How do you secure your HAMB vehicle when you are out and about?

With the rise in thefts, and thinking about how to properly secure my RPU when I'm out driving it, I got to thinking. How do you secure your car or truck - ESPECIALLY RPUs - when you are out driving it and have to (or decide to) stop?

I'm not just talking about a run inside a convenience store or Walmart, rather I'm talking about places like a movie theater, work, or when you are driving to a show or get together - a hotel?

It may not be a HAMB worthy idea, but I've been contemplating a small steel case type box (approx dimensions 10"x8"x12") to mount to the firewall of my RPU. In it, I've been thinking about adding my gauges, headlight switch and turn indicators, CD player (I know you may not like it, but I don't care), fuse panel, and since I'm running a Ford starter relay I'd move it inside the box/case as well. I've also been contemplating adding a second ignition switch which would cut off all external power to various circuits, as well as a line lock type device placed under a sliding panel which could be secured by a lock. I'm also thinking of an alarm system - complete with shock sensors - to be installed within the box as well.

So, I'm curious as to what you all do to secure your rides. Show/tell me if you would. Thanks!

 

Hidden kill switch. No- I'm not telling you where it is.

Best plan for me is lots of insurance. If they want it bad enough- it will be gone. I've had several friends loose cars to a flatbed tow. No one questions a tow showing up. They can drag it up & be one in minutes.

They stole my neighbor's 427 Cobra right out of the locked garage while they were on vacation. Backed up driveway- pried open the roll up door- drug it up on the flatbed & GONE!

 

that's what I got on mine.

 

Hidden kill switches work great. LOjack is better. Get one of those boots the city puts on it and nobody will touch it, since all the vehicle info is in the city computer..."supposedly".

 

I am an ex car audio store owner with a masters certificate in security (MECP). There are plenty of ways to secure your car, but the old K.I.S. rule (keep it simple) is still the best. If it doesn't have fuel or fire it can't be stolen. Kill switches do not work because most people install them near the ignition so most thieves ALWAYS bring their own jumper wire about 3 feet long. There's nowhere in the cab you can put a switch that's 3 feet out of the way and thieves already know you are going to try and hide it. The best place is right in front of your face in the wide open.

My favorite places for kill switches are blower motor switches, headlight switches, or other factory installed switches that are clearly marked for their intended purpose. On one of my cars I relocated the headlight switch and used the factory switch for my kill switch. If the headlights weren't pulled out in the on position, the car didn't run. It wasn't the headlight switch.

A fuel cutoff valve was installed on the climate knob of the same car. Instead of turning the climate knob to low, med, high, you were opening the fuel cutoff switch by twisting it from off to high.

Thieves already know you are hiding your switches. The most obvious place is the most hidden place. Put it right in front of their face, and they'll never find it.

 

I lock the door

 

with all of these thefts going on recently. why is it that you will see a buch of cars at a show...with the keys in the ignition and no one around ?
sure i'll bet there is a battery cut off switch somewhere, but....if passersby don't know who's car it is, what's stopping someone from just reaching in and snatching the keys ? no one would question someone that walks up to the car like they own it, and taking the keys like they are theirs.
later that night at the motel, when the car owner is asleep...the thief has a full set of keys to the car, and darkness on his side to search for the battery kill switch.

i have a secret to securing my car...and if i told you what it was, it wouldn't be a secret anymore.
but like so many others have said...if a thief wants your car/truck bad enough, they will figure out a way to take it. locks and alarms only keep the honest theives away.

 

Mate had an open car with a blanket over the front seat. Under the blanket was an armed rabbit trap. No one ever stole the car but he found the trap had been 'sprung' a few times over the years.

Cheers, Glen.

 

NOT a correct statement. If it doesn't have fuel or fire it can't be driven BUT it can be towed without an issue.

 

Time is the thief's enemy, so I have a fuel shut off installed & I disconnect the battery.

Over the years, I've used a variation on a theme regarding kill switches.
In addition to a regular kill switch, I've added "constant open" switches to the starting circuit on my cars. They're spring loaded, so you have to depress the button to complete the circuit & let the starter engage. These switches are small & can be hidden in a seat riser, door panel, etc.

 

Insurance...I like the plain view hidden switches too.

If you try too hard you'll just make yourself crazy.

If they want it they WILL get it.

