After three years, Amanda Pogany forgot about her stolen 1996 Honda Accord, assuming it was in car heaven. But recently the cops found it at a Queens chop shop, traced it back to her and called up the Brooklyn teacher. The Daily News reveals it was "returned to her drag-race ready, with a brand-new V-8 engine, tinted windows, oversized tires with special hubcaps - and custom valve stem caps shaped like bullet casings."
Pogany said, "When I first saw under the hood I thought it looked like, you know in the movie 'Grease?' Like the 'Grease Lightning' car." Further, the car's interim owner—apparently he bought from the thieves—also put "in a manual transmission and leather interior and [hung] a Dominican flag and a giant wooden cross from the rearview mirror." Pogany said, "I'm Jewish. and I don't even know how to drive a stick shift!"
Her friends are offering her stick shift lessons but the car is in her parents' NJ driveway, where it's the belle of the block (people have expressed interested in buying it). In other news, the NYPD is reportedly trying to crack down on auto thefts—they are down 14% over 2008 and 2009 but are up 27% this year.
