White Mk1 Escort SMW249G, Woolaston, GL15, 02/03/16

[escortmad79]

White mk1 Escort SMW249G, Woolaston, GL15 02/03/16



White 1968 mk1 Escort 2 door registration number SMW249G was stolen from CC’s Woolaston Service Station, Woolaston, Lydney, Gloucestershire, GL15 on Wednesday 2nd March 2016.
The car was imported from New Zealand & is a 1300 Super which is totally original. The car is white with 2 black pinstripes which run along the swage line & is fitted with rectangular headlights & a chrome grille which features the external bonnet release as fitted with early models. The car, being a 1968 model also has an early exposed filler cap & early mk1 handles with the lock incorporated in the driver’s door handle.
The car was stolen along with a black Impreza, grey VW Transporter, tools & machinery.
The thieves also targeted a car garage next door too.

[southside]

The way these theives work still amazes me. A lot of thefts reported on here are obviously more by organised gangs than just the average joyrider but how do they find out about these cars and locations? Even cars that are in the middle of nowhere, you can't be telling me they are just in the right place at the right time and yet they all just disappear off the radar.

I know if I spotted a mk1 escort and an Impreza driving past me in the middle of the night I would notice it.

[MK2VR6]

If I owned a mk1 Escrot, I genuinely think I'd leave the door handles wired up to mains 240v. Bastards.

[360beast]

I wouldn't be surprised if they go to car meets and follow the owners home.

[escortmad79]

Mar 9, 2016 19:12:17 GMT 360beast said:

I wouldn't be surprised if they go to car meets and follow the owners home.

The very reason you need to be aware of who's behind you! If you suspect you are being followed don't drive directly to where the car is kept, take detours, drive to a petrol station & drive through the forecourt, if they follow/stop then their reg will be on the petrol stations number plate recognition cameras or drive to your nearest police station.

[Ryannn]

Mar 9, 2016 19:12:17 GMT 360beast said:

I wouldn't be surprised if they go to car meets and follow the owners home.

I once thought I was being followed home in my Mini, a car I'd never seen before followed me a good 10 miles, all the way onto the quiet cyl-de-sac I live in. Eventually I took a different street to the one I actually live on and they drove past.

[dodgerover]

I got followed regularly when I used to be out trail riding, I used to have a road I went down that had a narrow point you could ride through on the bike but a car didn't fit....

Some tit decided to follow me in my old rangie too, got no idea why but their road car didn't go very well down the muddy lane I took...

[jamesfuller]

I know of people with mountain bikes on car racks being followed home from events and trails, I'm talking over 100 miles!

I'm sure I have been followed a couple of times too in one of my old Japs. Dodgy looking pair in a knackered Skyline in the middle of nowhere, I lead them on a wild goose chase down a bumpy road. After I lost them turned around and they where stopped at a little T junction. Could have been nothing but just didn't sit right!

[PandaSelecta]

Don't need to follow people these days, as you can get magnetic trackers, so all it takes is someone attaching a tracker at a show, then using that to find out where you are.

[Soopahfly]

Mar 11, 2016 8:27:54 GMT jamesfuller said:

I know of people with mountain bikes on car racks being followed home from events and trails, I'm talking over 100 miles!

I'm sure I have been followed a couple of times too in one of my old Japs. Dodgy looking pair in a knackered Skyline in the middle of nowhere, I lead them on a wild goose chase down a bumpy road. After I lost them turned around and they where stopped at a little T junction. Could have been nothing but just didn't sit right!

I've had it recently with my Five on the roof of the Type-R.
Strange car for someone to try and follow though, as they don't hang about.

[pauly22]

Shame looked nice and original.

I've yet to leave my escort unattended in 10 years. Don't even take it to the shops in fear of someone having it away.

[roccoguy]

I honestly think I'd be too scared to own a mk1/2 escort now. Scum bags are going to some extreme lengths to have them away these days

[skylinedave]

Another thing you an do [ i did it with a car recently] is to drive in a loop around a few streets .


