Being a teenager can be the most exciting years of your life. Once you reach those mid-teen years, you no longer have to rely on your parents to take you places. In other words, being a mid-teen meant cars and freedom.
According to the video above, Lynda Alsip saved up to buy her first car when she was just 17, and she wanted something that wouldn’t just blend in at her high school parking lot in the ’80s, but something cool and unique. She found a 1967 Ford Mustang for $800, a car she purchased with her very own hard-earned cash. As we all know, $800 is a big chunk of change for any teenager. After taking a trip with some friends a year later in 1986, Lynda returned to find that her dream had turned into a nightmare. Someone had stolen the classic Mustang right from her driveway, and it was nowhere to be found.
Fast forward 28 years, and Lynda was in for a special surprise, and just in time for Christmas. As it turns out, her stolen Mustang was right around the corner, about a half hour drive from Lynda’s Central California residence.
“It’s like winning the lottery,” Alsip told KSBW-TV. “It’s absolutely amazing. After 28 years, I never thought this would come back into my life.”
A man was trying to register the vehicle and a problem occurred when reading the VIN number, according to the California Highway Patrol. The current owner had purchased the car back in 1991 as a project, but had kept it garaged all these years.
The CHP returned the keys to Lynda and she even brought along the vanity license plate she had ordered but was never able to put on — LYNDA67. As it was a project car by the current owner the car has seen better days and is not currently running, but Lynda has hopes that it can be fixed with just a little elbow grease in the garage. The situation was bittersweet for Lynda considering she worked on it with her father, and he is now gone.
You can watch the video to the story here.