Seattle collector claims many of his cars have been stolen over the years

A Seattle man says many cars he has owned over the years have been stolen and he spoke with KIRO 7′s Ranji Sinha to see if anything could be done.

Larry Kemp collects cars. He says his black Nissan Maxima was stolen in the last two years and another car was snatched right off the street.

A 1990 blue Mustang was stolen just last week.

He called the police and checked cameras on the street, all in hopes of getting his car back.

“Drove the car home, parked it went in the house took a nap getting ready to go to work, come out... car’s gone,” Kemp said.

Kemp spoke to KIRO 7 in 2020 when his red 1988 Nissan was stolen.

“I like to collect older cars,” Kemp said. “1990 Ford Mustang, I’m thinking nobody going to want that that’s just going to be a collector’s item.”

Kemp suspects the blue Mustang featured in one of the Fast and Furious films made it desirable.

For the past few years car thefts -- especially Kias and Hyundais -- have skyrocketed, once a viral hack showed how easy it is to steal them.

Considering Kemp’s luck he admits he’s probably never going to buy those brands.

“I don’t have nothing to do with that!,” Kemp chuckled.

Locally KIRO 7 has seen stolen vehicles used in smash-and-grab style robberies.

Numbers from the Puget Sound Auto Theft Task Force show that King and Pierce County combined to average 71 car thefts a day in September -- November’s numbers could include Kemp’s latest loss.

Kemp says his insurance is going up. He said insurance asked him to maybe find a better place to store his cars -- which he is trying to do.

He says the Mustang was meant to be a gift for his son, so he would love to get it back, but he’s forced to wonder if it will just get taken again.

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