A custom car event turned into a shopping spree for thieves in Charlotte, N.C., over the weekend.

The cars of at least five participants in the Hot Rod Power Tour were reported stolen from their hotels late Saturday or early Sunday morning.

The event is a seven-day mobile gathering for car enthusiasts organized by Hot Rod magazine that goes from Concord, N.C., to Wayne, Ind., this year.

(Garrett Reed)

Garrett Reed from Georgia told WSCO his 1984 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS was taken from the parking lot of the Courtyard by Marriott near the University of North Carolina, despite the fact that he had removed the steering wheel. He looked out the window in the morning to see it wasn’t there.

(Tom Childress)

“I knew the two cars I parked between and it wasn’t there,” Reed told the news outlet. “I legit thought it was a joke at first and then I ran downstairs. That’s when I ran into the gentleman that had parked to the left of me and his car had just gotten stolen too.”

(Roger Bentley)

Tom Childress, in town from Ohio, had is 1983 Chevy Malibu Station Wagon stolen from the same lot. Meanwhile, a 1994 Chevrolet Silverado, a 1985 GMC pickup and a Buick Roadmaster station wagon were reported stolen from the nearby Drury Inn.

A Facebook group with photos and information about the cars has been created and police are investigating the incidents.