Man reunited with long-lost Ford Thunderbird

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KGO) -- A Sacramento man is celebrating the return of a long-lost love -- his 1964 Ford Thunderbird.

Gary Chartrand watched with great anticipation as a pick-up truck rolled up in front of his house, towing the '60s classic.

Chartrand hadn't seen the car since 1981 when it was stolen outside the bar where he worked. He had just bought it a few months earlier for $1,600.

"Beautiful. Just a few bumps and bruises but, boy, not much has changed, considering it's a 50-year-old car, has been gone for 33 years, have no idea where it's been," he said.

Chartrand said he couldn't believe it when police called and told him the car had been found in Washington state.

Apparently someone was trying to register it and it came up as stolen.

More Thunderbirds were stolen in 1981, nearly 10,000 of them, than any other year in the car's long history.