Ive seen the rods on here that keep getting stolen, and the numbers seem to be going up, instead of down. I think it may be time to steal a Idea from *GASP* the Honda crowd. Honda's get stolen like crazy, they are easy to get into, and easy to steal. One thing they have done is add a car alarm, but not just any alarm. What I have seen done is they take your normal cheap car alarm. They then hide a small dry cell battery behind the dash as a dedicated power source for the alarm, so it cant easily be killed by cutting the battery cables. Then, this is how they make it REALLY work. They mount numerous, very loud alarm horns inside the vehicle, with the idea of making it so loud, you cant physically stay inside the car when the alarm is going off. I think on a hot rod, you could take a extra step to and mount them outside the car too, so it could be heard from inside your hotel room easier. Just a idea, sorry if it isn't trad. But I would rather have a slightly less trad hot rod, then not have a hot rod at all .
Alarms are annoying while you are trying to steal a car, but nobody cares. If I hear an alarm go off in a parking lot, all I think is some dumb*** accidently set it off and it is annoying background noise. I did read an article about wiring an old cell phone into the car to be used as a tracking device. As long as the serial numbers from the phone are kept available for the police to use.
When I had my 69 Camaro I installed a alarm sytem in it and I hid the siren behind the front driver's side fender. No one ever seen it unless you took the fender off. I also went to radio shack and had a small siren that was ear peircing under the dash. If some clown stuck their head under the dash they couldn't stand the sound or find it.
I like the idea ... make it unbearable for the thief. I might not hear it, the general public might not hear it, but if thief can't stand the sound AND can't disconnect the source ... he leaves, without car. Me likes. Thanks
When I get a rod, it will have both. The cell phone deal is great, but I would rather have them not take the car at all. That's the idea behind the very loud alarm. Its a deterrent to keep them from taking it in the first place. Now, most people do ignore the alarms, but in a hotel parking lot where a bunch of rodders are staying (like GNRS) someone hopefully would go check. Be even better if you can park the car close to your room so YOU hear it. Yup, that's the idea the honda guys had. 99% of them are stolen and driven off. If they cant stand to stay inside the car, they cant drive it.
I set my manager's car alarm in his little zoom zoom car off every time I fire the GMC up within 30 ft of it and no one ever even looks up. If the alarm isn't tied into your cell phone it does little or no good most of the time. Drive though any Wall Mart Parking lot on Saturday Afternoon with a rod with pipes and you can set a dozen alarms off. theft preventon is still doing proactive things such as making it a more than one step opperation to start the vehicle at any time, having shut offs for either or both the fuel and main electrical systems, some sort of anti theft system that tracks the vehicle that has power seperate from the main electrical system, posting people on guard duty or hiring your own security people when needed.
Car alarms are one thing...but I don't think guys are just out there jacking hotrods with a slim jim and a pair of wire cutters though. What's to stop somebody with a low profile flat deck from rolling up quick and rolling off with your rig. They wear a glow in the dark vest and look like the real deal....vanish into the dark.....just like a repo crew. Tracking devices are not prevention, only recovery....and any theif worth his salt will be all over that **** in a hurry. I agree with Mr48chev in talking about extra measures to slow the process up, but that's only going to deal with the slim jim jackers. We should be talking about ways to foil the repo style theifs...not that I have any answers for that off the top of my head....but we're good thinkers on here....let's figure some **** out here. I guess the reasonable fear should be that we gotta be careful too...if we air out our ideas on how to foil them, they'll be aware of the strategies and be prepared to deal with that too.....maybe just leave your ingenious inventions as a surprise...unless they're %100 un****able with. -Steve W.
