A farm family west of Balzac are trying to get a classic car back and have offered a hefty reward to do so.

Sometime overnight between last Monday (May 15) night and Tuesday morning, someone broke into a farm shop west of Balzac and took a tool box full of tools, a pair of batteries for a motorhome, the keys to the motorhome and the keys to a collector truck.  The thieves also got away with a fully restored 1968 Camaro car.   Kolby Minhinnett says they're desperately trying to get the car back and want to warm other rural property owners at the same time. 

"It was a 1968 Chevy Camaro, SS 396.  It was an all numbers matching engine and transmission.  It was red with with a black soft top and black interior.  The license plate was TOBYOUNG, "to be young."  We're trying to spread it around because the car meant a lot to the owner and to the family and being out on the farm and all locked up you'd never think it would happen.  Now we're really just trying to get the word out there to keep your stuff locked up because it happened to us but we don't want it to happen to other people because we can see the frustration and the pain it caused to lose this car."

Minhinnett says the car is very valuable but the real value is in the sentimentality attached to it.  "The owner (Ken Bilden) had the same car when he was a young boy and found one later on in life and he bought it because he just couldn't refuse it and it was always his dream car so it meant a lot to him and it had a lot of sentimental value in the family 'cause it was a car that I always remember being around as a kid."

The fact that it's a numbers matching car makes it even more valuable according to Minhinnett.  "All the parts have the serial numbers that all match up.  If you can get a car that's numbers matching and if you can put that car all together that just makes it that much more valuable because you have all those matching serial numbers."  

Minhinnett isn't sure of the actual appraised value of the car.  "I honestly couldn't give you a number but the fact it's a numbers matching car and that it was in pristine condtion when it left here.  I'm not sure what it's appraised at but I know it's a quite high number."

Minhinnett and his family are offering a $10,000 reward to get the car back.  If you have any information, phone Kolby Minhinnett at 587 575-1405.

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