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This Man Stole My Mini - Make Sure He Doesn't Get Yours


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#61 Ratty165

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Posted 18 April 2021 - 08:34 PM

[quote name="Ratty165" post="3691207" timestamp="1618778021"]

[quote name="Project84" post="3690127" timestamp="1618049050"]

[quote name="mab01uk" post="3687947" timestamp="1616541407"]

This is another anti-theft device I used to fit to my Minis. It was originally developed to stop the theft of commercial vehicles. The 1970's Autosafe device was connected within the hydraulic brake line between the wheel brake cylinders and the master cylinder. When the Autosafe key was turned the first press of the brake pedal actuated the device to inhibit the fluid flow within the brake system thereby maintaining the pressure and locking the brakes on. To release the brakes the Yale security key had to be used.

ITFhGa7.jpg[/quote]

My old man has something similar (all be it more modern) on this then new Isuzu Trooper - it was effectively a line lock operated via a cut key and worked in conjunction with an alarm.
It operated by stopping the car, inserting the key, pump the brake pedal until it was hard, with the foot hard on the pedal, turn the key & remove. It would also arm the alarm giving you 10 seconds to exit the car before going off.
The brakes would be locked on making the car pretty much immobile - a point that was made some time later when someone tried to nick it off his drive.
The TWOC's had used a stolen Transit to pull it onto the road with a rope, then tried to bump start it using the same van.

The following morning the police knocked at the door asking had he seen the Trooper - dad pointed to the empty space on the drive - turns out the car and the van were at the end of the road - blocking it where they had left it and given up - back door/spare wheel stoved in, skid marks all up the road! :D[/quote[/quote]

#62 Ratty165

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Posted 18 April 2021 - 08:38 PM

Great story - you're not the first to mention this device - sadly, I understand it's no longer available. Thanks for sharing and well done to your dad for beating the thieves.

#63 mab01uk

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Posted 19 April 2021 - 12:06 PM

A number of Mercedes have been stolen from driveways in my local area recently but several have since been recovered by the owners (after the Police took no action) by paying their local Mercedes Dealer to activate the tracker (for a fee) that has apparently been built in to all new and used cars sold by Mercedes in recent years.
The reason the trackers are fitted is because 80% of sales are with car finance/leasing and Mercedes can track the cars if owners default on their monthly payments, so that bailiffs can recover the vehicles. Under EU data protection laws, tracking a vehicle without its driver’s knowledge is illegal. However, those who buy the cars on finance sign lengthy terms and conditions. These include a clause about the activation of ‘location sensors’ in bold print above where the customer signs.

All new and used cars sold by Mercedes dealers are fitted with tracking devices (2019)
https://www.dailymai...t-location.html
There's a spy in your Mercedes (2019)
https://www.thesun.c...acking-devices/

 



#64 Maccmike8

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Posted 19 April 2021 - 01:07 PM

I never knew that, very interesting.

 

 

A number of Mercedes have been stolen from driveways in my local area recently but several have since been recovered by the owners (after the Police took no action) by paying their local Mercedes Dealer to activate the tracker (for a fee) that has apparently been built in to all new and used cars sold by Mercedes in recent years.
The reason the trackers are fitted is because 80% of sales are with car finance/leasing and Mercedes can track the cars if owners default on their monthly payments, so that bailiffs can recover the vehicles. Under EU data protection laws, tracking a vehicle without its driver’s knowledge is illegal. However, those who buy the cars on finance sign lengthy terms and conditions. These include a clause about the activation of ‘location sensors’ in bold print above where the customer signs.

All new and used cars sold by Mercedes dealers are fitted with tracking devices (2019)
https://www.dailymai...t-location.html
There's a spy in your Mercedes (2019)
https://www.thesun.c...acking-devices/



#65 Ratty165

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Posted 04 May 2021 - 08:36 PM

That is interesting - fair enough Mercedes tracking their property after default. A well concealed tracker is probably the most effective security device there is.

#66 MiNiKiN

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Posted 05 May 2021 - 12:13 PM

A well concealed tracker is probably the most effective security device there is.

No! This is ...

 

Anti-Theft-Device

 

;D



#67 Project84

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Posted 05 May 2021 - 01:45 PM

 

A well concealed tracker is probably the most effective security device there is.

No! This is ...

 

Anti-Theft-Device

 

;D

 

 

naa that'd make too much mess of the interior! - Just plug the little mini into the mains - the outsides a lot easier to hose down.  :D



#68 Ratty165

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Posted 26 May 2021 - 02:04 PM

I just want to say thanks to all for your sympathetic, humorous, and helpful responses to this post - getting on for 5,000 views to date. If you haven't already, please share the youtube vid and let's get this criminal caught. Should my Mini be recovered, I'll post an update. Happy Mini motoring. 



#69 Matt Brighton

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Posted 28 May 2021 - 03:06 PM

An effective but unintentional anti theft mod was the install of my fly-off handbrake pawl ...

 

Even when my car needed moving when I wasn't nearby at a classic car show - i gave the keys to a friend and forgot to mention how to let the handbrake off

 

no one could work out how to get the handbrake off...... so there it stayed until i returned.

 

Sure - enthusiasts like us know about these things but i doubt the average tea leaf nowadays would realise how to disengage it - they wouldn't know Paddy Hopkirk if he punched them on the nose !!

