Not sure its wise, but with all my vintage cars I have owned, I've always left them unlocked (short term stay). I figured since I dont leave anything worth value in my cars, its better to let them get in and rummage and leave, instead of sourcing windows, fixing scrapped paint and dents.
Like Speed Racers brother said, if someone wants in, there getting in, might as well soften the blow and cost.
I do like some of the camera tech thats out there now that records on any bump of the car or break in.

I do exactly that for exactly those reasons!

When away from home, in addition to electronic immobilisation, it’s wheel clamped. I also take the wheel clamp in the boot to use at overnight stay events. But even in that situation, if they want it, they will lift it off the ground or bring a battery powered angle grinder / power drill and drill out the lock.

All you can do is delay them or make it difficult. Case in point as mentioned, modern cars!

The biggest insurance policy vintage car owners have these days is that fewer criminals know how to operate a manual transmission. That said, a roll-back defeats pretty much any/all anti-theft devices, and if someone really wants your car, they'll get it.

 

I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has had a Z stolen.  While probably a few of us have had a car stolen (I've had two - a Toyota Camry and a Porsche 914), hearing the details of a stolen Z could be informative.

Edited September 29, 20213 yr by psdenno

I'm in the "if they want..." group.

Repo guys can get anyting.

So with their knowledge and equipment anybodies stuff is steal-able. 

To add, my car lives in a garage and is never left alone at car shows, isn't parked as a normal car. My Camry is my DD.

The only thing more important is my dog.

 

Edited September 29, 20213 yr by siteunseen

I prefer Lojack and a 44 mag. It removes the source of the problem. Someone here mentioned security hardware. Are you talking about the nuts that attach the steering column to the brace? I still think notification and a 44 is the way to go. I live in a county that promotes it.

The replies to this thread I startedhave been interesting. However, they are all sort of theoretical.

No one whose Z was stolen has said how it was done.

Nor has anyone who has thwarted a would-be thief said how it was done.

Someone mentioned the gps trackers. One night, I got home about 10:30 to find two police cars in my driveway. Fortunately, they didn't have their red and blue lights on and, fortunately, I was not drunk..

One of them told me a woman had had her modern mustang stolen from a repair shop a few blocks away from my house, and the gps tracker pointed to my house as the location of the car.  

The police asked to have a looksee into my garages, where they found no mustangs. They seemed sort of blasé about the matter and said those trackers were unreliable.

That was probably four years ago, so maybe the trackers are more accurate now.

Maybe someone found the tracker and stuck it on one of your cars

I think like many things, trackers are a get what you pay for item

As for the 44 mag, I live in a very law enforcement minded community but lethal force in a theft situation is gonna get you in some serious trouble.

 

1 hour ago, Patcon said:

Maybe someone found the tracker and stuck it on one of your cars

I think like many things, trackers are a get what you pay for item

As for the 44 mag, I live in a very law enforcement minded community but lethal force in a theft situation is gonna get you in some serious trouble.

 

Yes. I own a few firearms, and knowing when to deploy them will keep you from queuing up for chow for 10-30 years. Nobody has a sense of humor nowadays.

 

11 minutes ago, DC871F said:

Yes. I own a few firearms, and knowing when to deploy them will keep you from queuing up for chow for 10-30 years. Nobody has a sense of humor nowadays.

 

Hard to get the humor on the forum sometimes...

I’ve always loved the sound a shotgun makes when your chambering a shell !!

7 minutes ago, Patcon said:

Hard to get the humor on the forum sometimes...

Maybe, I was referring to the Judge that would be handing you a sentence after perforating a thug.

Sometimes i feel like where I live I'd have an easier time navigating the system if I got all hopped up on Fentanyl, shot someone and then stole their car, as opposed to shooting someone who stole my car.