the owner has had the Rolls for over two decades, having purchased it at auction before dedicating years to its meticulous restoration. The car had become his faithful companion on tours across France, Italy, Poland, and numerous other European destinations
What makes this crime particularly audacious is the sheer impracticality of stealing a 1920 Silver Ghost that requires a 23 step starting procedure that most concours judges, and owners, can't remember, without written instructions
The Rolls was parked within clear view of two security cameras, and the thief got away clean, and isn't likely to get caught, ever.
It's a good reminder that it's extremely effective to simply remove a piece of the ignition that's rare or hard to acquire, which prevents thieves from driving a car away... if you can rig up some clever way to lock the transmission in park, or the parking brake on, or the steering at the extreme left or right.
https://luxurylaunches.com/transport/105-year-old-rolls-royce-stolen-06302025.php
I sometimes lose track of what I've posted before, but years ago my daughter had a Jeep Cherokee (one of the most stolen vehicles ever once) in Boston (stolen car capital of the East). She routinely pulled the fuel pump relay. It was a high mileage rusty one, but sure enough, one night thieves tried to steal it. The next morning, there it was with a broken window and a torn-up steering column, but there it still was.
ReplyDeleteI'm the lucky owner of a Hyundai accent, and Hyundai "recalled" it for its easy stealability by issuing a cheap Chinese steering wheel club! Amusingly, someone gave my daughter a couple of the very same type about 20 years ago because they were so worthless they turned up free somewhere. I noticed that in the fuse box, there's one empty space, and that empty space happens to be right above the fuse for the engine computer. So when I park in difficult situations, I just pull the fuse and plug it into the empty space. I was going to do a hidden switch somewhere, but the silly little Hyundai has some of the neatest wiring I've ever seen, and it's hard to find a good spot to cut into.
she was very smart to always snag the fuel pump relay... that's going to stop a thief every time!
DeleteI hope you are to be complimented for that idea?!
Lol, I have a Hyundai Veloster... there was some usb hack that Hyundai found out about during Covid in 2020, I think it was, that we Hyundai owners were surprised to find, anyone could use to steal most Hyundais with.
Moving that fuse is a damn good idea too... the wiring idea would be good also, a switch inserted somewhere out of sight, but yeah, wiring harnesses are a difficult thing to work with.
And can you find a specialty car electrical shop, that won't charge an arm and a leg, to do a simple on/off swtich that disables the fuel pump? My last job had several work trucks, and every one had a hidden switch, and that's because the trucks had been stolen, once or twice. Tacomas and Rangers are easy to break into and steal.
In about 10 seconds, a Ranger's door lock can be popped, with a long screw driver.