The people that pinch these cars and others must be car enthusiast and go on forums and to meets . All i can say is be very dilligent and don't give too muh away if people ask too many questions , ie, 'where you from ? ' is that on so and so estate ? ' ' near so and so ' etc . All they have to do is drive around that area and they will see it , even on google street view if you have had it some time . Or they may know a local scrote you knows where it is .


Also careful what you upload picture wise .In front of the local garage with sign with name and number on ? No no . Outside your house and you have your town on your forum page ? No no .


I pointed this out to someone on a ford forum saying i bet i could find where he lived despite not knowing him something he thought was bull . He had his town on his forum title and dozens of pictures of it around near his house . Using google earth and street view it took about 5 minutes in total to narrow it down 1 or 2 houses next to each other .

Please please take great care with your pride and joy , nothing is safe from people now .

[smile83]

I am always worried about saying what I got on forums.as I'm sure people use them to see what's about in there neck of the woods.

[bettygt]

Mar 11, 2016 21:03:21 GMT smile83 said:

I am always worried about saying what I got on forums.as I'm sure people use them to see what's about in there neck of the woods.

I'm really careful about what pictures I post on the net and what I say, but sometimes it's down to fellow forum members saying " Oh right, you live in ****, just past the pub next to the garage".

If you know where someone lives, well done. If you think you need to tell them, send a PM.

When you post a pic think about what information can be gathered from what you show. Even an Estate Agents sign is enough.

I've already removed myself from RR once, due to some indiscretion from a member. Be mindful of your posts and comments.

If you're going to post in 'RR spotted' or 'lets see the abandoned ones', try and crop the pics to show nothing but the car.

Have a nice day  !

[pcj]

Obviously a good business opportunity here: I've seen the future of classic car ownership and I'm considering going on to crowd-funding to get backing.

We'll come to your house and build a bomb-proof ferro-concrete igloo over your car with an armoured steel man-sized hatch controlled for access from our central location. The access will only be available to you and designated guests (validated by retinal scans and possibly transponder implants too).

The car will have no need to drive to shows, go out on risky self-indulgent road trips or even to the shops any more. For those who still want the road-going experience we'll offer the de-luxe package: the car will be mounted on a rolling road with a computer projection system as per flight simulation.

We will provide you with full 3D scans of your car, external, internal etc. that you can drool over at your leisure on your computer screens and of course if she's a bit scruffy there's always photoshop. When you want to do a car meet, well, isn't that what video-conferencing exists for?

Think of the advantages: no need to keep her MOT'd, no need for insurance, you don't even need a licence, no petrol bills, no desperate wait for that elusive part so you can make the next meet, no meets in the rain, no wear and tear, no knuckle scraping while laying on your back in the rain to sort that elusive fault. Continental road trips? No organising ferries, recovery cover etc as if you take the de-luxe package we will arrange en-route simulation via the computer projector of any of the great roads at your choice (1st one free, all others at a reasonable fee).

Let's keep it a bit more real people: thieves will always exist and will always look for easy/lucrative targets especially if, as seems too often to be the case with classic cars, the police aren't doing much to follow it up.

However, many of these vehicles are getting picked off because the security on and/or around them is p1ss poor! No extra security on the vehicle, even though their manufacturing decades were notorious for how easy it was to open and start them. No adequate security around them, even on garage premises where alarms often don't work and the camera quality (if it's actually working at all and aimed in the right direction to begin with) would disgrace the bottom of a milk bottle.

There are always poor souls in today's world who are driven to theft out of desperation and hunger and for those people we should do all we can to get them back on the right side of the road.

However in the case of most classic car theft we are talking of those who choose to walk on the dark side so let's remind them that once named and shamed it'll be a cold day in hell before we admit them back into the fellowship and that goes double for the even lower life forms who “wouldn't grass up someone”. There's no honour among thieves. It also includes those “honest” owners who buy bargains no questions asked.

Remember: we get paranoid the thieves destroy our hobby!

[dodgerover]

Just because I'm paranoid it doesn't mean someone isn't out to get you.

[skylinedave]

Mar 12, 2016 12:29:55 GMT pcj said:

Obviously a good business opportunity here: I've seen the future of classic car ownership and I'm considering going on to crowd-funding to get backing.

