Technical What have you done to keep your vehicle from being stolen?

I just try to drive mine as often as I can. I figure if I'm driving it, the concerns about someone steeling it go way down. That and it is insured. Gene

 

I don’t do anything special, but have one that is a 3-on-the tree and another that has to start in neutral so that keeps most from stealing them... Oh, and they are insured for at least what they are worth just in case someone decides they need them more than I do.

 

I was going to say something about my hidden switch & some other voodoo stuff, but I'm still laughing about the trunk monkey.

 

What do you want to know for?

 

A few years ago I quit my office job for a work from home gig. So now I’m pretty much always home.

One thing that surprised me is how much activity there is around here during the day. Cars, trucks, kids on bikes, people walking dogs, there’s a constant stream of people going past.

There are a bunch of ways you can disable a car from being driven, but those won’t stop a guy with a repo rig. GPS trackers are cheap, easily hidden, and provide another line of defense.



Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

All good until they decide to tow it. Thinking about a real time GPS tracker

 

I'm no fan of bagged cars that lay frame as it is one of the goofiest things I have ever seen car guys do that they swear is cool. On the other hand a bagged car that is aired out and the tank is drained and the car has a total shutoff to the compressor and said compressor is secure so no one with an air tank and hose could air the thing up may be the best security outside of the home garage. I'd say the big percentage of potential thieves would bypass it for something easier.
The old school ways to disable a car that you can override with the flip of a hidden switch or the push of a hidden button are probably best against the joyrider who is going to try and bypass the ignition switch. Years ago I lost my keys including the only key to my 48 one night at work. I hooked up a push button and toggle switch under the dash. flip the switch hit the button and fire up and my best friend who rode with me often didn't notice for two months. A push button starter button wired in to the start wire from the switch would mean you need both hands to start the car. one to turn the key and the other to push the hidden button. A toggle switch wired in between the coil and distributor on a point type rig would mean no fire to the distributor and done right would look like a tach lead. Only someone really thinking on it would notice that there were two wires in the tach lead. rather than one and the connection at the coil looked a bit odd.
I had a buddy who took his rotor out and put the cap back on when he left the car in a motel lot in the 70's. Had another one who replaced the coil wire with a same size piece of rubber hose complete with coil wire boots on it. Neither car got bothered to my knowledge but it gave them peace of mind.
I don't let anyone I don't run around with all the time in my garage or sheds. No show and tell for a stranger who shows up to buy something I have listed on FB or Craigslist and usually I meet most people in town at a gas station I frequent all the time anyhow.
I don't show photos of my stuff that show where I live. No one needs to see photos of the inside of the garage or the outside of the garage. Drive the car down to the park or in front of a cool building to take photos.

On the ot cars that were stolen during the Power Cruise I'd have to say the thief used a repo rig on more than one. No one carries a spare quick release steering wheel to steer a vehicle while pushing it out of a parking spot. Back up to it with a repo rig, lift and go in about 20 seconds. Down the street and around the corner to a waiting enclosed trailer or even a waiting storage unit. Go back after another one. I'm not sure what you can do against that outside of post your own guards. Maybe a coupe of rods sticking down behind the rear tires a few inches that trigger a loud alarm. hit one or both with the snag bars and all hell breaks loose and flip them up when you are driving it.

 

I never get around to finishing anything. Even if they want my project it will take them hours to remove all the crap piled on it and then they'll have to get it past all the other junk before they can even get it to the door. My neighbors will both be over to see what's going on while that is happening, nothing happens without them noticing.
SPark

 

My door locks did not work, so I cleaned out the truck of my personal stuff and did the battery thing, took into my motel room, truck was there in the morning.

 

I hear of alot of vehicles get stolen at car events so I want to possibly prevent it. If you can make it difficult for a thief to get it started you have a chance at having the thief give up.

 

I've used the rotor or coil wire in my pocket before but never thought about making a fake wire. Good idea.

 

Somebody here had a story about that. They used black rubber hose to replace the coil wire before they went on vacation. Got home after vacation, had forgot all about it, had to move the car. Started right up! Apparently there's enough carbon black in the hose to conduct high voltage.

 

I've installed several Vintage Air Sure Fit units in several Tri5 through 1964 Chevies that utilize the original cable operated controls levers but not the cables. The controls are then operated electrically. Doing this leaves you unused electrical connections that can be used for a crank but no start anti theft device.

 

I get it, feeble attempt at being funny. Good info here

 

Know your neighbors. Watch out for them and they will watch out for you.

 

If I wanted something moved and didn't have keys on me when I was younger, I had a 3 ft piece of wire with gator clips on each end, pull the pos wires of coil, run my wire from battery to coil, jump starter with screw driver. 30 seconds and running.

Battery in trunk no problem, hot side of starter cable to coil.

No steering wheel ? No problem, vice grips. I worked on a lot of junk in the old days.

 

I drive my 32 Cabriolet a lot. It always bothered me. I have a hidden electrical cutoff switch, but if they have a tow truck it does not matter. I saw once where a guy put a tab on his tie rod that matches up with another tab on his frame or someplace, he turns the steering wheel all the way one direction and the tabs line up and he puts a padlock on it. Steering won't turn and if you are between two cars you won't be able to pull it out unless you have a floor jack.

 

I like the .50 on the tank idea, but owning a 59 Chevy in Central California, my yard would look like the end scene of Fury. I park behind a gate, and if possible my truck. I disabld my battery, have multiple cut off switches,and rearange my firing order. There have been 3 attempts in 10 years, and I fear it is only a matter of time before someone succeeds.

 

Back around 1982, a neighbor lady came home in a drunken stupor, parked her Nova in front of the house, engine running, doors locked. My girlfriend panicked after 30 minutes or so, thinking the idiot would die from CO poisoning. Thinking about it for a moment, we opened the hood, and I yanked the coil wire. There must have been a lot of carbon under the hood, because it kept right on running. I ended up pulling the distibutor cap to kill it, and being the asshole I was, I scrambled the wires and put it back together, while the drunken lady slumbered peacefully. Rollbacks and wheel lifts have made many of our anti-theft ideas obsolete.

 

Sounds like you live next door to Gladys Kravitz.

 

Best yet. LOL

Ben

 

Me? I built a FOUR DOOR! We all know that no one wants a Four Door.

Ben

 

Im pretty sure the thieves dont have access to internet to read these type of things.

 

You never know... Some are probably laughing their asses off right this minute...

 

Master switch and a permit to carry!!

 

You need to pull your head out of the sand. GOOGLE knows everything!

 

I’ve got an old siren from a car alarm I’ve been thinking about wiring to the coil hot wire. You’d have to have a cut off switch so you wouldn’t trip it yourself, but if anybody tried to straight wire it or managed to use another key switch, it would come on as soon as the coil got voltage. Might not stop anybody, but would make enough racket to get attention, and their ears would be ringing for a while!

If you were creative enough, you could also wire it to the interior light. With some kind of latching relay, it wouldn’t cut off until it was reset.

 

I lost a 36 five window a long time back, learned a valuable lesson...if you get married, stay that way.

 

I had a work truck once that I installed an electronic gizmo which fed an alarm siren (the outdoors REALLY loud type) hidden in the pillar behind the door, about head level, with some creative upholstery over it. The door light switch would start a timer, and if the hidden kill switch wasn't turned off, the siren would go off, inside the cab. I wore earmuffs when I tested it out, and even with them on, it was physically painful to sit in there with the siren on. I used to wake up hoping to find a dead junkie bleeding from the ears, but no such luck.