Heck if I could just find one "Francis or a Monster" I would be all set! Thanks for making me laugh -I needed it
Stepped into the house for water and when I came back to the garage some shyster was snooping around just inside the door. I asked "the fuck you doin?' Uh..Uh...uh..Can I borrow a cup of gas". Told him to make tracks before shit flies!" Still cant believe the BS a crackhead will say.
Heres a nice video sytem, http://www.harborfreight.com/4-channel-surveillance-dvr-with-4-cameras-and-mobile-monitoring-capabilities-68332.html . The hard drive cam hold a year of video plus you can view live feed on your cell phone and switch cameras. My friend bought and installed one after finding out his wifes OT car was broken into. Pretty nice system for the price, planning on getting one myself.
UPDATE -forgot to tell everyone that back around the 2nd week of December, when I had to fly to New York for the annual company meetings/Christmas Party, some rat bastards tried to break into my garage! It was the day after I left so I know they were watching my house and must have seen me leave in the cab. I work in the office in my garage so they knew my schedule. They showed up around 1:30 PM and pulled their pick-up truck into my neighbors driveway (I usually lock my gate at the driveway), kicked in his' garage door and stole most of his' stuff (jukebox, power tools, bar arcade machine), broke into his' house and stole more of their stuff. They then hopped the fences (all 4 of our backyards connect and are seperated by fences) and stole my other neighbors snowblower and some things out of her garage. They jumped our fence and tried with a crowbar to jam open my garage door but that didnt work (steel fire door -bent but did not break ) , they then tried to jimmy my locks and snapped something off inside and then worked their way to the back of my garage and put pieces of duck tape in a X on both my back windows (obviously getting ready to punch them out). Around this time, my aunt came over to let my dog out into the back yard and she heard him barking alot. After about 5-10 minutes she went out to investigate but did not see anything. My neighbor came home around 5 and called me and told me he got robbed. I called my wife and when she came home found the damage to the door and called the police. The police came and found the crowbar in the neighbors yard that they used on my garage. Police theorized that the rat-bastards where professionals and had been casing out our houses. When they saw the car come and get me they realized it was their chance. So they waited till the next day and made their move. My dog must have scared the guys away as they did not have the time to punch the garage windows out and must have hopped the fence when my dog showed up. I spoke to the police officer and told him about the black pickup truck and he told me that he was 90% sure that this was one of the guys. He said these guys know all the tricks and he probably had a buddy casing my house/garage which is why he stalled me. He advised me that I should have called the police immediately. All scrappers in our city need to have a permit and are not allowed on your property. If I had gotten the license plate number (coulda/shoulda snapped a pic with my phone) they could have tracked this guy down and arrested him. I probably would have prevented the robberies from happening. Just wanted to post this as a warning to people to be very watchful and dont hesitate to call the police if you notice something unusual. The police will figure out if what is happening is okay or not. Since this has happened, my wife is afraid to go out to our garage at night because people could be watching! I think that is the worst thing-feeling/knowing that people are watching you.. I am also going to do some other things to prevent any future happenings and I pity them if they come back! I just want everyone to be careful out their and dont hesitate to call the police if you feel something is not right !!! You might even be surprised at what is going on in your neighborhood !!!! __________________ <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
My son is a scrapper ( licensed business ) . He said since he has been advetising he has been getting ripped off. He will make a deal to pick up scrap and before he can pick it up scumbags will come and take it, Needless to say he is pissed. Lee
i dare any one to jump my fence-it would be assholes & elbows time! 2 pitbulls & a boxer and what ever pit i have rescued at the time-upwards of 5 dogs at any given time,& then there is my wife-----yikes!!!!
And watch out for the little scumbag kids that are willing to mow your yard for $10.00 with a 20 y/o lawnmower. I have a feeling they're just casing the joint. We have pretty good scrappers here, but I still sit on porch with my shotgun, when I put scrap out on the curb. Yup, just cleaning it.
A buddy of mine had his Oakland chassis stolen, along with a bunch of other OT car parts. All went to scrap I am sure. Over the past few years when scrap prices sky rocketed we would have scrappers walk into the shop on a weekly basis. They all shared the same routines, acting like they were doing me a favor by hauling away all this "junk". It got to the point where I had to start being an asshole to them so they would not come back. I told them that I haul away my own scrap, BEER MONEY. I had a guy come to the shop yesterday, this guy was actually invited. I showed him this gigantic street sweeper that was left by a customer a decade ago, he whips out my asking price in $100 bills with no questions asked. Ofcourse I ask him if he knows of any old car or parts laying around. Ofcourse he tells me that he had just cleaned out a guys personal collection of Model A stuff. The owner died and his daughter called in the scrappers! Then he went on to tell me that he cleaned out his junk yard or mostly muscle cars, but he did have a few '50s mopars(now I'm thinking hemi) Stuff like that makes me sick.
