> Are there any more anti-theft ideas out there? Has anyone installed an
> expensive car alarm system? Better yet, has anyone actually had their TR
> stolen- or almost stolen? Or are car thieves and joy-riders more selective
> (or less selective) than we think?
A couple of decades ago, I read an article by a professional car thief,
gone straight (well, sort of--he'd become a consultant to auto insurance
companies). He said that the one thing a car thief wouldn't bother with
is a car which he could get started and then quit. That would suggest a
mechanical problem which would create far too much exposure for a thief
to investigate. So he said, a hidden mechanical fuel shutoff was still
the best insurance.
The first possibility would be a mechanical valve in the feed line to
the mechanical pump. Shut it off, the car runs for few seconds on
what's in the float blowls and dies. Second possibility, if you want to
keep the mechanical fuel pump, is an electromechanical solenoid valve in
the line, with a hidden switch (pardon, a well-hidden switch <g>). Same
result as above.
As regards professional thieves, the above would probably work well.
Personally, I don't think fancy alarm systems are of much use against
professionals. All a good professional has to do to learn how to beat
the most sophisticated system is to buy one and learn how it works.
Besides, a Triumph which quit ten seconds after a thief got it started
would almost be seen as in character to a professional. He'd laugh
knowingly, get out and walk away. <g>
Joy-riders are quite another matter. There was a series of posts here a
month or two ago from a fellow who'd had his Spitfire become the object
of amateur thieves, and the damage they did to car when they couldn't
get it started was considerable. A sophisticated alarm system might help
in that situation, but only if you yourself were moments away from the
car. There are so many false car alarms these days (especially due to
over-sensitive motion detectors) that bystanders have become quite
blase' about car alarms--so no real help from the general public if your
alarm goes off in a big parking lot.
Finally, there is something to be said about a tatty-looking car being
poor theft potential... my daily driver is a clapped-out VW bus with
320,000 miles on it and it looks it. I haven't been able to lock it up
completely in fifteen years, and no one bothers it. There is something
to be said about having something no one else wants. <g>
Cheers, Brian.
--
My other Triumph doesn't run, either....
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