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‘Purple Haze’ found: Surrey musician’s beloved high-mileage Honda located on a Mission farm

Car with 1.2 million kilometres on it was stolen outside Fleetwood-area home last month
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Musician Ranj Singh with his “Purple Haze” car in June of 2015. (File photo: Tom Zillich)

SURREY — “Purple Haze” has been found.

Ranj Singh’s beloved 1999 Honda Civic hatchback – a car with a whopping 1.2 million kilometres on it – has been located by police on a farm in Mission.

“The RCMP didn’t give me any details about how they found it, but it’s there, and I’m sure all of that will come out when I finally see it,” Singh, a Surrey musician, told the Now-Leader on Tuesday.

The car was stolen on the afternoon of July 13, from a street in the Fleetwood area where Singh lives with his family. With the alarm blaring and a “slim white short guy” behind the wheel, Singh last saw his vehicle speeding south on 164th Street, near Fraser Highway.

The well-used car means everything to Singh, despite its age and high mileage. No question, he’s more attached to his vehicle than most other people are.

“Trinkets made by my daughters, that’s in there, and I’ve spent years in that car, working nights (as a courier) and driving,” Singh said last month. “It’s the car both of my daughters learned to drive, and it (the theft) really sucks.”

READ MORE: Surrey musician’s beloved ‘Purple Haze’ car stolen in broad daylight, from July 17

On Sunday, police called to tell him his “Purple Haze” had been found.

“I asked the officer if it was all busted up and he said, ‘You know what, you could probably drive it home,’ so that’s a really good sign,” a relieved Singh said. “I’m 100 per cent sure the ignition is punched out, for sure, and the alarm has probably been ripped out. So hopefully it’s in not too bad shape other than that.”

He’s anxious to drive the vehicle again, but it’ll take ICBC up to two weeks to inspect it.

“I went looking for different cars the last two weeks, other Civics, and a lot of them just aren’t taken care of like mine,” Singh explained. “ICBC offered me (money) for the vehicle, but I told them I just can’t pick up the cheque. There’s just no replacement vehicle for mine, sorry.”

The whole ordeal has been well documented.

“Because of your (Now-Leader) story and how many people shared my Facebook post about it, everyone was looking for it, thousands of people, so that’s probably why the (thief) dumped the car,” he added. “People have been sending me lots of photos, asking me, ‘Ranj, is this your car? Is this it?’ It was everywhere.”

tom.zillich@ surreynowleader.com



Tom Zillich

About the Author: Tom Zillich

I cover entertainment, sports and news stories for the Surrey Now-Leader, where I've worked for more than half of my 30-plus years in the newspaper business.
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