Owner of Recovered Ford Model A Doesn’t Want Vehicle Back

Remember that Ford Model A stolen from a Willow Valley, Pa., resident this summer and recovered a few weeks ago?

The one where the insurance company had, shortly before its recovery, settled for $20,000?

The one where if one-time owner Ralph Wright wanted the car back he’d have to bid on it at auction?

Well, he no longer wants it.

The insurance company offered Monday to return it after learning he had wanted it.

But Wright and his son turned down the offer. His son had gotten the car for him about 13 years ago for a Father’s Day gift.

“It just was more of a hassle than I needed at 84 years of age,” Wright said Tuesday.

He’d have to get a new title because the car now has a salvage title.

And he’s got nowhere to keep it – he wouldn’t use where it was stolen from again, he said. It’s also got some damage, and well, he had even thought about selling it over the past couple years.

“Before too long, I’m going to have to give up my driver’s license,” Wright said.

He said he appreciated the insurance company representatives reaching out to him and said they’ve been cooperative throughout, but it’s time to move on.

A spokesman for Assurant Specialty Property said “standard practice is that once a claim is paid, what if anything that is left of the property reverts to the insurer. This was an unusual claim as the car was recovered after the claim was paid in full.”

The company was pleased the matter worked out, spokesman Robert Byrd said.

Southern Regional police Officer Dianne Carter said the case is being wrapped up and charges are expected to be filed soon.

A suspect police aren’t identifying is in jail on another matter.

The box trailer the car was being kept in was taken from a fenced storage facility in Pequea Township between July 28 and Aug. 28.

The trailer and the car were found in Delaware several weeks ago.

Carter said the suspect had broken into the trailer in May and stolen tools. At the time, the car wasn’t in the trailer. The suspect returned later and took the entire trailer, this time, with the car inside – unbeknownst to him.

The suspect intended to trade the trailer to another person, she said.

Tips eventually led authorities to a property in Delaware where the trailer and car were being kept.