The Stolen Cars Story

1964 re written 12/2010 * 506 Words

#161By Howard Yasgar

In mid-1964, my wife and I were living in a trailer park off on NW 79th Street in Miami.

We had arrived about a month earlier and stayed at my mother’s small Hotel located on Miami Beach.

We soon found it was too long a drive from my mother’s hotel on Miami Beach to NW 46 St in Miami where ABC Auto Wrecking, was located.

This was the company I had come to Miami to manage.

So, eventually we moved to the Trailer park on NW 79th Street, as it was closer to the auto wrecking yard that I had come to Florida to manage,

In 1964, NW 79 Street in Miami was not too dangerous a place to live, but living in a trailer park turned out to truly be an experience.

We soon found that many of our neighbors were transient people that were either coming from or going to jail.

Also, another reason we left my mother’s hotel was because we didn't want to take advantage of her generosity, as she needed all the revenue, she could get from her small hotel and my wife and I were taking up a free room as nonpaying guests.

After a month or so of managing the wrecking yard I discovered that the former manager had stolen all the money and had bankrupted the place.

Lou flew in from Connecticut on the night owl, and I helped him close the wrecking business.

Because I had nothing better to do, I started driving around Miami buying and selling used engine parts.

I was driving the nice 1959 Plymouth automobile that Lou Gladstein had given me to come to Florida with.

I was using Plymouth like a truck to haul all my used parts in.

Lou had given me a set of Connecticut “JUNK DEALER” license plates from the junk yard he was running in Stamford Connecticut, so technically I thought I had liability insurance.

Unfortunately, the Miami Police had never seen a Connecticut “Junk Dealer” license plate before, and that caused them to ask me for the Plymouths registration which of course I didn't have, so they towed the car to an impound yard.

I called the Police Department many times to try and get Plymouth back but they said the engine numbers were missing and it appeared someone had ground them off.

They said the Plymouth was obviously a stolen car and a detective would be coming to get me.

I called Lou in Connecticut, and he said the Miami cops were all crazy and I was to follow his instructions carefully.

Lou said I was to go to where the car was being kept by the police, and I was to remove the Connecticut “JUNK DEALER” license plate without anyone seeing me do it.

Then I was to go to a marina where Lou had stored a 1958 Ford station wagon.

Lou said I was to put the “JUJNK DEALERS” license plate from the Plymouth on the 1958 Ford station wagon which was obviously another stolen car.

I did everything Lou told me, and I never heard from the Miami police again.