Remove your rotor arm!

[4rephill]

I've posted this in the stolen Jeep thread but felt that if it could help other classic/old car owners then I'd create it's own thread:

For anyone parking a classic/old car anywhere or displaying it somewhere, a tip My Grandad always gave Me was, when you park it, if it has a distributor cap and it is easy to remove, lift it off and take the rotor arm out!

You can easily carry it in your pocket and the chances of a thief carrying a rotor arm that fits the vehicle is highly unlikely.



If this advice only helps save one classic owner from losing their pride and joy then My dearly departed Grandad will be happy that I made good use of his advice!

[4rephill]

MoggieMinor said:

I always used to do that with my Minis and Moggies until one night I lost the fxxxing thing.

I'd suggest it's better to lose your rotor arm than lose your whole car to a car thief!



I used to do this with both of My Fiat X1/9's and never lost the rotor arm once.

Had the owner of the 1943 Jeep in the other thread removed the rotor arm, chances are he would still have his Jeep today.

It's a free method of mobilising an old car that doesn't take that much effort and some owners new to the scene might not think of doing it.

[4rephill]

jamesh764 said:

4rephill said:

I used to do this with both of My Fiat X1/9's and never lost the rotor arm once.

When we moved house I had to leave my X1/9 for a few days in our office car park, which was in one of the less desirable areas of High Wycombe, so I removed the rotor arm.

My wife questioned what I was doing, and when I told her she reminded me that the car never started anyway, and I was wasting my time. She had a point.

I've owned two X1/9's in My time and neither had any issues with starting, either when hot or cold!

Either I just got lucky with the two I owned or you were just unlucky with yours.

GTRene said:

you also can make a hidden switch somewhere.

Another good tip to help protect your pride and joy from thieves.

The whole point of Me starting this thread was to help other classic/old car owners from suffering the same sort of incident that the owner of the '43 Jeep has suffered.

As I have previously posted, some people might not realise how easy it is to immobilise an classic/old car, I just want to help prevent others from suffering the loss of their car, even if that only means one owner!

[4rephill]

alolympic said:

Agree with this. The way I see it, classics aren't targeted by opportunists, they are thefts that are planned, often with the help of a flat bed or truck, slipped away without being driven.........

I started this thread due to reading abut the owner of the 1943 Jeep that was stolen whilst on display.

I seriously doubt that that Jeep was taken away on the back of a flat bed or truck without being driven.

My suspicion is that someone simply climbed on board and fired up the Jeep as though they were the rightful owner taking it for a spin (believe it or not, some thieves really are that brazen!).

As I've previously posted, I genuinely suspect also that had the owner removed the rotor arm whilst his Jeep was on display then he would still be in possession of it.

Whilst opportunist thefts are quite rare these days, they can't be ruled out completely and so anything you can do to reduce the risk of having your pride and joy stolen must be worth considering, including removing the rotor arm where applicable.

[4rephill]

varsas said:

I use a good quality crook lock, it's huge and yellow. I hope it stops people breaking the window or slashing the roof before they realise it can't be started.

Sometimes the old methods are still the best!

(

varsas said:

ETA: A friend recently had his Beetle Karman Convertible stolen. It was for sale and we can't help thinking it was one of the people who came and looked at the car who took it. Never let anyone know where you car is kept, especially if it's in a garage in a block or something away from the house.

Edited by varsas on Saturday 25th July 14:14

I wouldn't be surprised is someone had used the guise of being a buyer to do a theft recce.

Sometimes the more brazen a car thief is, the less suspicious they appear to others around!

A big problem with classic cars is that 1), they're being highly valuable these days and are once again becoming theft targets, and 2), quite often the security on them is either a complete joke, or so old as to be unreliable. (I remember years ago My Step-Mother owned a MK1 Escort that could easily be opened and started with a standard Yale lock house key due to wear in the barrels!).