This is not a rant, only a cautious reminder. For decades I've kept a small private garage at my residence to use as a place to express my own form of art. It's a safe and private place where a different part of my brain lights up after a difficult day of making a living. Ideas are tested and uncommon standards are practiced, my own shop rate is practically nothing therefore patience is easy to employ. The only reward that is pursued is the pride that comes from craftsmanship. After nine years at my former residence an opportunity to relocate to a much more desirable location emerged. The only big catch was that the new residence needs some renovation and a garage built. This forced my family to pack our personal property into storage until our new property could accommodate our stuff. Against my better judgement I caved in to convienence and moved the garage stuff into storage. Plan was to keep our goods stored for about two months. Two weeks ago I recieved a call at 6:30AM from the local police dept. telling me that the storage locker that my tools were in had been burglarized in the middle of the night. I met the storage owner within the hour and he opened the door for me. Words cannot describe what I saw. What wasn't stolen was damaged. To see my remaining tool chests laying on thier backs was nothing but disgraceful. These meth head fucks must have felt like they were plundering King Tut's tomb. Among the stolen things were: Craftsman 8 drawer top chest loaded with Craftsman hand tools. This is the one with 5 sliders and 3 divided sliders on the top row. Lincoln SP 175 plus welder: SN 10976 U1040818033 Stihl BG55 blower: SN 272576066 Howard Miller wall clock. Model is 625-377 Arendal Wall Clock- (my 25 year work service award) I don't post here often but there is a great lesson to pass along from this. This car hobby is very visible, don't ever underestimate who is watching your activities. I was targeted and that is painful to admit. My locker was the only one broken into out of more than 200 in the complex. My shit is insured and my family is safe but getting everything replaced and getting on with what I'd rather be doing will take some time. Be careful out there.
That sucks . I wonder out of 200 lockers, why was yours the only one robbed? Someone must have seen you unloading your stuff. In this day in age also, 99 percent of storage places have cameras, that top box isn't something you could just go over the fence with. Sounds fishy.
That's just bad luck, my friend. I'd ask to see the security footage from the storage facility. Maybe first, have the police there too. The owner, I'm giving him the benefit of doubt, may not say "my camera's were not working then".
So sorry to hear this, seems like anything can and will happen the minute our goods are out of our immediate control! My wife and I built a home shop in our large yard...the front and man doors are directly behind our bedroom. Not anxious to confront burglars, but...(eyes shifting, murderous laugh..."Hmmm, hmm, hmm, hmmm....") Dogs, bad attitude, equalizer... 'Hmmm, hmm, hmm, hmmmm...'
We must have went to the same site planning school. That's exactly how my new shop/ backyard is laid out! The garage doors face the bedroom windows on the back of the house.
I have two storage units. They're in a fenced in facility that takes a code unique to each renter to get in and out of the facility. There are cameras at both the entrance and exit gates as well as all over the place where the units are. A friend of mine had all of his car stuff stolen, including multiple flathead engines and parts, two antique flathead Ford distributor machines, and lots of tools, when he had things in storage during a move to a new place. The storage facility he was at was open, no fence, no security gates, no cameras. Oh, and the facility I rent is closed at 10 p.m. every night, and has a manager who lives on site. If someone steals from one of my units, it will be on camera, and they will know who came and went through the gates.
About 20 years ago my buddy's shop at home kept getting broken into, he would get the equipment replaced my insurance and two weeks later, robbed again. We finally slept in the shop for a couple of nights and on the third or fourth night, BAM, heard the door being pushed in, the two guys were pretty surprised coming face to face with a couple of shotguns! One guy actually pissed himself. One guy was the neighbors live at home unemployed 30 year old son. He would sit watching for the new tools and equipment to get delivered and then steal them again. They pleaded with my buddy not to press charges, I think they ended up doing 5 years.
It really pisses me off when I hear about this stuff. knowing the blood sweat and tears that goes into our projects and tool collections. I have never had anything like this happen to me but I still sleep with a gun in my nightstand. It's a different world now days thats for sure!
And you know the cameras work because..... If you don't have proof the cameras are in working order, ask for a look or demo. You'd be surprised how many places have cameras or even fakes. Fake ones are super cheap and even light up like a real one. If the manager won't show you that it's working, move on. As for knowing who can get in, that's great, but what if the thief is leaving town after his score. Sure, the local cops will be on the look out, but what about cities 500 miles away? Will the cops there even care? Not trying to bad mouth your idea, just throwing out things to check for when doing this. Honestly, I've looked into storage units, but the security isn't the same as your own place. Either way, thieves suck and it's screwed up that we have to modify our lifestyles to guard against them.
I do feel for you. Just yesterday while I was working I got a call. My ex wife had been in my house! The neighbors talked to her boyfriend for about 15 minutes before she came out from behind the house. If the guy would have called the cops, or at the least walked around the back and seen her in the house she would be in jail. I'm not sure what's missing yet but it sucks to be violated that way.
Always an unfortunate situation. I hope you manage to recover your stuff 50flathead, or at the very least, that those responsible are tracked down. And a good reminder here for taking appropriate precautions. On a separate note, I wish that someone would steal the OT car in my storage locker. The insured value is about 50% higher than my asking price...
