An Isère resident found his motorcycle on an online resale site, 24 years after it was stolen. The machine was a family possession, purchased in 1929.
An unexpected reunion. An Isère resident had the pleasant surprise of spotting his motorcycle, stolen 24 years earlier, on the online resale site Leboncoin. A surprising story that he tells to Dauphiné Libéré and to Le Parisien.
“I recognize it immediately thanks to special elements. Which means you should never give up,” says Jean-Pierre Ricaud, its owner.
The machine, a Peugeot 107 sport, 350 cm3 from 1929, had been purchased in 1929. Marked with a long history, it had been requisitioned for a time during the Second World War for the war effort and was a family souvenir , which Jean-Claude inherited from his uncle.
“A shock to lose her”
A mechanic by trade, the Grenoblois decides to repair the motorcycle. “For three years, with my father and uncle, we restored it,” he tells Dauphiné Libéré. “When in 2000 the auto show asked Peugeot to exhibit it, we were very proud,” he remembers.
But on October 18 of that year, the motorcycle was stolen in the night. Worried, Jean-Claude made posters which he put up in the car show and contacted all the motorcycle clubs in France to try to find her. “It was a shock to lose her,” he confides to Le Parisien.
“It was more than a motorcycle! It was also the witness to a beautiful family story,” laments the biker.
The motorcycle was 400km from the Ricaud family
The years pass and Jean-Claude loses hope of one day finding his two-wheeler. But his son Tim, who was 11 years old at the time of the motorcycle theft, and who also became a mechanic, decides not to give up.
“I registered on several old motorcycle forums and all the resale sites to be alerted as soon as a new motorcycle went on sale,” he says.
Finally, Tim receives the long-awaited notification from the Leboncoin site this fall. A motorcycle is for sale in Côte-d'Or, 400 km from the Ricaud family, and it corresponds exactly to the characteristics of the much sought-after Peugeot.
Made free
Jean-Claude and Tim Ricaud contact the seller who claims to have inherited the motorcycle and not to be aware that it had been stolen.
“When we reported this to the police, they were very surprised. It’s not every day that you find a stolen motorcycle 24 years later,” says Tim.
The father and son manage to recover the machine thanks to a document dating from the Second World War, when this motorcycle was requisitioned by the army. The new owner agreed, against this document, to return the bike to them free of charge. There is no question of exhibiting it now, the Ricauds assure that the motorcycle will remain in the family garage near Grenoble, but visible to visitors.
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