A North Carolina man came home last week to find an engine he'd spent months working on stolen from his backyard. He quickly turned to Craigslist for answers, and managed to surprise the thief with a little muscle.


ToyotaNation forum member Chris of Chapel Hill, N.C. had been repairing the rebuilt engine he'd swapped into a 1997 Camry. With upgrades including a new flywheel and crank pulley, Chris estimated he'd put about $3,000 into the project. Last Thursday, his father told him the engine had been swiped.

Within a matter of hours, someone had posted ads on the Raleigh, N.C.-area Craigslist offering painted Toyota valve covers and other pieces of Chris' engine. By that evening, Chris had arranged to see the valve cover, at an address just around the corner.


Here's where his planning paid off:

I had my friends (i.e. 12 rugby players) wait down the road and had one of their numbers in my phone, ready to call, and said if I call you....get in that garage immediately. So I knock on the door, and he hands me the VC and I know it's mine by the fading paint job. I asked him if he had more engine parts and he says he has a complete engine in his garage. We walk through his house into the garage and i saw my engine sitting there in a tire. At this point, I hit the call button. Imagine standing in a closed one car garage and 12 guys averaging 6' 5" and 270 pounds come THROUGH your garage door. Through it as in tackled the door and broke it down. Yeah you better run.

Chris has his engine back. The apparent swiper has a broken garage door. Call it even.

(H/T to bdub215!) [ToyotaNation]