Hunting down missing cars has become a second job for Mr. Crawford, who sells trucks for a living and has a deep understanding of car brands and styles from years of the auto business.
On a recent day off, Mr Crawford sat at his computer at 7 a.m., drinking coffee as he reviewed emails and Facebook messages, using an online database of vehicle history reports to check his receipts. The type of car that users have shared about the cars seems to have run out. locations – some have tattered interiors, damaged ignitions or appear to have been abandoned.
Late in the morning Mr Crawford boarded his red pickup, leaking coolant from some delayed maintenance and sports scratches on the sidewalls after a vehicle restoration mission sent him into the deep. in the forest. He rolled down the window, watched the happenings around him, and scoured the neighboring streets.
At one point, he pulled into the back of a Toyota SUV that was making an unusually loud noise.
“The song of Portland: no catalytic converters,” he said as he sipped a can of Red Bull.
Minutes later, Mr. Crawford stood at the scene of a vehicle in northeast Portland that had been reported to by neighbors, a vehicle without a license plate and partially gutted. He checked the VIN, discovered it had recently been reported stolen and informed the police.
He spends the rest of the day wandering through the neighborhoods, taking videos of seemingly lost cars so he can check the license plates later. Many stolen cars that can still be recovered end up reappearing in industrial parks, at auto supply stores, in parks or shopping malls, he said.
Mr Crawford said when walking past one of them, be careful not to disturb people. He said some homeless neighbors joined the group to help find the car. At the prisons, he was oblivious to any other minor misconduct he might encounter.
“My only concern is the car being stolen,” he said. “They can do whatever they want. Don’t bother me. And don’t drive stolen cars.”
