Judy Smongesky has owned this car for almost four decades… but she just learned it’s stolen

Nearly 38 years ago, Judy Smongesky and her father purchased a harvest-gold 1965 Ford Mustang coupe for $1,114 dollars. It was her high school graduation present, and ever since she first went behind the wheel she has been in love. She drove the car for 20 years, adding thousands of miles to the 69,000 miles it had (it now has 266,000). She eventually rebuilt the engine and repainted the car twice, and had spent $4,000 in restoring the car. However, through a bit of research found out the car was stolen nearly 40 years ago.

Judy Smongesky would have never found out the car was stolen if a neighbor had not noticed that the car had different vehicle identification numbers on the door and under the hood. This was during the 1990s, and at that time Judy called the police. They checked out the Mustang and told her not to worry about anything. But when Judy spent $4,000 dollars restoring the car, she realized that she didn’t want to spend anymore if she didn’t solve the mystery of the different numbers.

Judy said that she had a “very bad feeling.” Doing a little research on her own, Judy found out that the door belonged to a 1964 model, a year before the car she bought was made. She called police again, this time giving them the VIN number under the hood. When they checked the number in the system, they found out that the car had been stolen 40 years ago.

Police notified Eugene Brakke that his long lost Ford Mustang had been found. According to Smongesky, Brakke was not happy or excited, but a little dismayed that the car had been painted. Brakke has expressed interest in seeing the car, but has not yet decided whether or not he would want it back. It’s in his legal right to simply get into the car and drive off if he wanted. Hopefully Judy’s efforts to find the true story behind the VIN numbers does not result in her losing a car she loves!

The car isn’t in the best of shape. The engine has been rebuilt, but the interior is in bad shape and the paint could be redone. She has already spent $4,000 restoring the vehicle, but before she spends anymore she’ll probably want to wait and see what Brakke will do. Judy loves her car and wants to keep it, and plans to try to work out an agreement with Brakke.

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