Urgent warning: 240 thefts in south-east
 

Hi all,

Sad that we have to give this kind of advice, but here goes...

We have been made aware of a spate of thefts of 240s in the South-East, specifically the south-east London area. They are being stolen to order for banger racing. We aren't sure of exact numbers, but it is thought that at least a dozen have been taken by the same group in the past 12-18 months or so. So far, the police are reluctant to do anything about it, sadly.

The rogue team long-suspected of being involved in this have now been caught with a stolen car on their property, but "they just bought it down the pub", naturally. I'm not here to talk about the sort of lowlife scum who are stealing and destroying tidy cars, and in the process bringing the generally good name of the banger community into disrepute. I'm here to issue a security warning.

We now know the modus operandi of these pond-dwellers. They are levering out the tailgate locks of a target vehicle, then making a key to fit the lock at their leisure, then returning and simply driving the car away with a suitable key. I suppose it's a less obtrusive than a Hanoi Burglary, but it's still not nice.

There are two possible routes to assist with securing your car. Firstly, install 'personalised security measures'. I'm not going to disclose possible techniques, just in case the individuals involved manage to lift their knuckles from the floor for long enough to operate a computer and locate this thread, but I'm sure you can think of ways of disabling the car, which only you would know how to correct in a hurry.

Secondly, you could get the ignition lock changed for one from a different car. Record the VIN number (preferably retaining the VIN plate) should you need to order keys from the dealer in the future...or you could just get additional spares cut.

Both can be overcome with the luxury of time, but the fact that these weeping sores on the face of humanity are getting keys made suggests that they don't like hanging around at the scene - so buy yourself some time by making life difficult.

Finally, you could install a silent alarm which sends you an (SMS, etc) alert if someone tries to gain unauthorised access. That should give you just enough time to get all Tony Martin on their cowardly backsides while they stare moronically at a rev counter that just won't spring into life.

cheers

James

Thanks James for this useful warning.

Every 200 series owner's worst nightmare I imagine! Especially as we invest additional time, energy and money in our old cars to keep them in good condition as the years progress.

Reminds me of someone I know who after having spent many 100's of hours over 5 years of evenings and weekends restoring and customising a Landrover, the thing was stolen a couple of weeks after completion, never to be seen again. How gutted would you be.

Glad my car is now "retired" from London for the time being anyway and will be moving into a garage home in a month or two. Even so, I still shouldn't be complacent about security and will be looking into personalised security measures..

Cheers,

James

A tracker if you can afford it will also be a help.

Near topic: In reality, the police do not have limitless resources, would we want to pay, to be in a police state?

I was impressed by some local police with a 740 I had. A rear small window had been smashed, probably by someone hoping to find something valuable inside, and and the window glass had not yet replaced. As I drove out of town I was stopped by the police, just to check, in case I was in the process of theft.

I am not an advocate for the police. I've been a witness to assault by a uniformed police officer. But fair is fair, it's not an easy job. They really do have to prioritise. And I've been involved professionally alongside police in some seriously worthwhile jobs.

As for securing the car, I think on remembering other threads, the idea of an ignition switch from another car is interesting. And maybe removing the battery ... and one other component of choice ....

My old bus is fairly safe at the moment, both manifolds are still disconnected :(

Years ago I learnt how useless some anti theft devices are. A Krooklock was by passed by thieves bending the pedal of a Morris 1100, easily done. Those thieves tried to use the old 1100 to carry a safe they had burgled. Crazy ....

Anyway, sadly, there's no such thing as total security. :(

I have wondered whether a mobile 'phone tracker and/or app might be a modestly priced and effective tracker? I think there are facilities that can be set up by full family consent to track one's family's mobile 'phones?

I don't make a habit of criticising the police, but what I've heard in this case has made me very angry indeed. Hopefully, if I give a few more details, you'll agree...

