Vintage car owner says bear-beaten vehicle is 'barroom talk'

A North Carolina man plans to leave the dents in his rare vintage car for awhile to relish the Alaska vacation story behind them.

It's not every daya pricey collector's treasure is damaged by a bear breaking into it to steal cookies.

"It's barroom talk," said Tom Cotter, 64, of Davidson, N. C.,Monday shortly before he was scheduled to fly home from Anchorage. He had been touringthe state for two weeks in his red 1965 289 Shelby Cobra with several other car collectors.

This car will forever be known as the bear Cobra.- Tom Cotter

Cotter's car sustained major rips to the vinyl roof and dents on the body after the bear broke into it last week at AlyeskaResort, 61 kilometres south of Anchorage.

He learned about the break-in when one of his friends texted him a photo of the damaged car the morning it was discovered. No words were necessary for Cotter, who rushed out to assess the damage.

"This car will forever be known as the bear Cobra," said Cotter,an author who writes about finding rare vintage cars. He also has a YouTube channel called The Barn Find Hunter.

Fellow travellerWoody Woodruff of Charlotte, N.C., had left a package of Fig Newtons behind the driver's seat, and the cookies were missing after the break-in.

"I felt kind of bad, but Tom's taking it well," said Woodruff, laughing as he stood a few feet from his friend Monday.

Cotter had aspired to own a Shelby Cobra since he was 10 years old, and has owned his car for nearly two decades. But he shrugs off the damage, even though the classic convertible is valued between US$900,000 to $1 million.

"Everything can be fixed," he said.

He expects the damageto be paid by his insurance company, which covers everything that could happen to collector vehicles.

Whether that includes bear attacks he said, "Well, we'll see."

The bruin burglary did not sourCotter'sAlaska experience, he said. He had the car shipped to the state, where he put in around 3,057 kilometres, before having it shipped back home.

"Best vacation of my life," he said. "I only wish my wife had come."