In October 1986, I was living in a townhouse near Houston. This was when my Vette was my daily driver. I walked out to the parking lot to go to work. First thing I noticed was my glass T-Tops were gone. I checked the car out and that seemed to be the only thing missing. The interesting thing is, they left the radar detector on the dash, and broke some cassette tapes that were in the passenger seat, apparently they sat on them as they worked to break the T-Top locks off.... which there were pieces of all over the inside of the Vette. They even left my tool bag that was sitting behind the seats next to the speakers... which were still there.

After filling out reports with the Police, I tried to start the Vette to go to work anyway. The battery seemed to be dead. I noticed the clock had stopped at 3:35.

The thieves had cut the wires to my starter motor so the alarm would not go off. I called a buddy of mine that afternoon to help me tow the Vette to my parent's house so I could deal with the wiring in a garage instead of a parking lot.

The next day, I went to a salvage yard in North Houston that are notorious for buying stolen parts to see if I could find my tops. I did not find mine, but I bought a pair of stock tops that matched perfectly for $100.

Anyone else had their Vette burglarized?

www.bigdogvettes.com

 

No, but I've had other daily drivers vandalized and even had my old 83 K10 diesel stolen a few years back. Not a good feeling. Made me feel like kickin some a$$.

 

You brought me some bad memories with your story, I also lived in houston, clearlake city to be exact by the university green townhouses, somewhere in 1995 my corvette was also burglarized, I had just come back from a business trip and I parked my car in the townhouse parking space and the next morning my t tops where no longer on my corvette, they had also damage the door lock and the steering columm trying to start the car but i guess the thief was not able to started, so i was left with no ttops and damaged door and steering columm, it cost me a lot of money to repair and paint teh ttops to my corvette's color and it was sad because I dont think the thief got any where close for the ttops for the amount of damage that cost to repair my corvette, when i fixed my corvette i put a sign that read " if you are thinking of stealing this car, you wont be able to someone else tried already, but instead of damaging my car i will give you 100 dollars so you dont damage it or take the ttops" or couse i also moved to another place to egrett bay apartments i never had anymore problems.

 

I live not far from those places!! Egret Bay is a lot nicer than University Green. Sorry to hear about the damage they did to your Vette.

I was living in the Medical Center area near the dome when I lost my T-Tops. I moved soon after my experience to Dickinson where I still live. Further away from the city the better!

 

Around 10 years ago, some kids tried to get into my Vette. They used a screwdriver/knife/bottle opener to try and pop the lock cylinder out of the door and really gouged the fiberglass.

They must have been in a hurry. After working the the door for a few minutes, they gave up, picked up a chunk of cinderblock, pitched it and tore up the fiberglass in front of the rear wheel.

I discovered it the next morning. The body shop did a great job and none of it is noticable now.

It sucked pretty bad at the time.

 

Yes, my Vette was recently burglarized right in my garage! Seems some idiot left the door up one night. (I won't reveal the idiot's name though :bb ) Damned S.O.B. crook took my mini Maglight out of the car. Now I can't see my gauges at night! Well, it's not like my speedometer works anyway. That's all the crook got out of my car. Luckily I can't lock the driver's side door, so the crook didn't damage it trying to get in. Unfortunately Mr. Crook also took my Craftsman tool kit, '79 Assembly Manual, a bag of personal papers destine for a shredder, and a Mid America battery cutoff switch I detested, all out of the garage. Hope that switch gives him as many problems as it gave me. The Crook did leave one thing for me. A perfect thumbprint on the fiberglass from opening the door. Still can't get all the black fingerprint power residue out of my white paint.

Then get this. The same idiot who left the garage door open the first time left it up again just over a week later. It was early on a Sunday morning after a brief drive. The filthy crook returned and stole a pair of binoculars he didn't see the first time! During the second burglary he went back into the Vette, but there was nothing to steal. Hey, who would have thought the crook would strike AGAIN at like 9 AM on a Sunday morning if I left, uh... I mean some idiot left the door up for like less than a half hour??

Damnit!!

Oh yea, and like a month a later my neighbor accidentally left his garage door up during the night once, and the crook went into his '98 C5 Coupe and stole his sun glasses!!

 

Hasn't been burglarized (yet), but some a-hole left a nasty note taped to the car cover recently, admonishing me about parking for an extended period in a "guest" space. Condo ****'s suck!.

Everyone knows me and I have no enemies here, but apparently some dip-wad who doesn't like the idea that I drive a classic car couldn't resist taking the "punk" way out and leave a note instead of knocking on my front door. I would have explained that the car was parked until the association finished replacing the hurricane-damaged canvas over our "assigned" spaces.

Although no damage was done, I went off and put the fear of God into the neighbors, explaining in detail what I would do to the next person who touches my car. Now, one month later, the car sits in the same spot awaiting the return of the spineless dog-humper. However this time they'll be identified by a hidden video camera pointing at the car from inside my front window.

D. Ocean
Miami, FLA

 

Do you live on a busy street? If not, I'll bet a large amount of money the thief is someone who lives nearby and can see your/neighbors garage from their home. That should narrow your search a little.

I would leave the garage door open again on occasion and booby-trap it with a trip wire and a blank shotgun shell. You can easily make or purchase such a device from police supply catalogs. When the sucker hits that wire and the blank goes off inside the garage, the police will be able to obtain a DNA sample from the pile of doody the scumbag leaves on your garage floor!

D. Ocean
Miami, FLA

 

I love your idea!! That's funny as hell!!
I actually live in a security gated condo complex. I've lived there nine years, and frequently left my garage door up in the summer (Phx, AZ summer) for awhile to allow the car to cool before shutting the door. (My bedroom is directly above the garage, and it's harder to cool that room if the car below is heating the floor.) Never had a problem 'till now.

We do now believe it's probably a neighbor, (LONG story) and we are planning to set him up with bait and a video camera at some point. Fortunately the police have the thumb print, so I can link him to the first incident. I'll let you know if we catch him!!

 

sadly yes, some jackass took my stereo and rear speakers. bastards....some other *** tossed something on the right rear and ****ed up the paint

 

I had two cars of mine hit and run this summer... one was my beautifully restored 1974 MG midgette... the second was my fathers 2001 Oldsmobile Aurora. They both got hit at different places. at different times... But they both had the same affect. the bastard left.... whomever it was that hit the MG hit it so hard it picked it up and moved it.... <both cars where parked at the time.> asses.... I can't believe that people would be so cowardly. now that I think about it... someone hit my vette about 2 years ago here as well.... i believe it was a tourist though... okay, l8er