I noted a truck around my 'hood with Texas plates picking up scrap... Texas must be picked clean already?? I jotted down the plate number just in case someone comes up with stuff missing from their property. I have a security system on my house and garage and the garage is pretty tight. I'd like to add a few security cameras just to see who comes by during the day when I'm at work. Some mofo did walk away with my Sunday paper a couple of times in the past month... Bob
It sucks you guys are having things stolen. I can't stand theives and am still pissed about some punk that stole the jack out of my truck about 10 years ago when I lived in an apartment complex. I also have a mountain of scrap stashed behind my house that I prize highly and don't want people snooping around or stealing it. Now watch me talk out of the other side of my mouth. I obtained most of that scrap by trash picking and picking up stuff that people at work want to get rid of. I like to recycle and can't stand the thought of good metal going to a landfill when it could be recycled. The town trash guys don't care, they just throw it in the truck. I try to pick the stuff up if I see it driving by. I know the trash days on my route to work and will look for stuff AT THE CURB as I go to/from work. Today I picked up a junk chandelere. I have had hauls as big as swing sets, gas grilles, and even a complete rearend once. I ONLY take from stuff that is as the curb, like right at the street, on garbage days. If it looks like it might not be trash I don't stop. It's at the road not on trash day I'll stop and ask first. The answer is always yes, but I don't ever want to make a mistake so it's better to ask than not. Usually the people are happy to see it go and sometimes I'll get more they have out back. I never cruise or case places or go up unannounced. I also buy and scrap newer junk cars so I stuff my trash picked stuff in them for weight. Also I don't scrap things of value. If I found a stash of Model A parts obviously I would save them to use or sell. Good things, like old lamps and chairs out of the trash, I take to the flea market. No sense an old school desk going in the landfill when someone can make a diplay piece out of it in their home. There are a lot of theives out there. Just wanted to let everyone know that not all the scrappers are scumbags. Some are just doing it to save metal from going to the landfill and to make a little extra spending money.
I make every attempt to get to know the local scrappers and I use them to my advantage. I get their names and phone numbers when I meet them. I had to cut a car up one night and had no place to put the metal. It only took one call at 11:30pm and there was someone there in 20 minutes with a crane and trailer. I have also scored some amazing junk off of them for cheap. Better to make a friend than an enemy.
I wonder how many "car guys" get ripped off because they get on facebook and announce to the world which car shows/cruises that they are going to,when they are leaving etc?? Even dirtbags have computers.
I've had my share of dealing with insane scrappers here in Texas. I had a shop in Alvin Texas for years. One time I had loaded down my trailer in front of my shop to go to the Conroe swap meet. This was in broad daylight. My truck was running and hooked to the trailer. I went inside the shop to use the head and when I can out some shit had cleaned off my trailer in the 10 minutes that I was in the can. I found the stuff in a local scrap yard a few miles down the road. They had already scrapped it all and had broken the dual carbs off of a Hudson Twin H manifold. The next MAJOR hit came less than a year ago. A Close friend of mine and myself have tons of antique firetrucks near Hobby Airport in Houston. A scrapper had approached us a few days prior to ask if he could cut up the 30+ fire trucks in the 6ft fenced in wooded area that the parts trucks are kept in. WE SAID NO. I was working in the shop about 200ft away all day a few days later. I came out to go home at about 7pm and noticed that the wooded lot had been mowed and some of the trees had been cut down. I walked over to find that there was a huge pile of bronze and brass in the bed of one of the trucks that had been removed off of all of the other trucks! We called the cops and they made a report. The next morning I got there at 8am to find the gate cut on the lot, no shit at least 50 Illegal Mexicans under the guide of two rough white guys in our fenced in area. The bastards were out there with multiple torches cutting up the trucks, a Bobcat loader, multiple dually trucks and trailers and generators to run the electric cut off tools. I freaked and called 911. When the cops showed up half the idiots took of running by jumping over the Hobby Airport fence and out onto the runway. That didn't go well for them, but the best part was the scrapper pig told the cops he had permission to scrap our trucks. He produced a letter with a forged signature on it. The police said it was a civil matter and let the pigs drive away with our stuff!!!!!!!! The good news is one of the fire trucks belonged to a police officer and another to a Montgomery County DA. The two white guys have since been arrested and the others- OH well. Evidently one of them was wanted for cutting up one of those giant water chiller towers from the Humble,TX school district and scrapping the copper out of it. I guess the lesson here is. I felt threatened by the small army they had out there that morning and in Texas we have a right to shoot if you feel threatened. I should have wasted them all, but I have to say since they were so bold about how they were steeling the stuff, I started second guessing myself into thinking that "what if one of us gave them permission" as they were claiming. It is hard to think straight with that kind of commotion going on.
