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DUANE BOURNEThomas Jacobellis's beloved "cat," a 1968 Mercury Cougar, seems to have had nine lives, but is returned to its owner.
Thomas Jacobellis was a 33-year-old New York City detective when he was handed the ultimate insult. On May 1, 1983, someone stole his 1968 Mercury Cougar from in front of his Westchester Square home in the Bronx.
But like any New Yorker, Jacobellis took the hit and moved on.
"It was one of those things you forget," said the 54-year-old Spring Hill resident. "It was just life in the city."
Besides, he had another car that was closer to his heart - a 1970 Mercury Cougar XR-7 convertible. It was a spry piece of work that he liked to drive with its top down.
"It looked excellent," he said.
Jacobellis doesn't have that convertible, but thanks to a little bit of luck, a newspaper ad, e-mail and the unstinting loyalty of Mercury Cougar buffs, Jacobellis may soon have his '68 cat sitting in his driveway again.
"If it was not for the Internet, I would have never got it back," Jacobellis said recently. "It just popped up."
A few weeks ago Jacobellis' friend, Phil Parcells, received an e-mail from a retired police officer, who wanted information about a Mercury Cougar advertised in Newsday's classifieds.
The prospective buyer contacted Parcells, who maintains a database of cars belonging to members of the Cougar Club of America.
Jacobellis is a founding member and past president of the group. The prospective car buyer, identified as Mike in e-mails, is also a member.
When Parcells entered the vehicle identification number into his computer, he discovered how small the world is for "cat" lovers, as Mercury Cougar buffs are called. The car, with its 390-cubic-inch engine, had once belonged to Jacobellis.
Parcells then sent Jacobellis the newspaper ad along with digital pictures of the car.
"I thought he would be interested in buying it back," said Parcells, a 46-year-old electrical engineer who lives in Lima, south of Rochester, N.Y.
But this was no ordinary Mercury Cougar. Jacobellis grabbed a jewelry box filled with important documents - and the car's registration. He never got rid of it, and according to the small piece of paper, the car still belonged to him.
"It was not even insured," he said. "I did not collect money on it."
The discovery set off a flurry of telephone calls among Jacobellis, Parcells, Mike and the NYPD's Auto Squad.
"I said, "Mike, don't buy this car. The car is stolen. I am not joking; it is serious,' " Parcells recalled. "Ninety-nine percent of all cases where a car was stolen 20 years, it's gone."
On Dec. 1, police officers arrested Scott Kenney of Queens and charged him with the criminal possession of stolen property. New York's statute of limitations prevented authorities from charging with theft, the Daily News reported.
Kenney told authorities that the car was a gift from his father.
"It's all hearsay," said Jacobellis. "That's what the detective told me. Whether it's a cock-and-bull story, who knows?"
All Jacobellis knows is that his car was found, he still loves his Cougar and the story has gotten lots of attention from newspapers across the country.
A trucker who peddles paper products between New Jersey and Florida called Jacobellis' house offering to bring him copies of the newspaper.
"For all I know, he could have been the guy," said Jacobellis, who ran unsuccessfully for Hernando County Commission andschool board. He works as a driver's license examiner at the Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles center in Brooksville.
Jacobellis remembers very little about the Cougar, as does his mother, Mary Jacobellis, who is amazed at the news.
"Who would think after 20 years it would turn up?" said the 79-year-old Spring Hill resident. "It's marvelous."
Before the car was stolen, Jacobellis had just replaced the door, finished work on the quarter-panels and replaced the fender with a maroon-colored one. The car he bought at an auction had been dinged up the previous winter.
In his mind, though, it was still built better than any other car. Parts were rare. The headlights are hidden behind the grill and the tail lamps are what enthusiasts call sequential. The Cougar was billed as the luxury counterpart to the Ford Mustang, even though the Cougar cost half as much, Parcells said.
The stolen car was built with an 8-cylinder, big-block engine that was only mounted in 2,500 Cougars and Mustangs.
"Mechanically, it was aces," he said.
Now, the car sits in a New York City impound yard. It was converted from an automatic transmission to a four-speed manual. The aqua primer is peeling from too many days in the heat and cold. From pictures, the bucket seats look like they have been used for hauling garbage. The car still bore an old New York state license plate, but it's not in good shape.
Worth about $1,000 in its current state, the car was advertised for $2,500. Still, the Mercury still symbolizes Jacobellis' undying love for the cat, whatever its state of disrepair.
"I always thought that if I was going to get the car back it would be completely restored, not this rusted out hulk of metal," said Jacobellis. "I just might keep it. I am a little partial to stick shifts anyway."
But the car has to come home first.
A long hauler might charge more than the car is worth. Restoring it may cost even more than that.
But when and if the car is returned to Jacobellis, perhaps it will be a small victory for people who have loved and lost - cars.
"I am hoping that someone will read all the publicity and volunteer to do it for free," he said. "We all got to keep dreaming. Stranger things have happened, I got the car back."
- Duane Bourne can be reached at 352 754-6114. Send e-mail to dbourne@sptimes.com