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Now my mum was trying to convince me this wasn't at all funny, but I couldn't help laugh at it...

My brother had his car broken into last night... now that itself ISNT funny. He lives currently in student accomodation in a slightly rough part of Liverpool.
But, all the same, it's a rather obviously quite knackered and neglected old J-reg 1300cc Astra (up til now, he'd stopped considering it being worth the time to put the stoplock on any more), so the theives must have been pretty desperate, or very clueless joyriders. Even more so that they didn't take the obvious route of cutting / smashing the rear window glass and undoing the oldskool pin-locks, but tried to CROWBAR the door away from the frame (!!!)... kids who've never seen a motor without central locking & deadlocks?

Once they were in, they did something rather foul and pikey to the ignition trying to get it started ... god knows what (or why they wanted the hulk instead of raiding it for the valuable crap that tends to build up in it - HD mp3 player etc), but it not only damaged all the metal stuff but introduced a load of oil and dirt to the steering column shroud WTF

They were defeated though --- he's been having battery troubles for a while (like I did) and it was almost totally knackered... enough to make a noise and wake him but nothing else. Fools

(this is why when i get the expertise / time, i'm following a mate's lead and fitting a secret kill-switch to my car as a matter of course)

He then walked a mile and a half to kwik fit, got taken to the cleaners for a new battery, dragged it home and fitted it (! ... thats the most amazing part, he can barely change the batteries in his walkman), jiggled the key in the ignition for a while til it fitted.... car started first time

and apparently the door bent back into shape almost completely with some ingenuity - god only knows how he did that, but it stands only a few mm proud now.

Clueless pikeys 0 - 1 Clueless brother

Result

So hes learnt something from this....
If they come back, hes bought them a new battery for a smoother get away

Mk2 Astras. The other home of German engineering

Tahrey1043 wrote:(this is why when i get the expertise / time, i'm following a mate's lead and fitting a secret kill-switch to my car as a matter of course)

My mums old XR3i used to have one that resided behind the cassette storage thingy, very easy to reach round and flick.... if you knew it was there, but compeletely out of site

Tahrey1043 wrote:He then walked a mile and a half to kwik fit, got taken to the cleaners for a new battery

Kwik fit robbing someone blind? well I never!! The ****s

Tahrey1043 wrote:and apparently the door bent back into shape almost completely with some ingenuity - god only knows how he did that, but it stands only a few mm proud now.

Bet the panel looks like tissue paper now tho - a lad i went to school with had a coming together between the door of his 205 and a fencepost - just took the door card off and beat it back into shape!

i considered a cut off switch but does it cut off everything (meaning losing my radio stations and more essentially my central locking) or can you just set it do the ignition?

Mk2Adam wrote:i considered a cut off switch but does it cut off everything (meaning losing my radio stations and more essentially my central locking) or can you just set it do the ignition?

i've seen them fitted to the power feeds to fuel pumps,so no need to lose power to anything else in the car

Mk2Adam wrote:i considered a cut off switch but does it cut off everything (meaning losing my radio stations and more essentially my central locking) or can you just set it do the ignition?

Depends.

The one on my truck is wired in line with the crank position on the key. It'll run the accessories, it'll glow, but it won't turn over unless you flick the switch, and only I know where that is.

i was just going to fit it to the line that comes from the ignition switch to the starter solenoid.... i can't see too many pikeys trying to bump start a supposedly immobilised car.
be quite easy to put it on the fuel power line as well i guess - the cabling for either the pump or the injector/s is well within reach, and it produces a classic immobiliser symptom (as seen with poppy ATM )

might make it an SPDT and connect the other output to a near-ultrasonic siren thing both to make them get the hell out (and to condition me into not forgetting to flick the switch ) and to avoid burn-out

Mk2 Astras. The other home of German engineering

you wouldn't suspect it, but yes. they're heavy, but tank-like with it. he's abused it far more than i did poppy and it's still sort of running

Kwik fit robbing someone blind? well I never!! The ****s

Told you he was clueless. He's got internet in the house, could have gone see if there was an ECP or similar nearer to his house, but he knew there was a kwik fit opposite his college and just went straight there.

If they come back, hes bought them a new battery

well, he DOES need to drive it sometime this month, and it's got 3PFT cover on it at least... too bad it's value is most likely well below any excess someone of his age might be allowed!
(i had to laugh at endsleigh STILL not being able to cover me, even for 24 hours, on the polo unless i put it's value as at least £1000... never mind i was selling it the same day for £400... do these people realise old cars get sold for a pittance?)

Bet the panel looks like tissue paper now tho

haha, well, who knows what he used. probably battered away at it with the largest saucepan he could find in the kitchen or something

sweet, fair play to him, shame hes prob now gonna have the whistles at anything above 40mph lol

hehe, well, i got used to it, bet he won't even notice

by the way, anyone who's in the eastern burbs of liverpool at the mo keep an eye out for a rather lumpy red '91 astra noodling about. apparently he's gotten lost pretty much in his back yard looking for a swimming baths. if asked for directions, see if you give them so he ends up in manchester. think it'd be funny