Car Security recommendations

I was wondering what security precautions have speedster owners took to make their car from becoming another stolen car statistic. I'm hopefully going to become a new owner of a speedster in the coming weeks and want to be prepared for it. Thank you in advance.

Tom, keep it in a locked garage and never take it out. That's the best protection, but I know you can't do that. Locking doors help somewhat and some of the guys recommend car alarms. I don't think that much of car alarms myself as I know how I react to them: "there goes another one of those damned car alarms" and then go about my business, which is what I think most folks do. You might consider a switch hidden under the dash which cuts the main power. That's a plan that I would have liked for my Speedster. I'm sure there are plenty of good ideas on this forum.
John H.

Should your speedster be eyed to be stolen ........it most likely will, no matter what precautions you take. Precautions that can make the theft itself more time consuming to the thief may detere somewhat.

i.e a main cut off switch , steering wheel lock , fuel pump switch etc.

Way back HS, we would with semi regularity "steal" the V.principal's old VW beetle and drive it around the school and onto the front lawn for his viewing pleasure. Starting in could be done without a key or damage of any kind in under 10 seconds...what a joy that was!

Pre '66 had no ignition switch in the column,thus no steering wheel to "lock"...I would pop the engine deck lid, pull the tail light wire spade off the tail light and run that wire onto the coil, pull the parking light switch to that on position and you have 12 volts to the coil, give it a push and pop the cluch and your on your way!

Tom,
I have a switch under the dash that cuts off ignition, so if you
want my car you gotta tow it....I have a hard time finding it myself
sometimes....I recommend it highly.....
Other than that, over insure it and don't worry about it...
I did that also...
You could put a sign on it saying "NOT REAL" that may deter the purists......

As far as alarms go, I felt the same as J2Bolts. But now there are alarms with pagers. I put one in the Z-28 and disabled the siren speaker. Sort of a silent alarm. When it trips now, the pager let's me know but not the thief. I haven't had any problems so far, but I keep the Louisville slugger by the door, just in case. There's an alarm for the Speedster in the near future but I also have a battery cut off switch, retained the locking column and a switched fuel pump.

BD

My ignition runs off a relay. If I'm leaving it in a suspicious place (and Why would I even want to do THAT?) I just pull out that relay and replace it with a dummy that looks like the rest (Oh, BTW - none of the relays are marked for function)

I agree with the car alarms. I stopped using mine because my students would constantly set if off (they said it was by accident). I ended up going with a hidden fuel cut-off switch (I had an electric fuel pump), the 'club' on the steering wheel, and a reverse locking shifter from Gene Berg.
Ron

I'm with Ron. If they see the club a locking shifter and an alarm. It's to much work. They will move onto an easier target. But like Vince said over insure the damn thing and let them take it. Buy a new one with a bigger motor.

Or just pull the coil wire that leads to the distributor.

I have the electrical disconnect that IMs have, and a steering wheel club. I never lock the car and have no alarm. I think that just invites damage. Generally speaking, I think it's too conspicuous a car for the average thief.
Ron

My gearshift is so loose in its socket that no noe but me can drive it. 2nd is almost impossible to find and when going into 3rd the lever comes out of the socket and turns 360 degrees. 4th works fine tho. I need a shifter.
ed

Does anyone have any experience with the outfit (name escapes me) that has the little tracking device on the car and it calls the cops?
It's held out as pretty good, and I think it gets you an insurance discount?

Paul, do you mean Lojack? A friend of mine in Chicago has had this installed on his last two cars that he parks on the street in Chinatown. He has not had either of his cars stolen yet and it gives him peace of mind, which is worth alot when you live in the inner city.
jph

I have my ignition switch wired thru the light switch. I have to turn on the PARKING lights to start the car. Once running I simply turn the lights off. If your switch is a reostat type (controls the brightness of dash panel gauges) it can be turned to low and not enough current will be available even with the PARKING lights on to start the engine. A second safety-antitheft measure.

This approach requires no easy to be found switches and if a bad boy tries to hot wire my ignition the additional reostat feature still won't allow the tub to start!

When my insurance person asked if I had a car alarm I explained and demonstrated the above and easily received the discount for having an anti-theft device.

Now that I've "dropped my pants" you want to know when I next go to the movies at a local mall or which parking garage I use (aka Ferris Buellers Day OFF)......Sorry, but I'm going to the garage NOW to add another kill switch. an i ain't gonna say where or what it looks like!!!

Chuck

Has anyone ever heard of a Speedster replicar being stolen? I sure haven't. I think they are so visible that someone stealing one has to be either retarded or wants it for his living room. That said, I have a kill switch on mine and I flip it to off and REMOVE the switch lever when exiting the car. I think more for my own piece of mind is what the kill switch does for me. Of couse it is a real deterent if someone really wants the car, beware of flatbeds cruising the neighborhood. The car is so light, two 10 year olds could push it over to a flatbed and off it goes. Ain't going to lose any sleep over the possibility.

