The Region : Confused Car Customizer Is Collared

A car theft backfired Sunday when a teen-ager unwittingly drove the stolen car into the owner’s auto garage and asked him to customize it. “I thought I heard my muffler, and I went out to look--and sure enough, it was my car,” mechanic Jorge Alulema said. He and co-workers at Alulema’s Radiator Shop in Los Angeles held the driver and called police. The teen-ager had brought the car to the shop to have the vehicle’s chassis lowered for “low rider cruising,” Sgt. Ken Espiau said. An unidentified 17-year-old boy was held for investigation in the theft of the 1971 Datsun 510, stolen in front of Alulema’s home the night before. “He’s probably thinking it’s a very small world,” Espiau said.