Stolen Classic American Cars Turn Up as Junk Racers, Get Destroyed

A pair of classic American cars were stolen within just 20 miles of each other in the United Kingdom in late June only to seemingly reappear—gutted and repainted—at a junkyard racer circle track on Sunday. The cars were used in an oval competition and subsequently destroyed before internet sleuths put the pieces together, leading authorities to seize the remains, the race track's director said on Facebook.

The cars, a 1985 Ford LTD County Squire and a 1965 Pontiac Grand Prix, were reported stolen on June 14 and June 16, respectively, according to posts on Facebook discovered by the Manfacility Metal Works Twitter account on Sunday. The account also shared a picture of two extremely similar cars—albeit repainted blue and stripped down to their bear essentials—on flatbeds prior to entering a banger race (a popular junk-car oval-type event in Europe) at Ringwood Raceway on August 7. A bit too on the nose to be a coincidence.

Video from the event shows the cars getting crumpled to the point of no return:

Neither owner was immediately available for comment when reached by Road & Track.

Craig Robinson, Ringwood's track director, said both owners have been paid out by their respective insurance companies, according to a post on Facebook. The wrecked cars were reportedly seized by police on Monday. It's unclear if any charges have been filed at this time.

The track has since implemented a new policy requiring all competitors to provide proof of ownership before being able to race, presumably so something like this won't happen again. That being said, it doesn't really matter. The August 7 event in question was the facility's last-ever event, with plans to turn the grounds into a retirement village, according to Yahoo.

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