Vancouver man pleads for return of heirloom soap box racer

A Vancouver man is hoping you can help him find a priceless family heirloom, pilfered from his Kitsilano garage overnight.

“It’s definitely not a collector’s item, there’s no value for it on the market,” Ian White told Global News.

The missing item: a 23-year-old, handmade soap box derby racer.

White built the racer with his dad in the 1990s and competed with it for three years, starting at age nine.

4:02 B.C. woman reunited with stolen teddy bear containing her deceased mom’s recorded voice

“(As a kid) my dad and I were always talking about Formula 1 and racing in general,” he said.

“Building our own car and being able to race it not too far away … it definitely means a lot.”

White said he had been recently contemplating fixing up the bright blue and green racer, emblazoned with the number ’54’ to keep it indoors as an art piece.

That option drove off into the night on Friday, along with many attached memories.

1:53 Abbotsford police search for stolen go-kart

White says he believes the culprits were casing his neighbourhood, near Arbutus Street and 16th Avenue ahead of the theft, and that he’s now seen some security footage of the act in progress.

“I kind of saw them drive by, scouting a little bit,” he said.

“It seemed very planned, organized.”

Vancouver police confirmed they responded to a break-in at the garage, and asked anyone with information about the missing racer to contact police.

White said he still can’t figure out why someone would take the racer, saying it was the least valuable item in the garage.

He said it’s worth less than $50 as scrap materials, and believes another parent would be unlikely to buy it, either.

White said with COVID-19, he knows finding his lost racer is likely not a top priority for most, but is hoping someone with a keen pair of eyes may spot it anyway.