Bruce

Good question? Has anyone ever had a speedster stolen? Why would someone steal a speedster? Maybe to take it somewhere to rip out the stereo gear. I don't have a stereo. Other then that unless the guy was a vw fanatic and wanted your wheels and engine?

I'm more concerned about my toyota being stolen. Then again that's what insurance is for.

The kill switchs and locks works great against kids and crack heads, but a real pro will show up with a wrecker and be gone in a minute.

I have always been more concerned about the asshole who is pissed
because my car may be nicer than his and does some damage to it...
Thats why my 356 comes with a 357......

Cowboy Vince,

Like James Bond does your 357 fire out the horn screen or is it owner operated and capable of shooting 360 degrees? Do you prefer armor piercing bullets to standard jacketed hollow points? Also do you display the bumper sticker "this car protected by Wesson 357?

Chuck

Shit howdy Chuck,
If your on my property, towing my car away, you will be shot....
Not wounded I may add....I'm Artillery, 175mm, and 8" howitzers, concrete piercing rounds did just fine for those tunnel rats...
a simple hollow point should give a nice sucking chest wound...
This country has turned into a bunch of ladies....
Ah, maybe I've been watching to many of governor Arnolds movies...
Ya think? The only one allowed to violate me is my wife.....

Power cut-off switch with removable key, hidden switch for electric fuel pump, hidden switch for the 4-way flashers (turn the flasher switch to on - kinda difficult to hot-wire and drive a car with the 4-ways flashing), padlocked plastic-coated chain through a wheel and the suspension (sure they could use bolt-cutters but if it's dark they won't know why the car won't move), if you don't want to install a complete alarm one of the streetrodder parts manufacturers sells an easy-to-install switched blinking red light that's easy to install and LOOKS like you have an alarm, locking e-brake handle, jack it up and take one wheel with you, a good car cover, some steering wheels are removed with five screws - take it with you, don't leave the car in poorly-lit unsafe ares. Check your insurance policy, some do not cover unattended cars that are not locked in a building.

Put dog shit on the front seats. Not that I would do it, but if I wanted to steal a car it would definately be one that doesn't have dog shit on the front seat.

Well Tom,
It would appear as though this thread has given you a wealth of
information concerning how to protect your investment...
good luck, and let us know what you decide....

P.S. have you seen the commercial of the guy with the car cover
that resembles an old clunker, and then removes it and theres a
new Kia underneath, get a car cover that resembles a new Kia and
you shouldn't have any problems.......

That was a good one Vince how do you do it?

You said it Vince! There's some of that here too. A couple of years ago I bought a brand new GMC Envoy which was as perfect as you can get. The first one to slam his car's door against it while parked next to it was a fellow worker with the psychological profile you describe. You know what happened to him? A week or two later the engine on his car seized, and after he spent $4,000 on that, his tranny died too. That's what I call Bad Karma and I really believe in that. I didn't even need to lift a finger, and justice was served (whatever that means). What goes around, comes around.

Here its joy riding. You can't leave any car unattended anywhere...even in your garage. Kids take them out to the sandpits, get drunk and drive the crap out of them till they break. I wouldn't put it past any of them to steal any car. They just get a slap on their wrists, Daddy pays for the damage and they're at it again.

My steering wheel is one of those quick disconnects. When I am not driving the car there's no steering wheel in it. Not much fun for a joy rider....

Brian

We need more sheriffs like this guy, and we wouldn't need all these
damn devices for our cars....

Sheriff Joe Arpaio (in Arizona) is doing it RIGHT!!:

He has jail meals down to 40 cents a serving and charges the
inmates for them.
He stopped smoking and porno magazines in the jails.
Took away their weights.
Cut off all but "G" movies.
He started chain gangs so the inmates could do free work on
county and city projects. Then he started chain gangs for women so he
wouldn't get sued for discrimination.
He took away cable TV until he found out there was a federal
court order that required cable TV for jails. So he hooked up the cable TV
again but only let in the Disney channel and the weather channel. When asked
why the weather channel he replied, so they will know how hot it's gonna be while they are working on my chain gangs
He cut off coffee since it has zero nutritional value.
When the inmates complained, he told them.....this is a good
one......"This
isn't the Ritz/Carlton. If you don't like it, don't come back."
About 2,000 inmates living in a barbed-wire-surrounded tent encampment at
the Maricopa County Jail have been given permission to strip down to
their
government-issued pink boxer shorts.
On Wednesday, hundreds of men wearing boxers were either curled up on
their
bunk beds or chatted in the tents, which reached 138 degrees inside "It feels like we are in a furnace," said James Zanzot, an inmate who has
lived in the tents for 1 1/2 years. "It's inhumane."
> >Joe Arpaio, the tough-guy sheriff who created the tent city and long ago
> >started making his prisoners wear pink, and eat bologna sandwiches, is not
one bit sympathetic He said Wednesday that he told all of the inmates:
"It's 120 degrees in Iraq and our soldiers are living in tents too, and they
have to wear full battle gear, but they didn't commit any crimes ...
so shut your damned mouths."

