1958 Impala

[Stephen Dietrich]

Last Thursday I received a call from the upholstery shop where I was having a complete new interior placed in my '58 Impala, that someone had stolen the car. I have very little hopes of getting it back. The '58 Impala was a single year model as it was introduced in "58 and then changed dramatically in '59. This model was the model car I grew up in from '58-'68. Here is the listing on the WESTERN STATES AUTO THEFT INVESTIGATORS ASSOCIATION SOUTHERN CHAPTER STOLEN CLASSIC CARS site    http://www.wsati.org/stolenclassics1.html#hsa209

[John Ellis]

Sorry to hear of your loss!  Beautiful car.

[Stephen Dietrich]

Thanks John, I had put a lot of work into it. The car was all original and I wanted to put in a new interior. With the exception of its 58 year old paint job, it was in great shape, 80,000 original miles.

[CraigS]

So sorry to hear about this. One of my favorite cars the '58 Impala 2 door. Unfortunately, cars of that era are easy to steal, but not as easy to sell off, so there is hope. I have a '60 Buick Electra 225 4 door hardtop and a '72 Ranchero and if they came up for sale in this market, they would be easily spotted.

[Stephen Dietrich]

Fortunately, the car was recovered last night thanks to the LoJack unit. Minimal damage, trunk and ignition locks and they took the battery and tie down. The most expensive loss was that of year of manufacture license plates, roughly $400-$500 with the frame and license plate holders. Stephen

[CraigS]

Great news ! I hope they caught the people involved as well. The plates are a small loss in the overall value, but frustrating nonetheless.

[John Ellis]

Fantastic news!  LoJack worth the expense!

[Stephen Dietrich]

LoJack for classics $400, I believe is much less than a regular LoJack. I did learn a couple of things. Do not have your automobile under insured and pay to have a professional appraiser appraise your classic to determine value. The range on my Impala was from $20k to $45k, a huge difference. Although, I am going to look into global positioning  system-based anti-theft as it has a wider range.