Anti Thief devices.... what works

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gdizzle

gdizzle

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I have the 66 dart sedan with the slant. There have been a few cars stolen lately near my house, so I am interested in some sort of affordable device to deter a thief. I would rather not drill holes into the hood and install pins. Is there any sort of lock you can put on the existing hood latch?? Ideally I would like to be able to disconnect the coil, then lock the hood. But I am open to any good ideas.
I was also thinking about using the parking brake, and removing the handle?
Thanks for any advice.

Also any good battery disconnects that aren't too bulky?
 
Hood pins with locks only stop casual thief’s.
Kill switch’s only stop the average thief.
Cars in locked garages and cameras only stop the undetermined.

Hide your ride well and use any and all methods available to you.

One fella here at work had his side garage door broken, alarms downdisabled. Two rear tire marks out of the garage onto a ???flat bed???

Car was gone. Bottom line.
 
Take the starter out... or the driveshaft.
 
rumblefish360 said:
Hood pins with locks only stop casual thief’s.
Kill switch’s only stop the average thief.
Cars in locked garages and cameras only stop the undetermined.

Hide your ride well and use any and all methods available to you.

One fella here at work had his side garage door broken, alarms downdisabled. Two rear tire marks out of the garage onto a ???flat bed???

Car was gone. Bottom line.
Click to expand...

Agree. Most devices/systems are really deterents - degree of which depends on how bad (or good) the thief wants it.

Is it parked outside ?

Here’s some ideas. How to Pick an Anti-Theft Device For Your Car | YourMechanic Advice

I’d at least do something to deter the opportunistic thief. Something like wheel lock.
 
Cable with lock from hood bracing to k frame. I am also a fan of deflating a tire or two. Not all the way, but enough to deter.
 
I have the following;
I mounted the starter relay down by the #8 header pipe, Limited access and usually very hot.
Battery in the trunk, with shut-off also in the trunk,clamps secured by wing nuts.
Coil on the apron, 30" wire.
Secret switches.
Adjustable rev-limiter.
Manual trans,lol.
Twin 3" full-length pipes.
I rarely ever lock the doors, but when I do,the vent windows are open. It's a 1968 hardtop so anyone can break in.
Parking at a Motel takes an extra minute but it's always been there in the morning. They'd have to load it up, and figure it all out later.So I like to park in a difficult to access area.
 
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I put a kill switch under the battery on one of my cars.Hard to see unless you knew it was there.As 340duster340 said, cable idea was done while we were on the Power Tour. Some stops were in sketchy area. Will it stop a real thief ? Most likely not but may give you some piece of mind.
 
All you're going to do is keep some kid from stealing it to joyride it. Lock the doors, keep valuables inside the car out of site, install a battery disconnect switch and/or an ignition kill switch, fuel pump kill if you've got an electric, etc. And don't leave it parked in a trailer!!!

If those things won't stop your thief, they're likely a professional, and you're not stopping a professional. Most classics are not stolen "gone in 60" style. They're loaded onto flat beds with wheel dollies. No hidden switch, disconnect, wheel lock, brake lock, open exhaust cut out or anything else is going to stop that.

There's a story on the HAMB about a guy having his classic stolen right out of his driveway. Other cars parked in the way, up a steep driveway off the street, with him sleeping on the other side of the window it was parked next to. Wheel dollies and a flat bed, buh-bye. If those guys want it, they're getting it.

And nowadays your casual thief isn't going to steal a classic anyway. They're too loud, they draw too much attention, they're hard to drive, and you never know what custom deterrent or mechanical problem you'll run into. And then, once you've stolen it, the parts are too hard to move without drawing attention. So really you're just trying to stop the local kids and drug addicts, and that's not that hard.
 
A few other things-

Don't post pictures on the internet that have your car parked in your driveway or in front of your house. If your car sits outside, put a cover on it. Not for the locals, but so when Google flies over, or drives by for the "street view", you can't see some shiny classic sitting in the driveway. Professionals and amateur thieves are both using the internet to research and target properties, houses, cars, etc.
 
I agree you won't stop a tow truck/ dolly/ roll back

Simple and effective: You have a tach? Put in an unobtrusive switch to GROUND the tach lead. Same as grounding the points. Won't start or run, and no obvious reason

Some guys use the lighter as a switch. Not sure how reliable that is. They get dirty/' corroded over the years

I'm "big" on rear mount electric pumps for prevention of vapor lock. Switch in the pump relay coil, easy

If not you can buy electric or manual fuel shutoff valves
 
My dad always said locks are for honest people.
For atv’s up on the rez,owners used to pull the seat off.
Now if one wheel is missing, they leave it alone.
 
years ago Sears sold a 12 volt main battery with a fob , gave enough juice to keep the radio from loosing its stations, but any more than that, 10 seconds later battery would shut off. Worked great. but for some reason recalled it. Have battery in trunk with wing nut disconnect on positive side, takes a little longer but still works.
 
Killswitch.
Will even stop a rollback, if you sleep light.
Never hurts to have a big *** dog roaming the premises, either.

FB_IMG_1512002139712.jpg
 
Summit sells a decent battery disconnect switch you can mount about anywhere.
 
KnuckleDuster said:
Killswitch.
Will even stop a rollback, if you sleep light.
Never hurts to have a big *** dog roaming the premises, either.

View attachment 1715133168
Click to expand...
or two big *** dogs, one sleeps in the doghouse by the back door, the other sleeps in the doghouse by the front door. metal garage /shop, makes a lot of noise If
breaking into it. loaded owner.
 
Great ideas guys. Thanks. To answer a few questions: I do not have a garage, I park in my driveway. I am leaning towards the lock cable to frame (hood to frame) and use a battery quick disconnect. Although I do have a tach, but I am a little unclear as to how to ground it? It is coming off an HEI ecoil, that has 2 wires that both act as tach, so one goes to tach in car, the other goes to the HEI. Are you saying by ground one of those feeds the car wont start?
 
I ran my neutral safety wire through my emergency brake switch so you have to pull the emergency brake on. Not typically what you would want to do if you're stealing a car.
 
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