Natasha Eckles left her father’s 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS at TJ’s Automotive in Forest Park, Georgia. She planned to take her dad, who’s sick, on one final ride in the classic muscle car he had passed down to her. That ride may never happen now.

Around 12:30 a.m. on April 9, surveillance video at the shop captured a driver dropping someone off near the lot. The video showed a shadowy figure walking toward Eckles’ car. Moments later, the headlights came on, and the Chevelle pulled away.

“My heart dropped,” Eckles told WSB-TV after watching the video.

She said the car drew attention everywhere she took it. “Everybody wants that car. I can pull my car out to go anywhere and it’s gonna get attention,” she said.

Eckles said she told the shop not to leave the vehicle outside.

“You made a promise to me that you didn’t keep. You said you would not put my car outside. And you put it outside,” she said.

Shop owner Tim Jones confirmed that he moved the Chevelle outside that night. He told WSB-TV he needed the bay for a transmission job scheduled for the next morning. “It was a bad decision,” he admitted.

The 1970 Chevelle SS holds serious value in the muscle car world, especially models with the 454-cubic-inch V8 

To give y’all an idea of market value, the five-year average sale price for a 1970 Chevelle is $104,512. Classic.com reflects a top sale price of $600,000.

Eckles didn’t talk much about dollar figures, though. She talked about memories.

Eckles recalled how the Chevelle signaled her father’s arrival long before he pulled into the driveway. “You could hear my dad coming, like ‘vroom, vroom.’ Like daddy’s coming,” she said.

When her father gave her the vehicle, it meant everything. “Yeah, I wanted to give that one ride, or I wanted him to ride in that car. That one ride,” she said, holding back tears.

Eckles said she couldn’t believe it when the shop called her to say that someone had stolen her heirloom. “Of course it’s gonna be gone. Right. It’s an SS Chevelle. It’s hot,” she said.

TJ’s Automotive is offering a $5,000 reward for the car’s return. Eckles said she would match that amount.

She had a message for the person who stole it: “Don’t tear it up. Just bring it back. Just please give me my car back.”