We really, really hate car thieves. This are few crimes lower than stealing a person’s personal mode of transportation (and that even applies to Prius and scooter drivers). It’s even worse when the stolen car was a labor of love and restoration. Classic cars are prime targets for theft because their age and desirability makes tracking them down hard, but selling them easy.

As Hemmings tells it, last year Mike Gomez’s Mustang was stolen right out of his garage and crashed before his eyes. But the car has gotten a second life thanks to Drew’s Garage, which has straightened out the frame, and gotten the car primered and prepared for paint, just in time for Christmas.

Mike Gomez's 1969 Mustang, post-crash

Mike had gotten the car as a rust bucket, and spent three years stripping the car down to bare bones and restoring it from the ground-up. He hadn’t even registered the car when a thief entered his garage and started the car. Mike ran downstairs and tried to stop the theft, breaking his foot in the process. The thief got away, did a burnout, and ended up crashing the car into a nearby neighbor’s house. The frame was tweaked and the Mustang was in pretty rough shape.

Drew Tennant, of Drew’s Garage, saw Mike’s story on the local TV news. He offered to fix the Mustang for Mike, and to date he has straightened the frame back to factory specs and gotten the car primered. It should be ready to hit the road by spring of 2011. While this story had an awful beginning, the worst in people can sometimes bring out the best in people. A heartwarming story with a happy ending, just in time for the Holidays.