Autoblog

In yet another indication that thieves may boast more skill and luck than overall intelligence, a 22-year-old Somers, Connecticut, resident in possession of a stolen Cadillac STS complained to authorities that someone had broken the window on "his" car. Of course, it took the police just a few minutes to determine that there were some serious holes in the thief's story, and maybe more than a small bit of air inside the young man's head.

Although the self-proclaimed "victim" was in possession of the Caddy's keys, there was no supporting documentation proving ownership, or that he was in the process of purchasing the vehicle from an Avis rental agency, as he claimed. In fact, just how the shady character expected to make those payments on a $50,000 car was in question -- his "employment" was all arranged through a local temp agency. Long story short, the rental agency just so happened to be missing one Cadillac STS, and it didn't take them long to press charges.

Instead of sitting behind the wheel of America's finest luxury marque, the vandal finds himself sitting in jail today, unable to post bail of just $3,500... it may be time to call the agency for another temp position. Thanks for the tip, Keith!

[Source: Courant]

This one may seem like a no-brainer, but it's probably not a good idea to hide the spare keys for your first and second car inside your... uh, car. Perhaps you can already tell where we're going with this... for the sake of the story, though, we'll continue. What might happen if your car were stolen? You'd be giving a thief keys to the car they just stole, plus, as a bonus, the keys to your other car.

Unfortunately for at least one man, the scenario in the preceding paragraph is a true story. "We believe the keys for both vehicles may have been inside the initial vehicle that was stolen," said Cornwall police spokesman Blake Paquin, who added, "We never recommend hiding keys in a vehicle." The spare keys for the man's 2002 BMW 325 were hidden in his 2003 Hummer H2, which led to the theft of both vehicles... within the same hour. Doh!

[Source: Andrew Seymour / Ottawa Citizen]

Bulging in the exhaust system like a rabbit deep in the belly of a boa, the catalytic converter cleans engine fumes before they are released into the air. To the inexperienced, the oversized metal cylinder looks rather uninteresting. To a thief, it is a pod of precious metal worth nearly $200 on the black market.

Catalytic converters are loaded with small amounts of precious metals including platinum, palladium and rhodium. When combined with hot exhaust gasses, a chemical reaction detoxifies the pollutants (this all happens without any trip to a Malibu clinic). All the average Joe really needs to know is that every car and truck is supposed to have one.

This low-lying fruit for the criminals hangs within easy reach under many sport-utility vehicles. Sitting taller than your average passenger car, their cats are easy to steal, and often don't even require the vehicle to be lifted for access. According to police, the Toyota 4Runner and Kia Sportage are the running favorites.

Unless it is your normal dwelling, there is no need to sleep underneath your vehicle with a shotgun; innovative consumers have found that spot-welding the catalytic converter to the rest of the exhaust system has proven to be an effective deterrent.

[Source: MSNBC via Winding Road]

The Catch-22 with advertising these days is that someone will undoubtedly be offended if your campaign is clever enough to be memorable. Ford of Canada came up with such an effort for the Escape, showing the CUV wearing a bumper sticker with the phrase "drive it like you stole it," and the tagline "Built for life in Manitoba." Innocuous enough, you say? Apparently not.

We can't say for sure if it's just people looking for things to get offended over, or if Canadians are just hypersensitive to Manitoba's reputation as a car theft hotspot. Either way, Ford has responded to the politically correct whining and pulled the ad while offering copious apologies. While car theft and traffic accidents are no laughing matter, especially when innocent people are tragically injured, you can't blame a car advertising campaign that uses an exceedingly common phrase for inducing an already rampant problem. We fail to see how people commiting criminal acts have anything to do with the automaker's sales efforts. Certainly, the message sent by the advertisement is that the Escape is tough enough for Canada, not that it's the car of choice for boosting. It'd be nice to see a company under unreasonable fire just offer up something like "whatevs, get a thicker skin." It's advertising, after all, not the cure for cancer. Of course, it would also have been easy enough to say "Drive it like you hate it" and send largely the same message.

Thanks for the tip, Richard!

[Source: CBC]

Here's a familiar morning routine now that the weather's turning colder: start car, set heat on high, retreat inside to finish coffee. There's plenty of debate for and against the practice of warming up by idling, but the unfortunate story of this ZJ could bolster the argument for just getting in and going. eBayer buickonly had his 1996 Grand Cherokee swiped from his driveway one morning as it sat innocently trying to generate some warmth. What had been a nice clean vehicle ended up having its nose bashed in and was abandoned after becoming wedged between two trees. The coniferous atomic wedgie sheared off an exterior door handle, so there's only three working doors, and a Lincoln Town Car donated its proboscis to some crude rhinoplasty, but at least it's got lights out front again. Naturally, his wife refuses to ride in it, especially with it's rattle-can chic paint job, so buickonly's trying to unload it. If you've got a need for a vehicle that doesn't have to be pretty, bids start at $1,600.

