How do you keep your classic safe?
We are welcoming this new year with a serious question for enthusiasts of all classic and specialty cars and trucks. Well, perhaps not too serious, because the term “safety” is relative to where you live and how easy it is to steal your car. Some vehicles simply aren’t going anywhere, but others are worrisome to own because of their value and how easy they are to steal.
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Take this Fox-body Mustang notchback I worked on during the pandemic. (Actually no, please do not take it!) The comments and DMs I got from the above Instagram post occasionally got out of control, as people thought it was for sale because it was rolling up a flatbed. In reality, it died on the highway (alternator, I shoulda known better) and needed a tow, but the sheer volume of traffic it stopped was both delightful and concerning. Which begs the question: If people loved this “notch” to the point of toothy grins, thumbs up, and cash offers to purchase it, how likely is it to get jacked if I leave it unattended at my local grocery store?
Since you can’t know who to trust, I look all around when walking to my car in a parking lot. I’ve never felt unsafe, but vigilance isn’t a bad thing, either, especially in big cities and sprawling suburbs. And my conscience is clear, as I helped protect my friend’s Bimini Blue Mustang by installing a NOS door-lock solenoid (the old one was jammed in the unlocked position!) and by leaving a Club in the cabin with its key on the key ring.
But my disaster mitigation plans are not everyone’s story of automotive safety. So the question remains: How do you keep your classic safe?
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1938 Chevrolet – first level is a manual transmission and a floor mounted starter – would probably slow down some of the bad guys. A battery disconnect (with the battery under the floorboard) may slow down the next level.
My two classic cars are kept in my locked garage. It’s when I’m out and have to park that worries me. If it’s over night I use a club but yes it can be defeated. Being stolen is not my biggest worry, I worry about parking lot “rash”. If you lock the car windows get broken. Alarm systems don’t work, people ignore them. We’ve all see the movie “Gone in 60 seconds”. If you hear the alarm, by the time you get to your car, it’s gone. A tracking device works best. I know a fellow who had his car stolen, he had a cut off switch and a club with the wheels turned all the way to one side. The thieves jacked the car up, put wheel dollies under it and winched it up onto a flat bed. If somebody wants your car bad enough there is no way to stop it from being stolen.
I’ve pulled the fuel pump fuse before. I’ve even cable locked around a coil spring before.
Anything to make a thief have to spend more time.
Unrecalled Takata airbag.
Now thats funny!!
Well, besides having Hagerty Insurance, I live on a horse farm that is completely fenced, locked gate, sign showing several German Shepherds with bared teeth, saying “not responsible for injury or death” & at the fence around the house, one that says, Last Warning – BAD ASS DOG ON DUTY! And, then, if they are stupid enough not to have run away – they have this even BADDER ASS MARINE to deal with! No problems at home! But, could always get one stolen when parked somewhere.
I have a Viper alarm on one, and #Carlock on my other two. All have instant phone app notifications (including my ‘31 Model A). I sleep well at night, even if staying in a hotel on the road; and no, I have no stake in either company 👻.
How about running a wire from the hot side of the coil to a switch, then to a loud horn.
There are many ways to alert you; just use your imagination!
Like some of the idea’s though in this feed 😉
Just got for Christmas but going to put a apple AirTag in when out of the garage driving around
i put a 2 prong flasher in line with ignition circuit motor starts will rev up put when in drive wont pull it self
I had a 1969 Roadrunner that someone tried to steal 3 times. First time they pushed in the small vent window then cranked down the window and opened the door. Removed the bezel around the ignition switch but tried to remove the switch by pulling it forward when all they had to do was push it and it would have fallen out the back. I then installed an alarm so the second time the alarm went off and they were gone. The third time they knew there was an alarm, so they pushed in the vent window again, rolled down the window and climbed through. What they didn’t know is that there were 2 ignition cutoff switches under the dash. Unsuccessful again.
A friend of mine had a 1968 Dodge Super Bee. He wired the high beam switch (which was on the floor) as the ignition cutoff switch and mounted a switch under the dash to activate the high beams.
My van has the best deterrent straight from the factory. 3-on-the-tree will keep them occupied. My ’57 Chevy is a 4-speed but I leave the key in it while it is in the garage. If they steal it, I’d rather not have them cut up a 65 year-old harness to hotwire it. Mindless twits probably couldn’t find reverse on either one of them.
I use a Club since the airbag in the steering wheel of my daily driver was stolen trice. Now it´s a quite old model, thieves get them at the scrap yard. MG TC waits in the garage to be driven. On the road easy to steel I relay on puppy protection.
YUP—-the Club is great—then a hidden kill switch–(that stops Most people–) keeping it in a locked garage with my daily driver in front also helps– My “Collector cars are not extremely high value so I think I don’t need much else-
I like to have a Trunk Monkey! 🙂
swamibob, Trunk Monkey’s the best!