Not this again…
You know car theft is completely out of control when the criminals are stealing vehicles straight from the factory. Unfortunately, this trend of pilfering assembly plants’ secured parking lots to get the goods fresh off the assembly line has been going on for a while. This time it was Ford’s turn as thieves swiped at least 4 Shelby GT500s.
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That’s right, multiple reports confirm Ford doesn’t seem to know if the thieves made off with 4 or 5 muscle cars. We’re not sure what’s going on with inventory at the Flat Rock Assembly plant, but it seems like they should know exactly how many vehicles are missing.
This all went down at about 3:20 am on June 16. Police haven’t released info about how the thieves were able to boost the cars. What we do know is someone at the factory called Flat Rock Police Department about the crime. Neighboring police agencies were contacted to help, with officers from Woodhaven Police Department spotting the suspects gassing up the GT500s.
Those suspects spotted the cop cars and took off, but officers didn’t pursue, probably because they knew there was no chance of keeping up. Meanwhile, Michigan State Police staged on I-75 nearby, which paid off because the stolen Shelbys sped by and the chased was on.
Staying hot on the tail of one of the muscle cars as it tried losing troopers on freeways in the Detroit area, that GT500 ran out of gas in the area of I-96 and Martin Luther King Avenue. As the driver tried driving up a grass embankment to get back onto the freeway, a trooper angled his vehicle to block him in, then arrested the guy.
Another Shelby GT500 was located by a wrecker driver who spotted it on northbound I-75 near Livernois Avenue. Then Detroit officers found a third car on Warren Avenue near 30th Street. Both of those muscle cars were recovered with empty gas tanks. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen fleeing criminals run their ride dry as they run from the cops. Unfortunately, the thieves were long gone by the time officers arrived on the scene.
Back on May 2, thieves stole 5 Chevy Camaros from the Lansing Grand River Plant, leading law enforcement on a high-speed chase down I-96. Thanks to stop sticks and solid pursuit skills, the cops were able to stop all the cars and arrest all 9 suspects.
On March 1, thieves stole several cars from the Lansing Grand River Plant, with GM and police keeping a tight lid on information about how many vehicles were taken. Only the Chevy Camaro, Cadillac CT4, and Cadillac CT5 are assembled at that factory.
On December 12 of last year, thieves took 4 Shelby GT500s from the Flat Rock Assembly Plant. Not long after, police recovered two cars which were ditched.
Stellantis suffered a big heist on March 18 when thieves took 3 Ram trucks and a “high-end” Jeep from a secured storage lot in Shelby Township.
Another notable incident comes from March 16 when thieves took two Dodge Durango Hellcats from the Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio. One was immediately recovered after the driver crashed into a fire hydrant, disabling the performance SUV.
Photos via Michigan State Police