Thanks for the tip, Erik!

LoJack's international recovery network makes it increasingly difficult to escape its satellite eyes. Here's the best example yet. Two Albanian thieves broke into the Italian vacation of home of a Frenchman and knocked him out with sleeping gas. They then stole his French-registered Gallardo. When the man came to he called LoJack France and reported the car stolen. They called LoJack Italy, who turned on the recovery system, and located the car on its way to Naples. The Italian police were called, and bada-boom, bada-bing, you've got two rustlers behind bars and a wayward bull returned to its owner. LoJack also has a Mexico/US agreement to help ward off thieves closer to home. We wonder if the guys who lifted the Lambo got pulled over by this.

[Source: Telematics Journal and Inside Line]

SUV owners love the flexibility that their removable or stowable third-row seats afford them, and thieves have taken note. A growing number of third-row seats are being stolen and sold at swap meets, and the removable seats on the Chevy Tahoe are one of the main targets. Chevy designers made the seats easy to install and remove, with only two bolts keeping the additional seating attached to the vehicle. Police officials in Long Beach, CA told Inside Line that the problem is so bad right now, crooks are "breaking into parked SUVs and grabbing third-row seats in the middle of the day". Police are offering to engrave metal under the the seats in several spots to help identify the stolen goods.

[Source: Inside Line]

Bristol, a little known British builder of expensive luxury and sports cars, opened up its shop this past Monday in Patchway, England to find a rude surprise. Thieves had broken into the factory over the weekend and, instead of stealing cars, ripped off the company's presses that stamp out body panels for its pricey lineup. Ten presses in all were boosted that make body panels for the Blenheim range of coupes. Fortunately, since Bristol only manages to produce about 2 or 3 cars a week, its current inventory of roof, wing and door panels will last for a while, but presses are hard to come by and eventually the company will slow down its snail-pace production to a halt when supplies run out.

The robbers apparently used huge cranes to steal the presses, as well as drove in and out of the complex multiple times to complete the job. No one noticed a thing and they've gotten away scott free for now, but ten presses won't be easy to sell on the black market. Chances are they'll be cut up and sent to China or India to be sold as scrap metal. We can't imagine the criminals will actually start producing Bristols of their own because, quite frankly, they're a bit ugly with a face that only a wealthy Brit could love.

Thanks for the tip, Dylan!

[Source: thisisbristol.co.uk]

In 1976, the Palo Alto, California owner of a 1956 Ford Thunderbird had his car stolen from him. In an unwitting stroke of fortune, he still lives not far from where his baby was taken. This week, he got a call -- thirty-one years later -- that his 51-year-old car has been found in Southern California. Turns out a SoCal woman bought it from a seller in Ohio, but had to get help with the VIN number from the California Highway Patrol. When they ran the mismatching VIN numbers, they realized it was stolen, and then tracked down the records of the owner. Even better for the now-restored owner: the car is still in "cherry" condition, and has only 24,979 miles on it. (The '56 Thunderbird in the pic isn't the actual stolen car.)

Thanks for the tip, Chuck!

[Source: Sports Car Market magazine]

Sorted Performance had its Speed World Challenge racing season come to an abrupt halt earlier this week when its transporter consisting of a 2005 Dodge Ram 3500 4x4 dually and 48-foot Gooseneck Haulmark Edge triple axle trailer were stolen from a Hampton Inn parking lot in Livonia, MI. Team manager Ken Grammer was transporting both of the team's Grand Touring Class Dodge SRT-4 race cars at the time, along with all the spare parts available for the cars. Today it was learned that the truck has been recovered in Detroit and sustained some damage, though not as much as the trailer, which was also found in Detroit burnt to a crisp. The two SRT-4 race cars, one driven by team owner Hal Brown and the other by current Rookie of the Year points leader Stan Wilson, are still missing. The racing community has its feelers out for the cars, as their parts are very specific and should be easy to spot should the thieves attempt to sell them.

You can view all the currently available info on the situation in this thread on the SCCA Pro Racing forums, and please keep your eyes open if you live in the Detroit area. Hopefully these two race cars can be found in good shape thanks to the collective effort of a concerned auto and racing community. Sorted Performance was looking forward to the next round of the series at the 2007 Grand Prix of Toronto. With any luck, Hal and Stan will be behind the wheels of their SRT-4s by then.

Thanks for the tip, Joe!

[Source: SCCA Pro Racing forums]