The owner has gone to considerable trouble to locate the car, and has almost certainly found a theft 'ring' in the process...and the police are uninterested in doing any more about it. The "new owner" was interviewed, claimed he bought this exceptionally tidy 240 in a pub for £100, and they won't even do him for handling stolen goods (something which initially didn't appear to have even occured to them). The VIN plate is missing...need we say more? There is allegedly a (locked) barn on site which locals have long suspected houses a collection of stolen classics for racing. They wouldn't even check VINs on the other cars (in various stages of preparation for racing) in the yard. It stinks of "couldn't care less". I understand there's prioritisation to be done, but they might as well have saved yet more time, and not bothered even showing up.

Furthermore, the (police) recovery agent pulled the stolen 240 onto the flatbed with only two wheels fitted (the other two were nearby, but the supervising officer said they couldn't be used, as there was no proof they were his), undoubtedly damaging the underside. The owner was charged (a not insignificant sum) for the privilege. While in plod's "care", it had the same treatment at the hands on the insurance company.

I have no axe to grind with the police (at all), but the owner has been badly let down on two fronts here. If it were me, I would be screaming blue bloody murder at my local constabulary. Now I wasn't going to mention all that, but since you brought it up...!

cheers

James

I already had my suspicions the out come to this sorry state of affairs would be a sh*tty one!
So no one was charged with anything except the innocent owner having to pay to get his own propery back, great!
As i'm South London-ish i think i'll invest in a Disclock for the steering wheel.

I'd suggest a formal letter (citing the evidence of these thefts) to the Mayor of London's office, and the local MP - get signatures from as many 240 and classic car owners as possible and give the local Chief Constable a hard time...get the story in the news - one of the classic car magazines will be interested, and local papers and local TV are desperate for stories.

This is a tale of indolence and negligence on the police's part: don't let 'em get away with it.

Jon.

i remember a similar thing happening with ford granada's years ago.

trackers and alarms are all very good, but sadly these days people dont pay so much attention to alarms going off

if it was me, i would buy a simply toggle switch and hide it somewhere, and use it to break power to a random component. how long is a theif going to hang around and trying to start it?

Just remember these guys will have a car trailer that they can load the car onto. Once they have got passed the steering lock the car is then easy to move. They don not care about what damage is done as they intend to destroy the car anyway.

I have read a couple of these stories and a few others in the past and the common theme is that the police do nothing and even when you have done the job of finding the car for them they still do not want to know.

I have experienced this myself more than once with hit and runs and even once I tracked down the other car involved they still took a hell of a lot of pressure to do anything.

Is it about time bangor racing cars must have a VIN plate and be checked before every race day?

Write to the MP.
Write to the newspapers.
Car crime, on an old banger (i.e. any car more than 5 years old, in the eyes of the establishment), is not high priority. If the perpetrators are from the untouchable community, if you get my drift, resources slip away quickly.
I have had a car stolen like this, and I got it back after some effort. The desk officer thought it was probably stolen by someone trying to get home after a night out. He even laughed, saying only Ladas were unlikely to be stolen. Also wrong, most ended up going back to Russia as export.
Another friend had a semi derelict Westminster stolen from behind his house. Because it was not MOTd, it was simply viewed as scrap. NFA.
There are always thieves about in each community, stealing someone's new Kia is a pain but it can be replaced with another easily. A Rover P5/Westminster/Austin A60/Volvo etc is finite. When they are gone, they are gone.

Don't leave the car full of precious stuff ever, make friends with the local racers, and use the power of the media to create a stink if you are fobbed off.
Or give up and buy a Kia.

It would be ideal if the ORCI, oval racing governing board, would act on this.
If a stolen car appears for scrutineering, the driver ( the bloke with his name painted all over it no doubt), should face immediate suspension from racing for that meeting and the Police be notified. If the vehicle proves to be stolen, this should then automatically extend to a ban of at least one year.
the phrase "Knowing or believing them to be stolen goods " springs to mind.
Vin plates are only riveted on, and the stamped numbers are welded away on the A post. Invisible , I'm afraid.
£100 for a 240? pull the other one.

