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Around 7 or 8 years ago, a forum member here, related a story about how his car was almost stolen WHILE HE WAS IN THE CAR! <LOL>.
As best as I can recall:
He was backed into a parking space while his wife was in the store shopping. He noticed a roll back circling around the parking lot. The roll back made a pass by his car, went around and came back. The driver pulled up in front of the guy's C2 coupe, put the truck in reverse and backed up to the front of the guy's car. The driver jumped out of the cab, grabbed the chains, and proceeded to crawl under the car to hook up. Just as the guy got his head under, the C2 guy hit his horn. The thief, got out like a bat out of hell, jumped into his truck, and tore out of there with chains dragging and bouncing on the ground behind.
I can't attest to the accuracy of the story (or the accuracy of my recollection of the story). Seems to me the thief would have seen the C2 guy in the car. I'm thinking it was a black/black coupe but not sure. If so, maybe he couldn't be seen. Or maybe the thief was just focused on his task at hand and never thought someone would actually be inside the car.
I agree with Rhino. Not much you can do against a determined thief. Luckily I live in a small town with little or few car thefts. When I travel with my C2 it's usually not for the night so then I just lock it and cross my fingers.
Park smart, and insure it so if it’s gone, you will smile with the check.
I bought my 65 when I was 24, so it made the weekend rounds to the watering holes, dates etc. Car was never messed with.
I use to park across the street from a favorite bar in a bank drive up, right next to the teller window and about a dozen security cameras.
Movie theaters I would park way out back, under a light pole. I was always more worried about door dings and vandals then theft.
But I bought the car to enjoy, and make memories. I own it, it does not own me. Now after 20 yrs of owning the car car my buddies remember the time we left the bar with 2 guys and 2 girls stuffed in the car. Always fun shifting when a girl is sitting on the consul has one leg in each footwell!
Personally, I would drive in 2nd and 4th primarily-hope there is a 4:11 rear diff
My avatar shows a picture of my Corvette the day I brought it home. It's on a flatbed and we loaded it on said flatbed with a locked-up rear wheel. That's when I realized how hard it is to defeat the flatbed. I can make it impossible for someone to start my car and drive it away, but if they roll up with a flatbed...
From: Middle TN by way of KY, OH, VA, IL, CA, FL, NY, SC, HI
Originally Posted by AwesomeFloss
My avatar shows a picture of my Corvette the day I brought it home. It's on a flatbed and we loaded it on said flatbed with a locked-up rear wheel. That's when I realized how hard it is to defeat the flatbed. I can make it impossible for someone to start my car and drive it away, but if they roll up with a flatbed...
Wheel lift tow trucks are even faster - just back up to the victim car, deploy the wheel lift mechanism, and drive away. Very useful to repo men as a result.
At least these devices protect you from, or at least can discourage “13 year olds” who can start these antiquated cars with alligator clips. Just because you can’t protect from one type of thief doesn’t mean you just throw your hands up surrendering to all. I lost my original ‘67 50 years ago in NY. They are not getting my recently acquired bucket list replacement without a fight!
Are these cars really a target for professionals these days? While in 1974 all the parts were worth a lot in a chop shop, I doubt this is the case today except for resto-mods. While back in the day thieves would use these parts to build a GTO equivalent out of a junked ‘56 Chevy, what’s a Muncie 4 speed of mysterious background worth today? $100 max. Intact, these cars are now so unique / eye catching, I would think it crazy to try and hide/dispose of the car if I were a professional with a flat bed. If I were them I’d Go after a C8 instead.
Anyone have any data on theft rates for these cars now? I bet few and far between.
I think the biggest threats are joy riders or those who do so just for the thrill of the steal, like what was going on with the Kia’s.
I put in the above device, a kill switch and a cube gps tracker, and as for tow trucks, try to parallel park when I rarely park out of eyesight or outside from my locked garage. In addition of course I have stated value insurance, but I don’t like being stolen from ( without at least a “fight”) .
Last edited by Smichael; Jul 17, 2025 at 07:51 PM.
Reason: Typo
I think most of the younger crowd has no clue how to use the alligator clip method, let alone drive a standard. There are exceptions of course. I have no clue what the theft rate is on C2’s, but I would bet the majority that are stolen end up overseas. Those thieves are gonna use a wrecker and gps jamming if they really want your car. The others probably steal them for parts or vin swaps. I will do some things to my car to deter the amateurs as well.
I drive my car everyday and I'm much more concerned about someone running into my car than stealing it. My car is worth 200K plus so I just try to be smart about when/where I take/leave it. If I have to go into the city or any known crime area the Vette stays home and I drive one of my other cars. Bottom line is what everyone has said, "get good insurance" and be smart about where you take/leave your car. I will never take my car on an overnight trip if I don't have somewhere secure to park at the destination. I bought my car to drive and enjoy not a garage queen to dust off once a week. Hell, my car has never seen a battery tender in the two years I've owned it because it's driven and does need to be on one.
If you have no other choice but to leave your car unattended outside overnight, than like others have said, you can make it harder for joy riders but the pros will have the car in less than 90 seconds no matter what device you put on it. When these cars are stolen it's usually by a pro for export out of the country.
Was it a Teal coupe? I grew up in Hollis, Queens and as a kid I remember a teal '67 coupe that I would pass on my way to get pizza. I remember talking with the owner and how cool it was to see one of these in my neighborhood and then one day I noticed that it was gone. She told me that it had been stolen. Shot in the dark, but this happened in NY and it was about 50 years ago ...
Oh yeah, back to the original question, on my '66 I have a battery disconnect and a "track my car" device and app on my phone. My roll-up garage door is chained and locked from the inside, plus I have a pretty high agreed-upon value with my collector car insurance company.
When we bought our house, all the windows and doors were wired into the ADT alarm system EXCEPT the garage which has three windows plus the garage door, all unprotected. I resolved that problem soon after we moved in.
Something else I did was remove this plastic thing attached to the end of my garage door manual release cord. If that thing is in place, a thief can snag it with a coat hanger wire inserted at the top of the closed door and open the door.
I have three American-manufactured, rear-wheel drive, V-8 vehicles in my garage and I plan on keeping them all.
You can also zip tie the latch so it cannot be pulled open by a coat hanger. My son got me a remote garage door opener that is activated by my smart phone. When the garage door is opened or closed, my phone beeps. It will beep even if it is not opened by the smart phone. I also have a motion activated video camera in the garage that also beeps my smart phone when there is motion in the garage. I am still a firm believer that a committed thief can steal just about anything. As my dad would say, locks keep out honest people. Jerry