Here is my idea! An addition to abow mentioned. 1. Buy a Teaser gun. 2. Mount it under the seat, far rear in it, letting the two probes just through the seat. 3. Make a delay circuit, aprox. 20 seconds, triggered by a door jam switch. 4. Now as the dumb *** is well inside the car, making ***fy. (hoping he has closed the door), THEN, ZAP!! 5. If this is not enough to get his *** out of the car, make the citcuit to ZAP again after 20 sec. This will probably get him on his feet running!? 6.Optional solution, is to have a small gas leak, BANG! and he will never do this again!? If Teaser is not available, same thing could be fabricated with a coil, wooden plate, and some wiring. ................................. Taildragger&fenderless
Watch this video, it will make you re-think anti-theft devices, pay extra special attention to the time it takes to do this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITZRp4DwDas&feature=related
The way the legal system works these days, the would-be thief would probably sue you for the Taser. On the subject of the gas leak... 1. It would leak all the time, so it would go bang every time somebody lit up or anything electrical got really hot. So you're right, it would never get stolen since it would blow you and your car to pieces. 2. Gas isn't supposed to run into the p***enger compartment, fumes are bad 3. Idea of THEFT PREVENTION is to prevent anybody from stealing, damaging, selling, stripping, etc your car. So, if the ****er gets blown up it gets stolen, and destroyed... I'd rather have it stolen and have a chance of getting it back. 4. when the car blew up/burned up it could quite possibly (read likely) hurt someone else. So when the minivan next to the hotrod at the stoplight gets blown up, and the family inside goes with it, its gonna be your fault. So, excuse me. I'm gonna go blow up my truck so nobody else here at school can door ding it.
real time GPS tracking I got a pay as you go motorola i425 for 15 bucks on ebay unlimited data is 35 cents a day. Hid and wire the phone to the battery and you have real time GPS tracking with your hotrod location shown on a map. http://www.instamapper.com/diy.html http://www.instamapper.com/fe?page=demo
Your never safe not matter what you do, just try and roll sevens' in the morning before you go anywhere. Or just hire these guys, maybe they can protect your car?
One thing is for sure, if someone wants something bad enough they will get it. Whether breaking in your house or your car, or taking your entire car. If they want to, chances are they will. That is what insurance is for.
Damn, I've heard of things like that before but seeing it work is another thing. I bet you could get 25 cars a night if you wanted to with that thing. People just need to stop being lazy and crying about not getting a full eight hours of sleep and get with about six to eight guys and post as fire watch throughout the night. Or you could get your car stolen and cry about that your choice.
WOW! They don't even need a reflective vest! It would take longer to put it on than to steal a car anyway!!!
I've installed these before with the extra battery. The battery was about the size of a wallet... maybe slightly bigger than my wallet. Another ting I've done is run the exposed wires inside of a fuel line this makes it much more difficult to cut the wires. I've used the extra Piezo sirens mounted under the dash where they would be in your face as you try to disable anything. Here is the sample http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yshe8mqe2I
Wow, that tow truck hook-up is unreal. I do agree, if "they" want it "they" will get it. The idea is to either slow them down to the point that they hopefully move on to an easier target. Sure, no "one idea" is going to protect your car, but I do like the idea of a screaming alarm inside the car ... to work along with the ignition cut out, the "Club", two step starting system, cell phone in the trunk etc. Apparently there are cell phone and GPS jammers available that prevent the signals from going anywhere which means your GPS based "locaters" and cell phone ideas can be beaten as well.
""The way the legal system works these days, the would-be thief would probably sue you for the Taser."" . . Maybe, but he wouldn't get your car.
This is encouraging to see some chatter here about this major hot rod industry problem. I was quite impressed with those nasty little sirens, man a couple of those in your face might rattle the toughest of varmits. Thanx for posting ideas and suggestions. Well taken. ~sololobo~
I posted the video just to show what we are up against. I agree, do WHATEVER you can to make it as hard as possible for the amatuers to get your ride, alarms,ignition kills, fuel line kills. How about this....http://www.mcgard.com/AutomotiveProducts/CarLock
20 seconds, just like the video, and you may not even set the alarm off pulling it out of the spot. Unless they are amateurs you have no chance. Sux!
I just pile all of my "other projects"in a circle then park my fairlane in the middle then close the gap with an undesirable truck. A mentaly challenged pitbull helps also!
That seems like a pretty good idea, however i don't know how well it would work for a roadster. You could do it for a full fender car though, so long as you have 2 of them (each end of the car) you wouldn't be nearly as vulnerable to the tow truck of doom.
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