in Bonita Springs, Florida as Hurricane Ian ravaged the area. Quickly, photos of the Mopar wing cars spread on social media as enthusiasts were outraged they were left to such a fate. In any natural disaster the primary concern is for human life. That said, we’re always saddened to see rare cars damaged, especially irreparably, by the elements.

Immediately, people wondered what kind of irresponsible monster wouldn’t have loaded the Superbird and Daytona Charger on a trailer and got out of dodge at the first sign of trouble. It’s a legitimate question, but a commenter on Facebook by the name of Neil Walton claimed to have the answer.

Supposedly, Walton is the nephew of the Mopar owner. He claims the man had four in his garage. Two were left on hoists with the hope they would stay out of the floodwaters while the other two which were at ground level were trailered away. A local story from Tampa Bay Times says the owner of the vehicles is Mike Walton, so the last names match up at least. The story also confirmed there were four classic Mopars in the garage, two on lifts, so it appears the Facebook comment was indeed legitimate.

In hindsight Walton’s plan was flawed, although we can hardly blame the man. Obviously, the water did reach the other two Mopar wing cars, blowing out the garage doors and pulling the precious rides outside, damaging them. But with little time to spare, Walton had to make a split-second decision, not knowing how bad things would get.

Read the full story here.

1963 Corvette Split Window Stolen During Michigan Car Show

Car thieves are becoming increasingly more brazen by the day. If you need proof of that, take a look at the Split Window 1963 Chevy Corvette that was lifted while a car show was taking place. According to sources, the Corvette was taken Saturday, October 1st during The Armor Great Pumpkin Classic Car Show held in Howell, Michigan.

Scout Sparks, the owner’s daughter, took to Facebook to spread the word about the theft of her dad’s gorgeous 1963 Chevy Corvette. The comments on the post reflect the feeling of disbelief that someone would be so bold to take the car during the show. It was parked in the spectator parking lot at the Livingston County Airport, and taken in a 30 minute time window of 12:30-1:00 pm…in broad daylight.

Sources point out that the car is painted a Sebring Silver and appears to have black interior. A partial view of the plate reads “New Jersey YX 102” with a number just out of view enough to not make out clearly. It’s not confirmed if this plate is current, as the photo shows the daughter a little younger than her current profile picture. Either way, most crooks know to pop the plate off first thing.

Read the full story here.

Shelby GT500 Thief Runs Out Of Gas, Dies

We’ve seen a lot of weird car theft stories, but this one out of San Mateo, California is one of the more bizarre. It started with a man being chased by police and ended with him running out of gas and dying. And it involves a Shelby GT500, because it just does.

Back on September 21 at about 4:15 in the morning, police were hot on the trail of one Eric Jaeger, a 31-year-old man whom police say had stolen a white Shelby GT500. Officers had their hands full trying to keep up with the pony car, so the suspect got so far ahead of them that they eventually completely lost sight of the white car.