VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions Stolen Car Thread

I wonder if it would be worthwhile to start a Stolen Vehicle Thread?. I remember Hemmings had a listing in their publication.

Having become a victim this week, my thoughts are whirling around this. For those interested, the thieves/vandals aka SCUMBAGS broke into my 51 coupe, cracked my steering wheel to remove my club, broke off the ignition switch, and pulled the wiring out from the dash. All this occurred in an apartment building garage with missing security gate. We've fought with mgmt for years to replace the gate to no avail. Next step is moving.I have lined up offsite secure storage once I get the car running again. Waiting for parts. The MUTTS were not able to complete the theft due to additional security measures I had taken and don't wish to reveal. So in retrospect, it could have been worse. I left the doors unlocked to prevent having to replace broken windows, as they typically do "smash and grab" here on other tenants' cars.

Hard to imagine as the car is not an exotic or collectible except to me. Scum will steal anything apparently.
Thanks for letting me vent.

Wow, sorry to hear about your problem, at least they didn't get your car. Good luck on getting it fixed and finding a safe place for it!

I realize you probably wont get much satisfaction but send the repair bill to the building owners considering the problem has previously been raised with them and received little or no action I would think they could be held at least partially responsible. No harm trying, nothing attempted nothing gained.
As to your original question a "stolen vehicle thread" does have merit but considering the reaction we have received from admin I would not hold my breathe.
Tony

Tony and Ed--thanks for your comments.
Tony--in the US there is such a thing as "park at your own risk." This is SOP for all lease agreements here, and basically it keeps harmless property managers from any responsibility. As such, they don't care and need not spend any of their money providing security to residents.
We sent a petition to the owners to no avail also. California also passed a moronic law back in 2014 (Prop 47) along with a half dozen other states which made property crime under $950 a misdemeanor. This includes gun thefts, shoplifting,personal drug possession, and bad checks. All in a well meaning but naive move to cut prison overcrowding and save money. Well it did that but the criminals took note and now just in my city alone, we have a 15=20% increase in property crime. Add in understaffed police depts and you have a "wild west" situation here. The cops put their limited resources in chasing violent felons and ignore everything else. As always, the writers of these laws fail to take in all the consequences. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I worry that law abiding folks like us will start taking the law into their own hands, as the cops won't arrest any petty thieves now. Drug possession is also a misdemeanor. The down side of living in "paradise."

Really disappointing to hear of the damage. An ear bleedingly loud alarm is one of few legal deterrents along with a new steering wheel club, and maybe a pedal club as well. Lock the doors and add alarm stickers. They often want to hit many cars so they do not want a loud alarm going off in a garage. Some alarms will also notify you via phone, pager, monitor, etc and even have proximity sensors so they get warned when they go within a few feet of the car. Even a visible Boot on a wheel can help. The more visible layers you have, the more of a PIA it looks to the scumbags..

Damage like this makes me mad and my thoughts go to nasty things: Like a Bear Spray release system, tasered door handles or better still a Halon gas release system (to protect the car from fire of course) but the dead thug might cause some paperwork..

It is a total shame of what you are going through. Very disheartening and I feel for you! I used to live in Southern California many years ago and the same was happening then as well. My 1951 Chevrolet was stolen right out of the college parking lot while I was in class. Found the car a couple of blocks away parked in front of a house with the hood up, the battery stolen and the vent window smashed. They hot wired the car as well. Fortunately, that was the only damage because the fellow that lived in the house came out to see what was going on and the scumbags took off which saved the rest of the car from getting stripped. It got so bad in California that my family and I moved out and went to Oregon. Many others in California did the same thing at that time as well. Looks like nothing has changed there since then.

Rick
The landlords would certainly be jumping if you damaged their property.
I hear you about the authorities going soft on "petty" crime but mention firearm down here and you attract a lot of attention and not only at that time but for a long time after.
Tony

Was the car insured?

Rick,

I used a LED RED LIGHT, mounted in a very small tidy box.
The LED and box mounted on the dash, near the dash clock mounting area, on the '51.
It blinked on and off, with key in off position, giving the impression of an " on board alarm".
Some thugs would see that and move on, but not all, I'm certain.

Thankfully I don't live in a high crime area. I mostly leave the window down and the key in the unlocked position. Most thugs are young and when they see the third peddle they leave as they can not drive stick. Also not many know the key is not needed to start the car.

Most young thieves, finding a "49-'52 sitting there with the key in the ignition, would jump in and turn the key to the right
expecting the engine to start. Of course, it wouldn't. The smarter thief would spot the starter button over to the left, try pushing it, and think he has won the game - the starter is cranking. But then it keeps cranking but the engine doesn't start. So he gives up and looks for an easier mark.

Thanks to all for the kind words. The car is insured but the damage was less than my deductible so I didn't file a claim. Did manage to bend my steering wheel back to shape fortunately.
Car is headed to offsite storage short term while we look for new digs with private garage space. Ca is not unique anymore--prop crime happens everywhere now with understaffed police depts and the nationwide drug problem. Lets all be smart and vigilant.

Thanks again to all my Chevy community here! J.D.--glad you didn't lose your 51!!

Cheers.

Yep, I was really lucky to get my 1951 Chevy back. The car meant a lot to me since my dad gave it to me to drive to high school. The car was stolen in 1965, and, as I said, I got it back the same day. No thanks to the cops though. At any rate, because of the Watts riots in 1964 and my car being stolen in 1965, we had enough of California and moved out of there and came to Oregon in 1966 and we have been here ever since. What a difference in living here vs. California.