Classic Swede: "Is it about time bangor racing cars must have a VIN plate and be checked before every race day?"[

That sounds like a very good plan. Nothing is total security but if that were properly administered it would make life harder for thieves.

Foggy, as you will have seen, I have a width of opinions re the police. And I respect that prioitising is tricky. But I disagree with their priorities on occasions.

I suspect re car theft, they get so much of it and especially perhaps from "communities difficult to deal with", that they might regard it often as a lot of bovver with little outcome? I suspect they reckon, just let the insurance pay?

Precisely my experiences BUT in my case they walked straight past my 240 as if they knew my non-injection 164 was locked in the adjacent garage. They broke the garage door down, smashed their way into the car, broke the steering lock (breaking the wheel in the process) and nicked it.
A contact from the banger-racers association spotted it half-in a barn on a farm so I told the Police, who weren't the least bit interested. They only came out when I said my rugby-player friends with a Transit and trailer would be with me when we reclaim it.
Then, after the farm owners son said he bought it at a pub for £80, I filled in the forms at the Police station, they had the utter gall to ring me up and say "as there was nothing in it for them, no further action". I said I bet I'd be nicked if a stolen bike was found in my garden, but they didn't react. Yet my son was arrested after being falsely accused of having stolen tools in his garage - he is a landscape gardener for heavens sake...... of course he has lots of tools. After 2 months case dismissed...... what a waste of time.
Its about time we got the "big-brother" attitude of the Police quashed nowadays, otherwise we will all continue to dislike some of their attitudes.

Paul

Exactly Paul...if being reasonable fails advise police there's likely to be a breach of the peace when you attempt to retrieve your car with a group of your baseball bat wielding friends from the local Conservative Association!

However, going down the route suggested by my previous post seems a good idea (to me anyway)...let's give the issue some profile from forum members.

Jon.

My friend had a classic Mini stolen from his garage once about 20 years ago. What the thieves didn't know is that the wiring was being worked on and 5 miles later it burst into flames burning both the little scrotes inside very badly.

Anyway, got me thinking, maybe just forget about alarms and trackers (both of which are simple to bypass with some $5 bits from DX.com) and implement an auto-destruct system. If you'll never see the car again, may as well.

(disclaimer: ^I'm only partially serious^)

More seriously though: instead of an alarm, why not a smoke generator capsule under the chassis or in the cabin? Very few people will ignore that. You CAN buy them legally in the UK too.

Chris...

Maybe the club needs to get pro active with this and contact a few more classic clubs and together lobby the government with an online petition?
Ultimately having to race a car with a vin number would reduce the numbers. I do think the racers would get around it probably by cutting and stitching a known scrapped cars vin onto a stolen one,
What about our friend from Practical classics Keith moody who owned the 740turbo? I think he comes here selling the cars after using them as projects for the mag.

I am constantly asked if my old cars are for sale by so many people.quite how they know where they re kept is uncertain but I believe it to be word of mouth as we get a fair few customers where they are kept.
I look every morning to see if they are still there.
A simple cut out switch may stop some but if a few turn up they can push a car near enough to winch onto a trailer.
Very worrying times.
Only large numbers of enthusiasts will be heard especially if a few celebrities can be persuaded.

We have a very large number of members who no doubt would vote if we make this an onlinepetition.we should maybe post this in other sections for all to see.
Brian.

I have just sent him a message

As well as VIN plates are 240's not new enough to have the chassis number stamped into the panels in other places too?
Is there a 200 specific club/register anywhere? Its times like this i wish i was more computer savy, i've got the time just not the knowledge!

Also Foggy where did you find this additional info from, the Retro-Rides thread has been locked and the OP hasn't been back on here since the car was found, just curious thats all.

The vin is stamped on the driver's A post.
If the door is welded shut for racing, which is probable, this is then invisible.
The metal VIN tag on the strut tower is easily removed.

