2 weeks ago scrappers (thieves) took nearly every piece of iron from my place while I was at work. This included 20 wide five wheels, a set of original Radir wheels, flathead transmissions, drill press and other tools, 62 Triumph motorcycle frame, and various other things. WARNING! LOCK UP YOUR VINTAGE IRON OR IT COULD BE LOST FOREVER! Jim
What a bummer Willys. I'm putting a lock on my gate now. I've been too lax. Also you guys with antique stuff should always mark it in a hidden place so you can prove ownership later. It's a bitch to see things get recovered then sold at auction. It happens
Car guys and scrappers are two different animals. Add willingness to steal and dishonesty to the mix changes the whole scenario. I don't show anyone around the place unless I really know them. Sorry for your loss.
Exactly. Or they talk to someone about what they've seen and then your a potential target. Out of sight is out of mind.
Willys, Sorry you have suffered a loss. Years back a friend had his newly acquired Anglia parked at his mother's upholstery shop. The car was chained and padlocked to a telephone pole in the parking lot. The shop opens on Monday and the Anglia is GONE with only the chain and a lock that had been hacked with a bolt cutter. Bad thing about this story is that the shop was on a well lit 4-lane highway. The Anglia was never found.................. Jeff
My son just started on a '49 F-1, it looks like a pile of junk. I have it at my shop in a major industrial park in a smaller town with good cops but we also have scrappers that come through. The other day he had it sitting outside during the day and we had to take a quick run to the store. I told him to be careful because of the scrappers that come through. I saw he had his flathead radiator standing up in the bed of the truck and told him to put it out of site because it's an easy $100 for a scrapper. When we got back from the store he saw the scrapper slowly driving past. I never leave anything outside. Last year I cut up a panel truck and loaded the scrap, mostly bondo laden rusty sheet metal. I was inside the building and heard a knock on the door and there was a scrapper standing outside. He offered me $100 for the scrap, which I thought was a very fair price. As he and his pals were unloading my trailer and loading theirs they kept saying how nice my car trailer, I made sure to take it home that night.
That really sucks, I feel for you. It's tough to stop a thief, if they really want something, unless you can catch them in the act. Best to keep your stuff out of sight and don't let strangers on your property. I also don't post pics of my stuff on the net anymore...
Lock up more than vintage iron? How about anything worth a few bucks? A friend of mine is demoing an old barn and salvaging the wood. Yuppies are crazing for old barn boards even if it's been soaked in animal feces for years. Anyways, weekend before last he and my son pulled about 500 feet of boards off of the barn and laid them up against a fence in the old barn yard. Saturday when we went back to do more demo he found almost all of the best wood was gone, about 300 feet. He's getting $1/ft so he lost $300. In this case we suspect, because this is a lived on farm, someone came up to the farmer during the week and asked if he wanted to sell the wood so he sold it out from under my friend. Easy $300 for no having to lift a finger. No way to prove it though.
Some guys like to deck their property with gas pumps, signs etc, which looks very cool but it's also advertising what your into. Keeping a low profile really helps as well.
Out of sight, out of mind. An old saying, but it still is valid. If you want to keep anything, you need to be sure it's not visible from the street. These crooks cruise the streets looking for opportunity, and they never stop looking. Even if they're headed somewhere else, they're still looking for future opportunities, so keep your valuable parts out of sight. If they see one thing that catches their eye, they'll be back, and will take whatever else they want while they're at it.
Call me paranoid, but after losing a porch glider and a three legged claw foot tub (having removed one so as to discourage possible thieves) to scrappers I now try to keep stuff hidden behind a privacy fence. Then have the next door rental neighbor tell me they like my goldfish pond! ?? How'd he see it without being nosy? Also had the same group ask me how many old cars I own, "none ya!"
Set up a gaming camera on a tree in the yard, go and check it once a fortnight and it might give you the thief's pic and even a rego plate. Doesn't get your stuff back but might give you some info on the scumbag that's knocking stuff off.
It was scrappers that made Donald Trump a millionaire. It's a funny story too, if you're not a NYC taxpayer. In Fresno county, the scrappers are busy stealing the copper wire from street lights and ag pumps. Oh, they'll take anything, but they love copper & they've ruined our parking lot lights at work 3 times. The city is welding all the wiring access covers on now, and the electricians hate that, but grinding off covers beats replacing a whole block's wiring. They'll probably just start knocking the poles down and stealing them. I have things locked up and concealed, plus I do keep guns, dogs, ninja weapons, and a wife who has a black belt in Karate and Juijitsu. But I also live in a low crime spot, because of funky streets, location, and because our town has more cops per capita than anywhere in California. We also have the highest local sales tax. Fresno, right next door, is quite the opposite, crime-wise. I've actually been wanting to rent a shop near by to work in, instead of annoying our neighbors with my body tools, but I worry about securing it.
When my father in law passed we came home from the funeral to find two hit and miss engines and the trailer mounted welder gone. Considering the house was several miles up a back road it kinda looked like the proverbial inside job. It's been long enough now that I don't try to have a stroke when I think about it.
I've heard this happen before too. Burglars will watch the obits, to find out when everyone will be away at the funeral service. And, don't tell us you're going on vacation 'til you get back OK. Some of them read this stuff too.
A good majority of these metal thieves are meth heads needing their next fix, unfortunately. Not too long ago there was an article in the local paper where a thief had tried stealing cable from a live electrical circuit, and fried to death. They should have left the body as a reminder to other idiots what can happen. ---John
Get a nice pit bull, Rottweiler or other fairly vicious acting dog. Doesn't have to bite, just bark and growl.
In farm country, it's common practice to pay an acquaintance to stay at the house while everybody's at the funeral. Just having somebody there deters most creeps.
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