 

Hope you get the car back..... and I will be looking out for it locally here in Brighton and at car shows

 

Matt   


Edited by Matt Brighton, 28 May 2021 - 03:07 PM.


#70 Itsaminithing

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Posted 28 May 2021 - 03:24 PM

For your next Mini (if you don't get this one back) try fitting this anti-theft device....

 

 

Anyone for toast?


Edited by Itsaminithing, 28 May 2021 - 03:26 PM.


#71 Quinlan minor

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Posted 28 May 2021 - 04:22 PM

An effective but unintentional anti theft mod was the install of my fly-off handbrake pawl ...

 

Even when my car needed moving when I wasn't nearby at a classic car show - i gave the keys to a friend and forgot to mention how to let the handbrake off

 

no one could work out how to get the handbrake off...... so there it stayed until i returned.

 

Sure - enthusiasts like us know about these things but i doubt the average tea leaf nowadays would realise how to disengage it - they wouldn't know Paddy Hopkirk if he punched them on the nose !!

 

Hope you get the car back..... and I will be looking out for it locally here in Brighton and at car shows

 

Matt   

I got called out to move an Aston Martin DB4, after the Police couldn't move it, due to failing to understand how a fly-off handbrake works.

To be fair, it took me a long while to figure out the electric handbrake on a VW Passat, it won't have it unless you have the seatbelt on. How much do I hate that kind of crap?



#72 DomCr250

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Posted 30 May 2021 - 12:27 PM

A number of Mercedes have been stolen from driveways in my local area recently but several have since been recovered by the owners (after the Police took no action) by paying their local Mercedes Dealer to activate the tracker (for a fee) that has apparently been built in to all new and used cars sold by Mercedes in recent years.
The reason the trackers are fitted is because 80% of sales are with car finance/leasing and Mercedes can track the cars if owners default on their monthly payments, so that bailiffs can recover the vehicles. Under EU data protection laws, tracking a vehicle without its driver’s knowledge is illegal. However, those who buy the cars on finance sign lengthy terms and conditions. These include a clause about the activation of ‘location sensors’ in bold print above where the customer signs.

All new and used cars sold by Mercedes dealers are fitted with tracking devices (2019)
https://www.dailymai...t-location.html
There's a spy in your Mercedes (2019)
https://www.thesun.c...acking-devices/

Dont all new cars come with a tracking device, the EU forced all the makers to put something on them to locate the car in the case of an accident - I could be wrong as it was a couple of years ago?  



#73 sonikk4

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Posted 30 May 2021 - 08:38 PM

 

An effective but unintentional anti theft mod was the install of my fly-off handbrake pawl ...

 

Even when my car needed moving when I wasn't nearby at a classic car show - i gave the keys to a friend and forgot to mention how to let the handbrake off

 

no one could work out how to get the handbrake off...... so there it stayed until i returned.

 

Sure - enthusiasts like us know about these things but i doubt the average tea leaf nowadays would realise how to disengage it - they wouldn't know Paddy Hopkirk if he punched them on the nose !!

 

Hope you get the car back..... and I will be looking out for it locally here in Brighton and at car shows

 

Matt   

I got called out to move an Aston Martin DB4, after the Police couldn't move it, due to failing to understand how a fly-off handbrake works.

To be fair, it took me a long while to figure out the electric handbrake on a VW Passat, it won't have it unless you have the seatbelt on. How much do I hate that kind of crap?

 

 

No strictly true ref the Passat. You can put your foot on the brake pedal then release the electric handbrake without the need for a seat belt to be fitted.



#74 Quinlan minor

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Posted 30 May 2021 - 09:42 PM

 

I got called out to move an Aston Martin DB4, after the Police couldn't move it, due to failing to understand how a fly-off handbrake works.

To be fair, it took me a long while to figure out the electric handbrake on a VW Passat, it won't have it unless you have the seatbelt on. How much do I hate that kind of crap?

 

 

No strictly true ref the Passat. You can put your foot on the brake pedal then release the electric handbrake without the need for a seat belt to be fitted.

 

It was putting the handbrake on that was my problem, Sonikk. It does depend on the seatbelt being on.



#75 Ratty165

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Posted 02 June 2021 - 03:46 PM

An effective but unintentional anti theft mod was the install of my fly-off handbrake pawl ...

 

Even when my car needed moving when I wasn't nearby at a classic car show - i gave the keys to a friend and forgot to mention how to let the handbrake off

 

no one could work out how to get the handbrake off...... so there it stayed until i returned.

 

Sure - enthusiasts like us know about these things but i doubt the average tea leaf nowadays would realise how to disengage it - they wouldn't know Paddy Hopkirk if he punched them on the nose !!

 

Hope you get the car back..... and I will be looking out for it locally here in Brighton and at car shows

 

Matt   

Thanks for that Matt - it sounds like a really effective mod. Also, thanks for keeping an eye out for the car. It's a know-it-when-you-see-it kind of Mini: Amaranth body/white roof/Chrome wheel arches/Wood & Pickett dash and door cappings/Cream leather upholstery.

 

I wouldn't doubt this thief frequents car shows, as many of them do, where they cynically attach trackers to target vehicles so they can steal them at their leisure. I am shortly going to circulate the CCTV to Mini dealers, and car show organisers, as it's in both their interests to have sight of this man. 






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