Stolen Power Tour cars must be a thing this year.

These two apparently got swiped in Charlotte last night.

There is a special Hell for people who do that.  

Looks like people are saying atleast 2 other cars got stolen too.

That's part of the reason my ls swap 67 Carmaro has the ignition lock and bcm from the donor van.  Not impossible to steal by any means, but at least enough harder to make somebody else's car an easier choice.

That ss looks like an ss that was stolen out of the garage at my apartment a while ago. 

I’m curious if they were flat bedded away or driven. 

Either way i can’t imagine the anguish that would come from having a project car stolen.

In reply to 1SlowVW :

From looking it seems like the dude with the Caprice just got his LQ4 swap buttoned up and tuned last week. So this was the first time he got any kind if chance to put any real miles on it. And now it's gone.

Somebody was in a mood to swipe some radwood era GM it seems.

Every one of those has the "Theft-o-matic" tilt GM column from 1969...  Small hammer, medium screwdriver, less than 15 seconds.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

Same one 2 of my cars have. Nice.

This has been a low-level problem on HRPT for a couple of years. That many cars at the beginning of the event does not bode well. I don’t know what the solution is, wish I did. 

In reply to glueguy :

I’ve seen Honda guys who just pull the computer every night. They make it easy to pull and then Pretty much unsure you will have to tow the car away to steal it. 

Streetwiseguy said:

Every one of those has the "Theft-o-matic" tilt GM column from 1969...  Small hammer, medium screwdriver, less than 15 seconds.

5th car was found like this. Same column again.

At this point I wonder if it's not just crimes of opportunity, or if those vehicles are already on a container to be shipped off somewhere.

It’s so easy to let your guard down when you’re around the joy and camaraderie of other car guys. You forget that it’s not just other car guys around. 

Would someone please steal my Merkur?  The keys are in it and everything.

Makes sense if you think about it; The power tour is like one giant mobile used car lot for the thief to peruse. Shop the show all day and bring the flatbed that night.

What I don't see is the profitability of such enterprise. Custom cars are too hard to move on. The overhead of needing tow vehicles is too high and once you break them up all you have is used speed equipment that sells for pennies on the dollar? More money to be made from chopping  late model mainstream vehicles.

Would someone please steal my Merkur?  The keys are in it and everything.

As an eternal cynic, I would be interested in the insured value of the stolen cars.

Pete

"... and a screwdriver about this long ..."

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

Would someone please steal my Merkur?  The keys are in it and everything.

Take it to the nearest Power Tour stop & stay overnight?

And this is 1.) why my truck stays in the garage at night and b.) I race Korean cars. Ain't nobody want none of that. 

What I don't see is the profitability of such enterprise. Custom cars are too hard to move on. The overhead of needing tow vehicles is too high and once you break them up all you have is used speed equipment that sells for pennies on the dollar? More money to be made from chopping  late model mainstream vehicles.

That's what throws me off too. I feel like people in the market for those vehicles would have a great chance of the car being recognized if they showed up anywhere with it. I don't imagine there's much parts demand outside of those same circles either. 

Based on the broken steering column on the fifth car, I’m guessing the others were driven away, not towed?  If so, it’s low effort, so they don’t need to make as much.  Wouldn’t be surprised if they were joyridden, then had wheels and other valuable, easy to remove parts yanked.

My project S10 still has the resistor key setup from the donor car, but it’s not in the column - it’s under the dash on the passenger side.  Without that key, the injectors are not firing.

Appleseed said:

There is a special Hell for people who do that.  

Wonder if hagerty or the other specialty insurance will pay out?

When i looked at them, they had provisions aginst using as transportation or on vacation. Luke i couldn't use my duster to go to Kentucky for the weekend, as it would be unsecured in hotel parking lots.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

Would someone please steal my Merkur?  The keys are in it and everything.

I once started my 6.2 diesel Suburban one winter afternoon to rearrange my parking for the snowplows to plow the street in front of my house.   I left it idling to warm up and charge the batteries back up and went inside to have lunch.

The next morning when I remembered it, it was still there, in the street rattling away...