Just saw a FB post from Paula Nelson. Calvin's whole rig was stolen from their hotel in Florence , South Carolina last night sometime. Watch for a green F250 Diesel, white enclosed trailer, or someone unloading a '62 Studebaker !!
Just saw a FB post from Paula Nelson. Calvin's whole rig was stolen from their hotel in Florence , South Carolina last night sometime. Watch for a green F250 Diesel, white enclosed trailer, or someone unloading a '62 Studebaker !!
Oh no! that's my worst fear staying at a hotel with a trailer. E36 M3
Oh dammit that's awful. Here's to hoping all of it is recovered.
hopefully they just want the trailer and maybe the truck and the car will get dumped.
Ugh, thieves are the absolute worst.
We lost a truck/trailer/racecar on our way home from DragWeek in 2015. Definitely not an experience I recommend to others.
Spread the word as far and fast as possible. This is a rare case where social media is actually advantageous. Cops cannot dedicate resources for property loss.
I expect to soon read, "Angry mob of GRM gangsters holding a Florida man at bay"
In reply to akylekoz :
South carolina man, arguably worse than Florida man.
This will go out across GRM social channels in just a few.
mad_machine said:hopefully they just want the trailer and maybe the truck and the car will get dumped.
A lot of the time they don't even want the trailer -- just the tools that are stored in it. Tools are a lot easier to sell.
They want the truck and trailer. There are organized groups that target F250's at hotels.
The truck will more than likely get re-vinned and sold. The trailer will have its vin's removed and someone will title it as a home built. It's a known problem for law enforcement. My agency has three detectives that pretty much exclusively deal with F250 thefts from hotels and kia/hyundai thefts.
Honestly the race car is going to be a liability for the thieves, given how unique it is. It will likely have the engine removed and the chassis will get dumped somewhere.
Finding everything quickly is key.
pimpm3 (Forum Supporter) said:They want the truck and trailer. There are organized groups that target F250's at hotels.
The truck will more than likely get re-vinned and sold. The trailer will have its vin's removed and someone will title it as a home built. It's a known problem for law enforcement. My agency has three detectives that pretty much exclusively deal with F250 thefts from hotels and kia/hyundai thefts.
Honestly the race car is going to be a liability for the thieves, given how unique it is. It will likely have the engine removed and the chassis will get dumped somewhere.
Finding everything quickly is key.
Are there recommended precautions to take? Both to prevent the theft and then to track things? LoJack?
Sometimes I think race car trailers should have huge side windows so that thieves can see that there's an un-fenceable race car inside and not construction equipment 
dyintorace said:pimpm3 (Forum Supporter) said:They want the truck and trailer. There are organized groups that target F250's at hotels.
The truck will more than likely get re-vinned and sold. The trailer will have its vin's removed and someone will title it as a home built. It's a known problem for law enforcement. My agency has three detectives that pretty much exclusively deal with F250 thefts from hotels and kia/hyundai thefts.
Honestly the race car is going to be a liability for the thieves, given how unique it is. It will likely have the engine removed and the chassis will get dumped somewhere.
Finding everything quickly is key.
Are there recommended precautions to take? Both to prevent the theft and then to track things? LoJack?
Ever dream of a 40,000 leagues under the sea type approach where thief gets nailed with very high voltage unexpectedly in the middle of the night?
Like, not enough to kill them but enough to make them immediately empty their bowels and forget who they are for a week.
Unfortunately many fords, especially the trucks like Calvins are SUPER easy to break into. I worked at a ford lot many years ago and got quite good with retrieving keys accidentally locked in cars.
even law enforcement patrol cars were no exception. A simple cheapo slim jim from the parts store with the right bend in it and it takes all of a few seconds to pop the lock.
hopefully the popularity of this rig will get it abandoned by the thieves before its parted/destroyed.
This video shows the F250 vulnerabilities.
dyintorace said:pimpm3 (Forum Supporter) said:They want the truck and trailer. There are organized groups that target F250's at hotels.
The truck will more than likely get re-vinned and sold. The trailer will have its vin's removed and someone will title it as a home built. It's a known problem for law enforcement. My agency has three detectives that pretty much exclusively deal with F250 thefts from hotels and kia/hyundai thefts.
Honestly the race car is going to be a liability for the thieves, given how unique it is. It will likely have the engine removed and the chassis will get dumped somewhere.
Finding everything quickly is key.