I know how you feel. I was robbed a while back! I am now armed and ready. Lots of Scum out there. Be careful.
security at those storage places is a joke. a friend of mine got cleaned out pretty good a few years back. they went into the empty unit behind his and took everything out through a hole they made through the wall.
Years ago I had single car sized garage at a storage complex. Roll-up door with a single latch lock on the outside, that the complex could also lock for non-payment. Got a call one day that several "lockers" had been broken into, and mine was one of them. I had my 56 Chevrolet bracket car stored there, and a cardboard box of misc tools; and all they took from me was the cardboard box of tools. The locker next to me was hit for a pair of BBC rectangular port heads and a few other items. I wound up putting a keyed switch in the roll-up door, a drop switch connected to a motorcycle battery powering a siren (I latter switched to a doorbell transformer in place of the battery), and padlocks in both roll-up channels for the door. The door could only go up about 6 inches, and I'd reach underneath to unlock the padlocks. I learned to NEVER trust ANYONE, and to do whatever you can to protect your property. Of course the storage complex was "not responsible for theft". Butch/56sedandelivery.
Years ago I had single car sized garage at a storage complex. Roll-up door with a single latch lock on the outside, that the complex could also lock for non-payment. Got a call one day that several "lockers" had been broken into, and mine was one of them. I had my 56 Chevrolet bracket car stored there, and a cardboard box of misc tools; and all they took from me was the cardboard box of tools. The locker next to me was hit for a pair of BBC rectangular port heads and a few other items. I wound up putting a keyed switch in the roll-up door, a drop switch connected to a motorcycle battery powering a siren (I latter switched to a doorbell transformer in place of the battery), and padlocks in both roll-up channels for the door. The door could only go up about 6 inches, and I'd reach underneath to unlock the padlocks. I learned to NEVER trust ANYONE, and to do whatever you can to protect your property. Of course the storage complex was "not responsible for theft". Butch/56sedandelivery.
I have been thinking about a short term rental on a shipping container for when I tear down my little garage and build one I can work in. That way I could keep all of my shop stuff within reach of this guy. He isn't very big but he goes ape shit when any stranger comes on the place.
I had my house broken into on a Saturday afternoon as I was going to a car show. They cleaned me out in a matter of two hours, neighbors about 6 houses down saw them make two trips even. Everyone assumed that we were moving because they had the garage door fully open, drinking beers as they loaded my stuff into their pickups. After I calmed down and drove around town with a baseball bat looking for the truck, I realized, even though it sucked, they were only things and my wife and little boys could have been home when it happened. But I still drove around for two weeks with a bat and torque wrench, just in case.
very sorry to here it I hope you will get compensated well .a buddy of mine had this happen also . lost a lot of tools and some guns . I personally think it was some who knew what he had in there , and knew where or what locker it was . I had a truck stolen , but recovered they replaced our brand new steelies with stock wheels and tires
I've never been burglarized, but I did happen to accompany my 12ga SemiAuto shotgun to the neighbor's house where two young twits were siphoning gasoline out of his truck. I cleared my throat quite loudly, one guy dropped the gas can, which burped up just enough to soak the front of his shirt, the other guy tried to run through the nearby hedge and was met by the neighbor (my wife had called the cops and the neighbor in that order) who had a revolver of substantial caliber. We didn't have to hold them long, cops were there in short order. They were repeat offenders and went to jail for some amount of time (very long ago). It's good when somebody "has your six". dj
Its Swap meet season and there is one coming up at the Iowa State fairgroungds next weekend ......might be worth the trip to see if anything looks familiar
Sucks, sorry it happened to ya. My place was burglarized about 5 years ago.. A Lot of stuff gone- I still look for things then remember it's gone.. Tiny funny story. Several years ago my folks had a storage unit for their motorhome cause it was too tall to fit in the garage. One day the owner of the storage place came out to the house and rather sheepishly asked if he could talk to my Dad. I said "well, I can have him call you when he gets back, they're at the coast on vacation" Sucker danced a quick jig when he realized they had gotten the motorhome out and were using it. Both units on either side had been emptied in the middle of the night and he assumed the motorhome was stolen too.
when you are looking for a place to put your stuff look up to see if the building has a common ceiling. not all units are seperated by its own ceiling.once up on the top of the wall you can walk from one side of the building to the other looking down into all the units. a burgler could pick and choose without having to break into every unit.
That's why I have a BAD ASS BIG DOG in my shop that does not like strangers and really like to go for the BALLS OF STRANGERS (plus I keep a 357 very close by hand always) Dogs name is KILLER
We keep a 12 gauge shotgun close at hand, and won't hesitate to use it if the need arises. The police won't have to search much for the culprit...he'll be laying in the yard.
That sucks. Sorry for your loss. The shop at my Dads, where I was building a Sebring convertible for my wife (a surprise Christmas present) was broken into, and the thieves took the small roll around tool chest I had there, all my power and air tools. I walked in, couldn't find any tools, and initially though maybe my Dad had moved everything up to his attatched garage. I couldn't believe I'd been robbed. Chin up, it hurts but insurance makes it better. Brian
they say if a burgler hears you rack a round in your shotgun they will run away. well at my place if they hear it it will be because they are still alive while im racking the second round. the mossberg 500 persuader/cruiser 18.5 inches long 12 gauge pistol grip can be bought for about 300 dollars. i also have a mean ass doberman and a alarm. i refuse to be a victim.
The Jalopy Journal
