Parked car being photographed in detail by stranger

[9xxNick]

I went to Lakeside yesterday evening and when I came out of the centre, a woman who was loading her car opposite mine said that someone had been all around my parked car photographing it.

I didn't ask but I am going to assume this wasn't someone in a parking attendant's uniform and in any case it was parked in the indicated space and I was well under the two hour limit.

So, I am wondering what the game is here. Intent to clone a car or something else.

It's a fairly ordinary car (F11 estate) so wouldn't have thought it would be of any "spotting" interest.

Anyone got any ideas?

Edited by 9xxNick on Wednesday 23 February 11:19

[Janesy B]

Maybe someone wanting to list it on ebay/gumtree to scam someone? A kid wanting to show off 'their' new car for the 'gram?

Doubt it's for a clone, they'd only need a quick walk around to confirm if its what they want to clone without attracting attention.

[PHZero]

Have you checked for photos of your car on this thread:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[cmvtec]

I appreciate that this is uncommon, but I have been the person doing the photographing in the past.

I work for an OEM supplier, and there have been occasions where our customers have raised a concern over a "defect" that we have absolutely been certain has always been there.

I once went looking for a car made in the late 90s to see if a certain imperfection was present on the car.

I took photos.

I appreciate this isn't likely the case here.

[RizzoTheRat]

Following another thread about what hits you get when googling your own number plate, I found a website where people post up photos of car numberplates. There's 2 photos of mine, one has 3 comments and 16 likes, the other has 14 likes but no comments. It's a diesel Skoda.

I can only conclude there are a lot of weirdo's in the world, so take a look on http://platesmania.com/ and see if the photos are on there.

[Hammer67]

Quite rare these days, haven`t seen one for years.

[CacheMonet]

I had the exact same thing, except it was of my car on my driveway. I only found out about it by searching my number plate in facebook out of curiosity, only to find the photos uploaded to one of the many 'cars you don't see anymore' groups. It did feel a bit creepy but the lad who posted the photos was apologetic and was naturally a kindred petrol head.

I have also seen someone taking photos of a car on the top deck of the Lakeside multistory out of a Merc's window just before Christmas - not meaning to fan the flames of conspiracy of course

[vikingaero]

I've come back to Mrs V.'s Mitsubishi i (Kei Car) and found people taking photos of it. Sometimes they stand in front of the car, other times, they sneak a photo from their car. One time I returned unable to find the car because it was surrounded by Japfest type cars thinking it was the meet point in Tesco.

[9xxNick]

I would be less concerned if it was a car with some kind of "special interest" attributes but it's not - like I say it's a dark grey BMW estate, parked in a car park, so it wouldn't hit any photogenic highs as far as I know.

[Little Pete]

Hammer67 said:

Quite rare these days, haven`t seen one for years.

[SmithCorona]

Are you the first owner? I have seen old cars of mine that I have taken a photo or two of.

[Countdown]

Hammer67 said:

Quite rare these days, haven`t seen one for years.

Big fan of Datsuns here

Was that model ever sold in the UK? I didn't think they used the "Cherry" badge in the UK until they re-branded to Nissan, and I don't recall the Estate model being sold here either.

At various times my dad had

Datsun 120Y
Datsun 140J
Datsun 180B x 3

I remember spending numerous weekends with isopon P38/Isopon P40 and an orbital sander

[Byker28i]

Hammer67 said:

Quite rare these days, haven`t seen one for years.

The Coupe was the nicer car. We had one in white

[9xxNick]

SmithCorona said:

Are you the first owner? I have seen old cars of mine that I have taken a photo or two of.

No. Possibly a previous owner but the car wasn't local when new.

[freedman]

Countdown said:

Big fan of Datsuns here

Was that model ever sold in the UK? I didn't think they used the "Cherry" badge in the UK until they re-branded to Nissan, and I don't recall the Estate model being sold here either.

At various times my dad had

Datsun 120Y
Datsun 140J
Datsun 180B x 3

I remember spending numerous weekends with isopon P38/Isopon P40 and an orbital sander

They definitely sold the Cherry as Datsun, I remember my dad nearly buying one

Showing my age, I learned to drive in a 120Y!

[Countdown]

freedman said:

They definitely sold the Cherry as Datsun, I remember my dad nearly buying one

Showing my age, I learned to drive in a 120Y!

Ok, I stand corrected

I don't remember the names Cherry/Violet/Bluebird appearing on any of the badging. (For example the 100A and the 120Y were Cherrys but there was no Cherry badge until later when they became FWD) They were on the Owners Manuals and the Haynes Manuals (I assume because they were sold under those names in other markets but not in the UK...... )

Anyway we digress - apologies for going O/T

[gtidriver]

Ive just looked on that plates mania website and found an old car of mine with a picture taken in France being the only photo..

[Triumph Man]

I feel quite disappointed that none of mine are on that website - even the more interesting ones!

[RizzoTheRat]

Formatting does matter, mine only shows up on there if I include the dashes in it.

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

Have you checked to see if the pictures are on YPLAC?