Are there recommended precautions to take? Both to prevent the theft and then to track things? LoJack?
A hidden kill switch for the fuel pump goes a long way towards thwarting would be theives.
Keep in mind a lot of the guys that target F250's specifically bring ecu's with them that are matched to a transponder key. They are pretty sophisticated and proficient unfortunately.
Hiding a few apple airtags in the car, truck and trailer is usefull and inexpensive. Another option is a hidden battery powered gps tracker. They charge off the trailer wiring and have a built in battery in case the trailer is unplugged.
In reply to dyintorace :
Lojack. Having an odd-color trailer that is easily tracked. The painting the trailer license number on the roof of the trailer in large letters is supposed to help as well.
These will keep an honest person honest. Crooks are going to crook though.
Along the same lines as a hidden fuel pump kill switch, you could pretty easily rig something hidden that puts the trailer brakes on full when the tow vehicle is running. Also, put a conspicuous switch on the dash labeled "fuel pump" but flipping it actually locks all the doors and puts the horn on blast and doesn't turn off when the switch is flipped back off.
But unfortunately those things mean thieves still get in your car, plug/unplug ecus and other modules, probably break things to get to said modules, etc. There's going to be a lot of damage even if your vehicle is still there.
Our new GMC diesel truck was stolen years ago and the whole thing was caught on camera. Shortly after we walked away, the thief just walked up beep boop opened door and drove away. Since then, when we travel, we pull the fuel pump relay and if parked overnight, we chain the trailer to a tree or pole and if that's not available, we chain the wheels of the trailer to the truck. And we have a motion sensing alarm and Apple AirTags on truck and trailer. Seems like overkill but you have to make your stuff a hard target so thieves look for softer targets
That sucks.
Assuming they went to bed around 10PM, GRM South Texas and GRM Louisiana has about 4 more hours before its in Mexico, and at that point, she gone.
Threads like this keep reminding me to put a hidden starter interrupt on my big dumb van. I should really do that this week.
Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:dyintorace said:pimpm3 (Forum Supporter) said:They want the truck and trailer. There are organized groups that target F250's at hotels.
The truck will more than likely get re-vinned and sold. The trailer will have its vin's removed and someone will title it as a home built. It's a known problem for law enforcement. My agency has three detectives that pretty much exclusively deal with F250 thefts from hotels and kia/hyundai thefts.
Honestly the race car is going to be a liability for the thieves, given how unique it is. It will likely have the engine removed and the chassis will get dumped somewhere.
Finding everything quickly is key.
Are there recommended precautions to take? Both to prevent the theft and then to track things? LoJack?
Ever dream of a 40,000 leagues under the sea type approach where thief gets nailed with very high voltage unexpectedly in the middle of the night?
Like, not enough to kill them but enough to make them immediately empty their bowels and forget who they are for a week.
Charge up a couple capacitors and leave them in the seat
QuasiMofo (John Brown) said:Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:dyintorace said:pimpm3 (Forum Supporter) said:They want the truck and trailer. There are organized groups that target F250's at hotels.
The truck will more than likely get re-vinned and sold. The trailer will have its vin's removed and someone will title it as a home built. It's a known problem for law enforcement. My agency has three detectives that pretty much exclusively deal with F250 thefts from hotels and kia/hyundai thefts.
Honestly the race car is going to be a liability for the thieves, given how unique it is. It will likely have the engine removed and the chassis will get dumped somewhere.
Finding everything quickly is key.
Are there recommended precautions to take? Both to prevent the theft and then to track things? LoJack?
Ever dream of a 40,000 leagues under the sea type approach where thief gets nailed with very high voltage unexpectedly in the middle of the night?
Like, not enough to kill them but enough to make them immediately empty their bowels and forget who they are for a week.
Charge up a couple capacitors and leave them in the seat
My old boss used to do Audi repair. There was one particular model that had copper color seats. He'd strip a long section of wire, fan it out and lay it on the seat. Hook it to the coil and ask the new guy to start the car.
In reply to loosecannon :
To be honest, after reading these threads, that doesn’t sound like overkill to me. If it takes you 15 or 20 minutes to set up your theft-deterent measures, that’s still not much time.
I keep checking this thread and Calvin's Fb page to see if there's been any news. I saw that he's got a YouTube video up about what happened and I honestly don't know if I want to watch it because it's just going to bum me out.
I hope he can get his car back at least, and not get too badly burned on whatever he's offered by the insurance company.
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