DUBLIN — Forty years ago, Bridgette Bjorkquist’s heart was broken when her maroon 1965 Ford Mustang was stolen in Los Angeles. She loved that car, but gave up hope of ever seeing it again.

But around the New Year’s holiday, the San Diego resident got a call from California Highway Patrol officers from Dublin. They gave her news she never expected to hear: They had found her car.

“I almost fell over,” Bjorkquist said by phone from San Diego.

Not only was her car to be returned to her, but it had been painted a jazzy red and is in fair condition thanks to the car’s most recent owner, a Pleasanton man who bought it on the Internet last year and had the classic restored.

The man brought the car into the California Highway Patrol’s office in Dublin on Dec. 29, said CHP Officer Jeff Piccinini. The owner was concerned after he noticed some old maroon paint on inside parts of the car, and he wanted to make sure the car had all its original parts.

The man, whom the CHP did not identify, bought the car last year. He saw it online and went to Los Angeles to see it. He liked it, bought it and had it shipped to an auto shop in Nevada, where the man lived at the time, Piccinini said. The car spent the next year being restored.

Piccinini checked over the car for the man and found that the “confidential” vehicle ID number tucked away in the car’s innards didn’t match what was on the car’s registration papers. He checked the original ID number and made a startling find.

“It returned stolen from March 23, 1971,” Piccinini said.

Piccinini and Special Agent Roger Hogan, from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, found Bjorkquist.

“It’s unbelievable. “… Forty years later, it’s unreal,” she said.

Bjorkquist said she bought the car in 1969. It disappeared in March 1971 while she was away in Palm Springs.

“It will never be seen again,” she remembered thinking at the time. “I just had to accept the car was stolen and that was it.”

Officer Steve Creel, the Dublin CHP office spokesman, said the investigation is ongoing and officers are trying to track the car’s ownership through the years. It’s possible the Pleasanton man could recoup his losses through civil proceedings, he said.

How much the restored Mustang is worth depends on the condition, the type of Mustang and its amenities, said Ray Banks, vice president of the Sunnyvale-based Northern California Region Shelby American Automobile Club.

He said classic-car enthusiasts have heard stories like this before.

“It (has) happened to people in the club, and it’s just heartbreaking. You’re devastated,” he said.

Altering the public VIN number on a 1965 Mustang is easy, he said, adding that a new number can be put on the door panel.

The car is being returned to Bjorkquist because she was the last legitimate owner, Creel said. If she had been paid an insurance claim, the car would go to the insurance company.

The car left for San Diego on Wednesday, but Bjorkquist isn’t sure she will keep it.

“Once you get older, you like more comfort,” she said.

Contact Sophia Kazmi at 925-847-2122. Follow her at Twitter.com/sophiakazmi.