However, to legally scrap a car, the metal merchant has to have proof of identity of the person presenting it (driving licence etc.), and the identifying marks need to be present on the car.Payment is only via bank transfer now as well, no cash.
Metal theft is a really big problem, from church roof lead to memorial plaques and of course, cherished old cars.

It seems the dodgier end of the metal recycling business needs closer scrutinising.
If thieves can't sell the car after racing it, that is a start.

We can conclude from this thread :
1/ 240s are easy to steal
2/ The Police are not viewing the theft of old cars as highest priority
3/If caught with stolen vehicles, the punishment is feeble at best..
4/The racing promoters and governing bodies could be more stringent with drivers who have stolen cars
5/ once a car is stripped out , it is ruined anyway.

Be aware. Immobilise it. Vary the parking patterns. Don't give up.
Old cars are fun, even if they need more looking after (in every sense)

It takes about 30 seconds to gain access to a locked 240. I won't give details. The steering lock is hard to break but if duplicate keys are obtained that ceases to be a problem. If the suspicion is that duplicate keys are being obtained through Volvo would it be worth contacting Volvo and making them aware of the problem and see if additional security measures could be taken before providing duplicate keys for the older cars?

Unfortunately once access to the car is obtained it is easy to load onto a lorry or trailer. Most banger racers seem to have a lorry with hiab and a strap through the windows will see it lifted in seconds.

It is all to easy to dispose of a car with no id. Just cut it into smaller sections and do not dispose of it all in one go and there is no problem getting rid of it. What you can't obtain is a certificate of destruction without the VIN plate.

About time 'banger racing' died out Id say.

If the Police give a poor service, complain to your elected Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC). The PCC is not in the pocket of the Force. On the contrary, the PCC's job is to hold the Force and Chief Constable to account, and because the PCC is elected for a fixed term, poor outcomes in the community (the electorate) matter and tend to be jumped on.

I suggest a fairly detailed complaint, with a summary to begin with, then the full detail of events, efforts made, police response (of lack of) and outcomes.

(If this is in London, the Mayor fulfils an equivalent role to the PCC elsewhere, so write to his office).

John

Also 740/940?
 

Hi folks
As a previous 240 owner (and 740 and now 940) and still an admirer of these cars, this is all very scary - seems to be confined to a particular area in the south, but no room for complacency elsewhere I suppose and not that that's any consolation to owners down there.

Just wondered if the same thing applies to the 740/940, or is it a particular liking for the 240 which these guys have with no real interest in the 740/940 ie is it a kind of status thing for them? Otherwise, I would have thought that especially some of the earlier 740s would be just as good on the banger track and just as easy to steal? (maybe not so much the later 700s and the 900s which have maybe more advanced security - my 940 has an immobiliser system which sometimes won't let me start the car - probably down to my ignorance rather than anything else!). In which case maybe the matter should also be flagged up on the 740/940 forum (and maybe others)?

To answer Paul's question, I've been in touch with a friend who has been assisting the owner of the stolen car.

Apparently 7/900s are not favoured, as their front ends are too weak. At the risk of making a controversial statement, I think there's some truth in that, based on hearing about a number of cases of wheel intrusion in 7/900 accidents, and looking at the comparative kerb weights (vs dimensions).

cheers

James

just wanted to say crook lock on with steering at full lock would make life slightly harder to put car on a trailer would'nt it

Every little thing to slow them up must be helpful.They would prefer an easy take than messing about with variouse locks and imobilisers.
Ultimately they will drag or crane or drive them away.With no thought for damage what so ever.

Brian.

There are numerous amateur deterrents you can fit to a car, that may or may not work, however, you have to consider the inadvertent triggering whilst in the car

All well and good, rigging car with flares, in every cavity, so car billows red smoke, if stolen, but should you lock keys in car, you're potentially shafted, or Mr AA man is :D

mobile phone style tracker wired up, and in the bodywork, is a start, however it will be found when they are stripping, so would potentially give small window of opportunity. Spark plug in petrol tank, coil wired to a silent alarm, hey you might not get your car back, but you can then go to the burns unit, and ask them why they tried to nick your car.

