Girl's Stolen Dream Car Returned (No Punch Backs)

It might not be the way it was originally, but at least it's back.

That's all that matters to this 10-year-old girl from Pelzer, South Carolina, who now has the car of her dreams home safe and sound after it was stolen on June 24.

"When I got home, I got out of the car and just screamed," Lisa Tucker told the local FOX affiliate of her excitement after getting her beloved Volkswagen Beetle back.

The little girl spent her hard-earned $2,000 that she had collected from years of doing chores and helping out at her family's scrap yard to finally purchase her pride and joy, a 1967 punch buggy, hoping to fix it up with her dad- and eventually one day when she's older- drive it.

"You can tell they tried to put it in disguise because they spray painted it," Lisa explained. "They spray painted the wheels. They used to be gold and now they're silver … put new hub caps on them."

The lights had also been removed and the VIN number was stripped from the car. But the community wasn't fooled by the bug's new makeover. Anonymous tips led the police to the vintage Beetle just days after it was stolen, helping get it returned to Lisa on Sunday.

Now that the bug is back with its rightful owner, the grateful young girl isn't letting the car leave her sight.

"I want to keep it under my bed, close to me," Lisa said. "I'm going to sleep in it."