Mystery of car man who disappeared

A TRIUMPH Spitfire is all revved up with nowhere to go after being bought but not collected by a mystery man.

After cherishing it for 18 years, Caroline Wales, of Morland Rd, Ipswich, sold her yellow 1978 Triumph Spitfire to a man known as Mike last September.

He paid her the asking price of £400 and took away the keys and all the documents – but not the car.

The man returned later with some others who were going to re-spray the now heavily rusted vehicle. He said a garage would come and pick it up in and deliver it to him when they had completed the job.

He was going to spend another £2000 to get it back on the road.

The cheque cleared and the man kept in contact for another three weeks asking if she minded keeping the car for him for a while longer.

That was the last she heard of him. The man vanished without trace.

Miss Wales, 34, said: "I feel a little silly as I had his phone number but my 5-year-old daughter, Nicole, probably destroyed it.

"But I did not expect I'd need to contact him again. I am concerned that something has happened to him."

After a few months Miss Wales called the police who found that the car had not been re-registered with the DVLA. In fact since it had been off the road for five years they had no record of it at all.

Mrs Wales added: "As far as I Mike he is local but he always phoned me from a mobile phone. It seems a bit strange as you don't just hand over £400 to a complete stranger."

"I could do with having my drive back as the rusting car is just making the block-paving look tatty. I have another car and the spitfire is just getting in the way.

"But I can't get rid of it as I have sold it to someone else. Besides I don't have any keys or paperwork for it. If the man has died then the car now belongs to his family."

N Are you the man, or do you know who he is? Write in to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or email eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk or visit the forum at www.eveningstar.co.uk