This worries me all the time..on occasion when i get the jitters i do disconnect the coil lead to the dizzy and caught myself out the next morning..as said before they will just grab it and bag it..I agree nobody except the owner pays much notice to alarms these days but a pressurised airhorn on a ringpull if the car is moved any distance from its bay would wake up the bloody dead!!...Keep your ideas ideas coming folks ..hj.

Very slightly harder. I hope a 240 pedal is a little tougher than a Morris 1100. But a Krooklock on an 1100 in Newcastle was useless when thieves bent the pedal. I got that car back from Durham cop shop. And I found out how easy it was to straighten the pedal.

Re police priorities. they were investigating a burglary that the jam jar was taken and used in, so I got the jam jar found and given back to me. I still wonder why thieves capable of getting a safe out of premises, didn't choose a tougher vehicle than an 1100 to transport it?

One wonders if an old Bentley owned by Lord Ponsonby would be treated with the same disregard by the Police?
Fact is most police spend their time form filling and social working. As has been pointed out a million times; if they were a presence, actually walking about, this kind of opportunist crime would be considerably reduced. In country areas you rarely see them at all unless racing about in cars or playing helicopters.
If like me you're keen on dogs, then there's always the angry Alsatian option.

Sometimes I wonder about all the stuff the people in the USA say against the gun lobby and think they have the idea....the big horn on a ring pull....then you can go out shooting they wont do it again and the police thank you for getting the criminals.

God bless America........I wonder how many of IPD's customers have their 240 stolen?

My 240 was parked on a neighbour's drive and someone rolled up asking to buy it, they offerred £200. I told them I didn't want to sell, telling about the work I'd done on it. He wasn't interested, obviously he wanted it for banger racing.

A week or so later someone else turned up at my house, this time the car was on my drive hidden from view behind a tall gate so he couldn't have seen it whilst passing; it sounds like word has got round about its existence.

We had a date of plant thefts in West Lothian last year. The gang had an hgv with a box on the back without a roof and a hiab.. Pull alongside a compressor, classic car etc, 5minutes later it's in the box and out of site. The gang were lifting kit off sites and farms from Scotland to the North of England, the items would be in a container at Hull and on a ship before daybreak. The compressor thefts last year were spurred by a couple of East Africans who spread the word across the market that they would pay 5k cash for any machine over 300cfm.

Car wise, again if they want it they usually get it. However I have found that Disclocks are superb and will deter all but those equipped with a flat bed. However they are also heavy and not easy to store in the passenger compartment. I'm also a bit wary about having a huge lump of metal flying around in the event of an accident. In a saloon I'd stick it in the boot.

I have in the past, and probably will do with this car, installed a switch running to the coil. You can even put the switch in full view in one of the empty slots on the dash or hide it if you prefer. Fancy options include a proximity token solenoid which can be very effective or a keypad a la citroenXM/Xantia. With a carb model immobiliser is not practical so a cut out switch is the best bet. Yes they will eventually track it down but it will take a long time. When all else fails and I'm somewhere I font like but have no devices removing the rotor arm is always a stop gap!

A variation on the cut-out switch is a changeover switch to divert the power from the starter solenoid or coil to a very loud sounder or the horn. The sounder can be placed inside the car, but don't forget about it!

Another theft deterrent, with regards to the tailgate lock trick, is this:

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...pshxrf3kgz.jpg

Notice the lack of tailgate lock.

If you are relying on the electrical lock, what do you do if (when) the tailgate wiring fails at the hinges?

Don't run it through the hinges because its a stupid design and fitting a new kit never fixes the problem entirely, just delays it for a few more years.

My tailgate wiring runs on the inside of the car and doesn't go through the hinge. Not as pretty to look at but ill never have the problem again.