They went to considerable lengths to take a specific vehicle - certainly not the easiest one to remove from the grid - so there must be some emotional attachment going on here and not just random vandalism. This does not bode well for a "safe return". I learned to drive on a '63 bug.... great car.

@1 - To avoid the wrath of the grammar Nazis out there, I will change my preposition to "learned to drive in a '63 bug" since I certainly was not on the roof at the time (although I used to hold the back bumper wearing slick shoes while my older brother drove around on snow packed streets for some street skiing - very fun and very dangerous!)

Since they stopped making VW beetles in Mexico a few years ago, the increasing scarcity of good-condition spare parts, even body parts, could have made this a potential target.

Not saying that's what happened, but it's a possibility.

@1 You know, that sounded fine to me, I think because we used to say that as an abbreviation of "learned to drive *on* a stick shift"....and are those of us who learned on a stick shift dating ourselves?

I know who took it: File:FremontTroll.jpg">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fremon…

@3 - they are scale replicas about one metre (three feet) long, so that's not it. It was either sold for scrap or somebody just wanted it.

"pointed out the irony in thieves steeling a car without an engine"

Steeling? Is that a deliberate metal-related pun?

Not happen in Canada? I have been robbed more times in my infrequent visits to greater Vancouver than I have been living everywhere else in my life combined. ATM numbers skimmed, car broken into, skin stonlen, etc.
You might be more likely to be shot in killed in the USA, but petty theft rules in Canada

Hey, This press release makes it sound like stealing art is bad.