SURREY — Musician Ranj Singh is seeing red after his beloved “Purple Haze” car was stolen in broad daylight.
The 1999 Honda Civic hatchback has a whopping 1.2 million kilometres on it, yet Singh is very anxious to get the vehicle back.
“That car means everything to me, it’s like part of the family,” Singh said Monday as he drove a rental vehicle in search of his stolen car.
“If my dog went missing, I’d scour the neighbourhood looking for her, too, and this is no different,” he explained.
“I have no idea where to look, but if I just sit at home and don’t do something, it eats at me, kills me. It’s better off just looking around, but it had a full tank of gas so it could be 500 kilometres away.”
With the alarm blaring, a “slim white short guy” jumped in his 1999 Honda Civic hatchback and took off last Thursday (July 13) at around 1:45 p.m., in the Fleetwood area where Singh lives with his family.
“I’d just gotten home and sat down on the couch, and the alarm went off,” Singh recalled. “My daughter ran to the balcony of our townhouse, because you can see the car parked on the street, to turn the alarm off with the remote. And she said, ‘Dad, someone’s stealing your car.’ She saw a young guy getting in the car, and the alarm was blaring as he drove off in it. I just couldn’t believe it.”
The car was last seen speeding south on 164th Street, near Fraser Highway.
Since then, Singh’s Facebook post about the theft has been shared 178 times.
“People know how much the car means to me,” said Singh, who has used the vehicle as both a musician and courier.
“One of my friends told me to just get over it, suck it up, but you know what? My car is worth nothing to the insurance company, because of the high mileage, but it means everything to me. All that side, trinkets made by my daughters, that’s in there, and I’ve spent years in that car, working nights and driving. It’s the car both of my daughters learned to drive, and it really sucks. After a day or two, I thought I’d get over it, but the more time goes by, the more upset I am. I’m driving a new car but just hate it, I just want my beater with no air conditioning and no power windows.”