I took my dad’s beloved car in for repairs and it went missing for two years – I just wanted it ‘shined up’ in his honor

A WOMAN who inherited a vintage car after her father passed feels like a shop has robbed of the heirloom.

Not only did Kathy Lofton not get the 1993 four-door 190 E Mercedes back from the mechanic after two years, but she was no longer sure of where it was.

WREG

WREG

WREG

“I promised him I would try to hold on to the car because I knew what it meant to him,” Lofton told CBS affiliate WREG .

“I decided that I wanted to get it shined up, maintenance and everything. I wanted to get the ignition fixed because I knew it had been problematic for years and only my dad knew the trick to get it to turn over.”

There was a specific shop in town that was recommended to her as a repairman who specialized in vintage cars .

She said that she simply called the business “and I talked to the gentleman about the problems with the ignition,” – after getting a deposit from Lofton upfront, he accepted the job.

This exchange happened back in July of 2021.

“I gave him a deposit of $1,500 for the labor, the parts, and the assessment and inspection,” Lofton explained.

She was anxious to get the vehicle back fixed so she kept in touch with the mechanic shop but months started to go by before the techs started giving her excuses.

“And so I called, I texted. I would occasionally drive by,” Lofton stressed.

“‘What are you doing? What’s the progress?’ And he told me, you know, ‘We only have a few people on staff. The parts are slow due to the pandemic, and waiting on parts to come in.'”

Eventually, the mechanic stopped taking her calls altogether, she explained.

That’s when she decided to take a drive by the business.

“When I went, it was empty,” Lofton stressed.

“It may have been a few old remnants from cars, like maybe a bumper, a hood.”

At that point, she felt as if she was “being duped.”

Lofton called multiple attorneys and even contacted the Department of Commerce.

She was told that there was nothing they could do, and to call the police because it sounded like theft but, when she called the police, they told her that her situation wouldn’t be considered theft.

Someone did come out, but they said it was not theft. And the reason they said that is because you gave him the car. So it was not theft.

Kathy Lofton WREG

“And the reason they said that is because you gave him the car,” Lofton said.

“So it was not theft.”

‘TAKEN ABACK’

When she requested help from WREG, the team’s investigators got in contact with the owner of the vintage auto repair shop.

After getting him on the phone, the news team asked him about Lofton’s car.

He simply said that he had spoken with her about the car on the first of the year before hanging up.

The investigators even went to his home in East Memphis, where his wife was at the time.

The wife of the business owner didn’t want to say much but did share that the auto repair shop had closed down and that she thought Lofton had her car.

Not long after leaving, someone claiming to be the business owner’s attorney contacted WREG.

He said that Lofton’s car had been towed to D’s Wrecker Service and had been there for months because he said she would not come get it from wherever it had been before.

“I am taken aback that someone who alleged he was a reputable businessman would play these kinds of games,” Kathy at D’s Salvage said.

“And go through all this trouble when he could have just returned the car.”

Though the vehicle she inherited was at D’s Wrecker, WREG’s drone showed that it had been taken over by tall weeds.

Additionally, Lofton was told she had to pay daily storage fees before getting the automobile she hadn’t seen in years back.

“It is over $5,000 at this point,” she stressed.

“That’s probably more than the worth of the car and what it would cost for me to try and get it repaired from someone else reputable. I shouldn’t have to pay that. It is not my fault.”

Ultimately, Lofton was able to get the police to meet her at the lot that had the vehicle.

She said that, when the lot owner saw the cops, he quickly let her leave with the car without making her pay any fees.

WREG