Basically make Jail a place that you really want to avoid.......
not a frigging country club with television, and congical (sp)visits..Bring back torture.....
Then maybe that asshole will think twice about getting in your car to begin with....
Don't get me started........

Here in Houston ,he haw, texas we are allowed to use deadly force after dark to protect ones personal property. We had a case a few years ago when a repo guy with a wrecker went on a guys property and was hauling his truck off for not paying his note. Bubba, woke up and pulled his rifle and put a couple of rounds thru the back window of the wrecker while the guy was pulling away with his truck. Bubba, killed the repo driver and also walked on all charges. He thought the guy was stealing his truck and didn't know it was being repoed.

After reading my post I'm thinking their must be a country song in their . Kind of like that song by Mark Chestnut "Bubba shot the jukebox". "Bubba, shot the repo man last night".

Just wish I would have had a chance to draw a bead down on the clown who stole my 77 MGB back in the 80's. Then again not sure if I would actually kill someone over a car. Maybe just wound them...naaaa gotta kill em if your gonna shoot them or they will come back and sue you. Probably claim you were letting them borrow the car or that they accidentally got in your car by mistake at two in the morning in your locked garage. I worry about our legal system.

Sorry, can't seem to get my mind around "deadly force" to protect a car. Don't deny that I haven't thought about it but it just is not civilized.

What is wrong is a legal system that protects the rights of criminals over the right of victims or the rights of normal, law abiding folk. Now if you start talking about deadly force to rid our society of those folks....;-) Don't get me started on lawyers...

Way off topic!

Brian

Hard is it may be, we need to look at other Countries and their

Here's a guy who steals a car, gets caught, and because the cops
beat his ass a bit, will now get millions from the city ala
Rodney King, who is one of the biggest dirtbags walking around....
and has spent the millions he received in his lawsuit, and been
in and out of Jail numerous times since that incident years ago...
this new guy is just like King...the following is right off the internet.
Miller has a criminal record dating back to 1994 that includes car theft and forgery, records show. He was paroled in February after being convicted of trying to escape custody.
Salt of the earth kinda guy...........I'll take a frigging beating for millions of dollars...Every whack will be an added "high performance part" for my 356 coupe. whack, dual carbs, whack, big cam,
whack, supercharger....
The general public is outraged that our police department beat this SOB........figure this out....
Like I said this country has turned into a bunch of ladies.......

Ditto Vince!

Just remove the coil wire. I had a daily summer driven dune buggy which I would remove the coil completely. It stopped the small time car thief.

Vince, suppose you're stopped one night and trip as you exit the car (per cops request) you stumble and hit your head on the pavement, get up disorented and stagger toward the cop? Does he have the right to hit you in the head 10 times with his night stick? I know the cops have a tough job and get awfully frustrated seeing the samd dirtball in and out of jail 4 times a year, but you just can't justify beating the hell out of someone who is lying one the ground with his hands spread out from his body surrounded by 4 or 5 cops.
ed

Hey Ed can you kick him?

Ed,
First off, the situation you pose is totally different than what happened....They had been chasing him for a while...In a frigging stolen car no less...
I do not condone police brutality (in public)..
And I don't think the cops were right in this perticular case, beating
this guy, (on film)...My point is, as a society we have turned into a bunch of wimps, and the criminal has the rights and the victim is just that, a victim.....Usually never getting back what was lost...
Its almost impossible to have a conversation without offending someone, because you must be politically correct at all times....
Our freedom of speech and most other freedoms are being stolen from us
daily......
Tell you what, next time you get ripped off, let me know how you feel about the person who ripped you off..........

Vince
I do agree about us becoming a PC society and it ain't much fun. ed

This thread is way off topic, but...

The pendulum swings both ways and I think most folks agree it has, or is, too far to the left when it comes to the justice system.

They recently built a new young offenders facility here...millions and millions of dollars. Last I heard there were 30 or so "guests". I say "guests" because this place is more lavish than most folks homes.

Now I don't think they should be subject to inhumane conditions but incarceration should be just that....not a stay in a 5 star resort. There has to be deterents and there just are not any in our society.

Take our gun registry in Canada (Please!). Law abiding residents will follow the rules (well, I'm usually law abiding but I've not registered my hunting guns so now I'm a fellon) while criminals won't. What's accomplished? Dick all!

Brian

It seems we did get off the subject somewhat, and if I was responsible for that and able to offend anyone reading, then my job is done.....
I hate the way everybody mentally masterbates each other on this site, you guys are just too frigging nice, and I take it upon myself to keep a little unrest going at all times....if possible....
"Thank you very much" (heavy elvis accent)
P.S.....But I love your cars...........

Vince

Why, is it a bad thing for people to be nice, considerate and helpful toward each other? That's why I like this site.