We'll come to your house and build a bomb-proof ferro-concrete igloo over your car with an armoured steel man-sized hatch controlled for access from our central location. The access will only be available to you and designated guests (validated by retinal scans and possibly transponder implants too).

The car will have no need to drive to shows, go out on risky self-indulgent road trips or even to the shops any more. For those who still want the road-going experience we'll offer the de-luxe package: the car will be mounted on a rolling road with a computer projection system as per flight simulation.

We will provide you with full 3D scans of your car, external, internal etc. that you can drool over at your leisure on your computer screens and of course if she's a bit scruffy there's always photoshop. When you want to do a car meet, well, isn't that what video-conferencing exists for?

Think of the advantages: no need to keep her MOT'd, no need for insurance, you don't even need a licence, no petrol bills, no desperate wait for that elusive part so you can make the next meet, no meets in the rain, no wear and tear, no knuckle scraping while laying on your back in the rain to sort that elusive fault. Continental road trips? No organising ferries, recovery cover etc as if you take the de-luxe package we will arrange en-route simulation via the computer projector of any of the great roads at your choice (1st one free, all others at a reasonable fee).

Let's keep it a bit more real people: thieves will always exist and will always look for easy/lucrative targets especially if, as seems too often to be the case with classic cars, the police aren't doing much to follow it up.

However, many of these vehicles are getting picked off because the security on and/or around them is p1ss poor! No extra security on the vehicle, even though their manufacturing decades were notorious for how easy it was to open and start them. No adequate security around them, even on garage premises where alarms often don't work and the camera quality (if it's actually working at all and aimed in the right direction to begin with) would disgrace the bottom of a milk bottle.

There are always poor souls in today's world who are driven to theft out of desperation and hunger and for those people we should do all we can to get them back on the right side of the road.

However in the case of most classic car theft we are talking of those who choose to walk on the dark side so let's remind them that once named and shamed it'll be a cold day in hell before we admit them back into the fellowship and that goes double for the even lower life forms who “wouldn't grass up someone”. There's no honour among thieves. It also includes those “honest” owners who buy bargains no questions asked.

Remember: we get paranoid the thieves destroy our hobby!

    Sorry but what a load of twaddle . Driven to theft ? I would guess that 999.99999 % of people are doing it of there own free will and its got nothing to do with  having no option . And some of this stuff is taken despite peoples best efforts .  What about the escort stolen from the showroom with  a gang who smashed the windows in and dragged it off ? Thats from a locked cctv lit up showroom , should we feel sorry for the poor blighters coaxed into doing it but some Fagin type character ? Are they only doing it to afford to buy some wood for the fire and a meat pie for the family ?

No , i thought not 

[pcj]

Dave, sarcasm/irony is clearly wasted on some folk, esp as the bit about the business idea was meant to be ironic since so many of the posts on this thread were heading for the bunker mentality re how we use our classics. So kindly try reading the post in that spirit before shooting off at the hip or lip.

There is nothing worse than opinion being posited as statistics. You want twaddle then your 999.99999% is definitely right up there as a being a classic example. As indeed is putting up a strawman question and then answering it yourself.

My bit about those driven to theft is perfectly valid, go ask any of a large number of charities dealing with the fallout of today's post banking disaster society, or any probation officer and indeed any police officer who works on a beat. I put it in to differentiate our classic car thieves i.e. the people who choose to thieve.

Nor did I say some of this stuff wasn't being taken by professionals who come equipped to steal to order (I am indeed aware of the Escort that was taken from the showroom, in fact you'll find I posted on there) but I'd like to see a fully analysed set of data re all these recent classic thefts to see just how easy/hard it was for the thieves to lift the goods. Meantime it is about time we all looked bloody hard at just how easy it might be for someone even just a bit more determined than a casual thief to make off with our pride and joy before we get to the position as posted by several people that they are pretty much paranoid about even taking their vehicle to the shops and shows.

[PandaSelecta]

Oh my God, I can't afford to eat, due to the banking crisis making me poor. My only solution is to steal a classic Ford