That's exactly what I thought -"what if I am wrong and this guy is really a legitimate scrapper?" Well I learned a valuable lesson here and I wont let it happen again. I will definitely call the police if I see anyone on my property and I will write the license plant number down. A legitimate scrapper usually has some stuff in his' truck and is looking at your stuff on the curb or is going to your door to ask you for permission. They are not sneaking around your house. It sounds like you were dealing with professional thieves like I was. They know they can act like scrappers to bluff there way out of things and get away with it. If I lived in Texas (instead of Illinois) I would have definitely whipped out my AR 15 or AK 47 and had them doing a Texas Two Step all the way off my property!!!!! You would have probably gotten away with it in Texas-in Illinois I would be heading to Jail!
Those guys had balls the size of those fire trucks to pull that off! I'm glad I don't live near the Mexican border. It sounds like nothing but a nightmare when dealing with criminals and thefts. No thanks.
I used to work out in my shop with the overhead door open, ya know fresh air, etc, then one day I noticed the same unknown truck drive by 3 times. Nothing happened, but it gave me an uneasy feeling. I rarely have it open anymore.
Yeah,fantastic. How exactly would you defend that one in court? You'd end up losing a whole lot more than a barbecue pit.
That is for sure, had 4 radiators and an estimated 200 lbs of copper wire ready to scrap this last summer. On Labor day our journey with my daughter being in the Hospital for 10 weeks began. When we got home we discovered it had all been stolen. This was stored out at the farm and they also took some stuff from Dad's neighbor. Both places are well off of the county roads and hard to get to by accident. Rod
The two white guys controlling the work, sure... but the Mexicans? They could have been hired by the two whites and have no clue what they were doing was theft. Trouble is, you sometimes don't know who to shoot.....
I've had the locals (non english speaking variety) want me to give them my smoker trailer for scrap....usually they leave in big hurry when they are starring down the business end of a 9mm!
Didn't go through the whole thread, but I wanted to add some input about cameras... There is a lot of software out there that will allow you to use a simple webcam attached to a computer to record. I have this setup with icatcher at my Father in laws garage where I work on my 34. I also have a 4 camera setup at home. Most of the stuff can be cobbled together with an old pc and an ebay account. they sell cheap Chinese cameras for about $11 each and I must say, they work pretty slick with a Piccolo card and I catcher. Be careful of the Chinese capture cards though... they are not all they are cracked up to be. They come with hacked software and most will only allow you to use one camera at a time. Also, X10 stuff is pretty cheap, and mostly wireless. Good for the detached garage. I have mine setup to turn my kitchen lights on before I get home as well as my bedroom lights on in the morning when I wake up. It helps that I have a 150 Lb Great Dane, and a Australian Shepard Border Collie... that go ballistic when someone opens the door. Of course what they don't take care of when I am home, Mr Mossberg 500 cleans up the rest Good Hunting.
Man...If you see that truck again I really suggest you call the Police and get the license plate number. Let them decide if that person is okay or not. You sound like me with that unknown guy and now I really wished I had called-would have saved alot of people from getting robbed.
WOW! I always wondered why the City of Houston would be saving all those old fire trucks in that lot over there. Consider yourself lucky those scunches didn't assault you when you challenged their little gangster operation. A couple friends and I rented an old sheet metal building off the Gulf Freeway near the Finger's furniture store about 3-4 decades ago. We had about 4-5 old cars in there, a bunch of early Ford speed parts (heads, manifolds, front covers, generator bracket, carb adapters, etc), radiators, and parts. Some of the scrappers of that day broke in and stole all the radiators and aluminum in the place except the one in the trucnk of my 51 Ford convertible. We cried our asses off then woke up with blood in our eyes. Never left the place again without setting a deadly trap of some kind usually involving electrocution if found. It's always been a problem with the same gutter folks doing the same thing to a bunch of guys who just want to play with old cars.
Texas is well armed, and it's legal to shoot someone on your property stealing your stuff, or even to shoot someone stealing your neighbors stuff.
The white guys were most certainly the brains behind the operation, and most of the mexicans were just poor illegal bastards that got caught up in the mix when these guys picked them up at Home Depot. But there were a few real mouthy ones that were in the mix that were obviously close friends of the two main turds. It was pretty stupid of me to pull up in front of the gate and block their trucks in with my truck until the cops got there. But once I get mad, I get mean and don't think real intelligently. I kept watching all sides of me to make sure none of them were going to flank me. I didn't even have my gun in my hand. I got out of the truck and grabbed the axe out of the bed of my truck and just stared at the chumps and yelled "yall aint going nowhere. The cops are on their way". They could have shot me on the spot.
Here is one of the trucks that the scrappers ruined just for the copper and brass. It was a nice 1942 Seagrave pumper. They took a torch and cut out the side of the truck to remove the bronze pump. They took a hammer and knocked out the grille to steal the radiator. They also tore off the solid bronze windshield frame and all of the brass railings. They did this to all 30 of the trucks. This particular truck was going to be brought in from the storage lot to begin restoration that week. We were clearing a spot for it in the main workshop when they cut it up!
The Jalopy Journal
