Maybe They Needed a Getaway Car

Someone is in possession of a hot car--really hot.

It is a $100,000 Lola T-600 racing machine capable of 200 m.p.h. Owner Phil Conte said Monday that he can’t imagine why anyone would steal an automobile so distinctive and difficult to drive.

“I just can’t figure out what . . . they think they can do with it,” Conte said.

He said the machine can be used only on a track and driven only by an experienced race car driver. And besides, the white and blue racer with the big number 45 painted on the front would be exceptionally difficult to sell. Anyone in the racing fraternity would recognize it, according to Conte.

The Lola was stolen Sunday morning from the Conte Racing Co.’s shop in Paramount. It was on a trailer and the thief or thieves apparently towed it away with a vehicle equipped with a trailer hitch, according to Sheriff’s Sgt. David Anderson.

Anderson said the Lola was the most expensive stolen automobile in his 17 years of police work.