 

Use a motion detector. They also have pocket size receivers.
They are cheap too.
http://jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=281100

 

http://www.nextag.com/motion-detector-alarm/search-html
http://www.nextag.com/motion-sensor-alarm/search-html
http://nservices.com/motion.htm
http://www.tbotech.com/infrared-motion-sensor.htm

I also bought a set at harbor freight that work great.
They have good distance reception. Never tested them but I do know they reach a hotel parking lot to an enclosed hotel room. Wouldn't hurt to put an extra receiver in your trunk to alert the lowlife that a large gun is coming his way.

 

Insurance is the best. I sometime wrap a chain around the steering wheel to the pedals and pull the coil wire . But if they wont it they will get it.

 

I agree

 

There's a club-like device for under the brake pedal. Yeah, it can be defeated like anything else. But it's a large, obvious reason for a thief to move on. Strange things scare them and it's a couple minutes of exposure to defeat it before he moves on to whatever kill switch is also hidden on the car.

Security comes in layers.

 

I don't take the roadster to a movie theater or restaurant or anyplace where I can't see it. Even at car shows and cruises, depending on the type of crowd, at least one of us will stay with the car. I do have a battery cut-off swich that's not in plain sight, but not particularly well hidden.

For out of town stays, we take the portable garage. Some call it a trailer but I prefer portable garage because that's how we use it. Yes, I know that entire rigs can and do get stolen but that's a whole 'nother degree of difficulty. At least the car itself is under lock and key and out of sight.

And I know that several on here have said carry a lot of insurance, and we do, but that's not much consolation.

"I used to have a really cool, fun hot rod that I put tons of sweat and energy into and it was one of a kind and I loved it, but now I have this nifty large check instead"

That wouldn't make it any better for me!

 

That will get um thinking..hahahaha

 

Everything I have has hidden...in your face kill switches...My '80 Cutlass has the kill switch in the power seat controls...Whoops wasn't supposed to say that...Oh well it still has 4 more you have to flip along with it...and a fuel shut off.... If you want to....try breaking the hardened stainless band around the column...Oh and theres also the fact that it won't shift out of park with out another switch...

None of the other cars are as elaborate as the cutlass but...G-body GMs are a major target for thefts around here. And as long as I have something to do with it your going to have a hell of a time taking my baby.

 

Several LARGE cables, plastic covered, with huge padlocks. These get threaded through the wheels and suspension on each side. Not that they can't be cut, but they look kinda intimidating to the average thief. I get them at Lowe's. As said, they can still get the car, but why make it easy?

 

Kill switch,,,HRP

 

I agree, can't believe how many cars have the keys hanging in them. That's just asking for trouble. Like they say "a lock is just to keep an honest person honest''.

 

I lock my sedan. Not that it will slow down many theives but I think if it isn't easy to gain entry, they might go on to an easier target. The hard part about that is all the time I spent to engineer and fabricate the locks to work just like Henry Ford built it in the first place. Since I put bearclaw latches on it I screwed up and got the ones with no built-in locks. I spent WEEKS with the doors sitting on a stand making little lock pawls and rods & levers. The end result.....you lock the car just like an original car.

 

2002p51 wrote: I don't take the roadster to a movie theater or restaurant or anyplace where I can't see it.

I agree. I have come to accept that thieves will always try to steal, and even nice folks will do the most thoughtless things like use your car as their trash bin, or scratch it up trying to admire it.

 

I have a roadster. I pray a lot.

 

Blowjack?
This will instantly "part out" your car along with the thief!

 

my thought was always simple....open up the national news with people who steal, gettin there fuckin arm cut off......few months of that shit,,,,and taa daa!!!!

 

That is essentially the basic premise and idea. The can would save me much fabrication, but I don't know if I can use the lid or not. Thanks for the idea.

Did you hear the joke about the blonde that drowned in her convertible? The top was down, but she couldn't unlock the doors to get out.

I drive a roadster pickup, and the only thing locking the doors would stop would be blondes... and depending, I might want them to get in and stuck!

I've contemplated doing just this as well.

I'm probably going to look at one of these as well instead of using a chain between the pedal and steering wheel.

I've thought about these as well as a few other ideas.

The bottom line is that I want to slow them down should they choose my vehicle. There are several different ways to do it I'm sure, and I like the ideas of hiding things in plain sight. I know I can't completely protect it 100% unless I leave it at home in the garage, but I just want a bit of protection so I feel safer when I'm out and about with it.

 

So can a 747, we're talking about practical preventative solutions.