My TA was stolen (and recovered) this weekend
 

Saturday morning I got up to walk my dog and my car was missing from its spot (I live in a gated apartment complex). It was SURREAL. Called the cops, got a report. An hour later we left to run errands, and I happened to look to the right and I see my car. We called the cops and wait an hour for them to show up again.

Looks like whoever stole it either couldn't drive stick or the security shut the car down. They moved it a total of 15 feet before they parked it next to a hydrant. Steering column is torn up, ignition is broken, they ripped off the plastic piece that goes around the gauge cluster. Stole my intercepter gauge, ipod, sunglasses, and Hurst T handle shift knob(?).

Here's the bad part... I popped the hood and saw the oil cap was off the engine and sitting on the battery. I have a GIANT fear they poured something into the engine.

I'm waiting for insurance adjuster to call me back.

drain the oil and pull the valve cover. That will at least tell you the obvious before you do any damage..

Glad to hear you got it back.

My worst nightmare would be to have a car stolen. It would suck even more to find it and have to take it back. The fear of the unknown is the worst. Hopefully they'll go thru it and find nothing wrong.

1966GOAT: Sorry to hear your TA got jacked. Had that happen to another car I owned 29 years ago. It is surreal...especially looking at the empty spot you parked it in the night before.

Mine was found by the police three days, five 7-11 robberies, smashed steering column, burned headliner from their crack pipe, and the crack pipe in the trunk later.

It just leaves you with that "You sick bastids!" thought and look on your face. Hope your TA isn't filled with molasses, sugar or whatever else would ruin the motor.

Good luck!

Jim
ScumOne

If you don't have security cameras, check with the neighbors, they may have one that may give clues/ pictures of the perps. Good luck with the insurance company!!

thats sucks
sorry to hear
not sure what is worse, having it stolen, or getting it back all damaged up with unknowns

i remember what the insurance companies had us to do cars at the shop,
basically butcher them back together
sucked when you knew they smoked bad stuff inside the car, usually you will never get it out without a total strip down and replacement

i've said if my stuff gets stolen, i don't want it back... who knows what was done
seems like anything with an LS motor is a hot vehicle to steal now-a-days too
and usually stick shifts are less desirable to thieves because most don't know how to drive them, meaning the junkie/druggie type

bring back hardcore punishment, like the old Yuma prison... people will stop...
especially when you chop their hands off... but most people say that is to hardcore..

I've been in some discussions about theft lately on other forums. I'd personally be glad to have a couple grand worth of damage rather than lose the whole car.

I keep a lot of cars and don't care about most of them being gone if I got a pay out from my insurance company. My 67 Firebird on the other hand is my baby and I don't know what I'd do if it was ever gone completely.

Sorry to hear about this but glad you got it back (even considering the "unknowns").

Not my story, but Bill Nawrot (YNOBIL on this site) got his GTO stolen - and recovered - back in the day. Witnesses claimed you could hear the gears grinding as the thieves drove away, presumably because they couldn't drive Bill's transmission of choice: a floor shifted three speed manual.

K

My 87 IROC was stolen from my apartment building parking lot 11 days after I picked it up new at the dealership. Police found it the next morning and two weeks & over $4k later it was back in my hands.

Sorry to hear about your car being stolen, but glad you got it back.

20 years ago I had a similar experience with my 67 Sprint lemans, I was working 3rd shift and when I cam home my garage door was open and the lemans was gone! The thieves had got around my Starter cut off switch, but had not found my electric fuel pump switch, so they only got about a block away when the Q-jet ran out of gas.
Then then got so mad they could not steal my car they keyed the paint, busted out the head lights and all the side glass before one of my neighbors (also a car guy) herd the noise saw my car in the street yelled out his door and called the cops. The cops insisted on towing the car when they could not get ahold of me at 3:00am, and the wrecker damaged the rear bumper dropping it off at the impound lot. At least they admitted that much.
The thieves did over $5000 of damage to the car besides messing up the dash wiring harness. I did not have classic car insurance at the time. And almost had to sue AAA to get them to actually honor the stated value policy I had. It was insured for $8000 at the time, and the repair bill came to over $5000. But they did eventually pay up.

I hope your claim goes much smoother.

Check out this thread on Team Chevelle. Theives were caught on a security camera trying to steal a Chevelle.
James

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=813689

Car theives = SCUM
 

I had the misfortune of experiencing this six years ago, and then again in May 2011.
The second time was not quite so terrible as it was my daily driver/winter car, but it still left me with no transportation.
This is how I felt and still feel about my '88 LeSabre T-type.
It sucks to think about it being trashed, but it was irreplaceble (for all intent purposes).
I still would be elated to have it discovered in someone's garage with only the damage it suffered that fateful night, because the sad reality is that it was probably crushed in some unscrupulous scrap yard within weeks. :mad::mad::mad:

Showing my signature which I have preserved for brevety:

Individuals who do this would NOT want me to know who they are....

AAA insurance was great, except for one thing. The car was an 82 Buick Regal, all the options, power everything, yada yada. It was stolen in 86, a four year old car at the time.

When the car got back to the body shop/upholstery shop, etc they got a listing of the damaged parts.

So the AAA rep calls me and says the windshield wiper motor is bad, and they want me to pay for 90% of it. I asked the rep "I have full coverage, you're paying for the body work, paint, upholstery, etc...why are you trying to negotiate the wiper motor?"

"Because our depreciation chart shows that a wiper motor is a consumable like a brake pad, and we've determined it was only worth 1/10th of what it was when it was new."

"Uh...ok, Mister AAA. The wiper motor is used so rarely here in So Cal I doubt it was worn out. But tell you what, why don't you go to a junkyard, find an 82 Buick Regal, and get the wiper motor out of that and put it in my car so you incur the least possible cost to repair the vehicle I pay you good money to insure. And after you've done that, I'll start shopping for a new insurance company."

And then I hung up.

So yeah...be advised, AAA thinks wiper motors are consumables like brake pads and tires. :D

66g, you are lucky damage was minimal and you got the car back.

In 1992 someone (I know who but couldn't prove it) completely gutted my 1979 WS6 Formula Firebird. All that was left of the interior was the steering column and wheel, and the shifter stick sticking up thru the floor. Everything else was gone. Walk up to a car you own and see that. And then have no one do a thing about it so you can recover your loss. Local and State cops, plus the insurance company, did nothing.

OMG that's horrible!! :( I'd be devastated!! but as was said, at least you got it back. So sorry to hear this happened to you.