Gone in 60 Seconds This Ain't: Stolen Austin Healey Reunited With Owner After 42 Years

A stolen 1967 Austin Healey has been reunited with its rightful owner - after 42 years.

66 year-old Robert Russell, a retired sales manager from Texas, spotted the Healey - which he bought for $3000 from a mate in 1968 - on eBay in May. Russell called the dealer in Beverly Hills, but negotiations were fraught, with them eventually agreeing to sell him the car for $24,000 even though he still possessed all of the original documentation and keys.

Understandably, Russell wasn’t all too keen. After all, he’d already paid the equivalent of $20k (in today’s money) for the exact car in ’68...

He didn’t have a copy of the report he’d filed with the Philadelphia PD in ’70, nor was it showing up in the FBI’s national database because of a typing error. When the file was located and amended, the LAPD were eventually able to impound the car.

All in all, Russell’s out a little over $1500 in retrieval costs, compared to the $24k he’d have needed to buy it back. Oh, one final note; the car was stolen from his Philadelphia home the morning after his second date with his now wife. Get in there Bobby...

If that doesn’t brighten up your day Car Throttlers, then nothing will.

Image: some rights reserved mick/Lumix