STOLEN GNX FOUND- Read about the Immaculate Recovery

[BoostMasterK]

Dwight Clark has nothing on this. For all the bad things you hear about cops and stolen cars, here's the other side.

Turns out my GNX was recovered on Tuesday, but there was still no release filed with the recovery desk this morning. Long story short I finally got to the sergeant that found my car who was cool as hell. The GNX was being held as evidence. He said come to my office and I will cut through the red tape and get your car released. I spent some time with him in the auto theft recovery squad, unknowlingly I was right next to one of the perps! There is a warrant out for the other, who is apparently a G-body specialist and he seemed very optimistic they will "slate" him.

This sergeant is apparently one of the top 2 auto-theft experts in the country. His unit focuses on rings, chop shops, high-end, etc. He really takes his job seriously and told me all kinds of cool stories which I won't repeat He knows his cars and genuinely cares. Anyway, they were apparently raiding a chop shop, and they tailed one of the bad guys to a garage which turned out to have my car. It was in very good condition and the sergeant knew exactly what it was. He smiled and said he "knew this owner was going to be very happy" He had the car flatbedded, impounded, searched, dusted, and then stored in a separate off-limits garage from the regular theft recoveries.

Here's what kinda guy the sergeant is- I said I wanted to write a letter to his boss about him, he gave me the address and listed ALL the members of his TEAM. He introduced me to them too.

When I got to the impound garage, the head mech (cool also) taught me how to start it with the new key- a philips screwdriver. He even let me keep it ;-) He gave me tips on how to prevent it from happening again and I DROVE it home. NOTE- the mechanic defeated the Extender right in front of me. I will explain how directly with the manufacturer and I'm sure he can address the issue.

The "AutoLock Pro" brake lock was still ON THE BRAKE when I got there. Sarge said demand my money back This leads me to believe they didn't go too hard on the car since they only had the e-brake to stop it.

The damage is pretty minimal- steering column, aftermarket radio missing, and alot of removed trim pieces to look for LoJack. Overall mostly cosmetic and no missing/damaged GNX stuff. Lost most of my personal stuff but oddly enough I got back my V-1.

So probably a few days in the shop and it will be good as new! Thanks to all of you for posting your support, getting the word out, law enforcement keeping their eyes open, and everything!

Now please get the word out again so I don't get beaten up for driving my own car!


Mike [

 

[Vendor Defendor]

oh you are a lucky SOB!!! good to hear it thought!!!

-Neil

 

[GN ERGY]

Congradulations on getting your car back!!!
Somebody up above must like Buicks, and you too.
I know what your face looks like You'll be carrying that around for a while.
I had a Chevy 4x4 stolen way back when, it was lifted with flares and 38 mudders and all that stuff on it and they never found it.
Did the cops give you any good ideas for theft deterrants you could pass on to the rest of us. And what doesn't really work.
Thanks, Tarey D.

 

[SilverSleeper]

Someone was listening to your prayers!
Nice to see a happy ending once in awhile.
Hope other guys get the same outcome with their thefts.

 

[Back-N-Black]

Congratulations thats great to here you got your car back.Being a new GN owner your story has made me decide to go and get an antitheft system right away.Hope to hear that you have it back on the road soon.

 

[Turbo85T]

Glad to hear you got your car back Mike. I know you must feel mighty lucky. Good work by the police. My car was a former theft recovery car by the way . Hal

 

[ttypewe4jim]

OMG dude u must feel like the luckesist person in the world which you diffently are do u realize the odds of u geting ur car back.......oh yea i was asking around to see if i heard anything about ur ca but nothing turned up i was just waiting to hear about the parts

U ARE SO LUCKY ITS NOT EVEN FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MeanBuicks]

AWESOME!!!!

That's great news!

I hope those dirtbags get some real time in the lockup! They need to quit slapping wrists and hand down some real sentences.

 

[BoostMasterK]

Well if you guys knew my history with these here Buicks, you might not think I'm so lucky Today I can't argue with you, though!

Hal, I tried to drop you a line to your dellepro address twice this week and the box is full. Good to hear from you, buddy!!

GNERGY- The cops in both Paramus and Newark were surprisingly unenthusiastic about LoJack. They say not enough cruisers have it, so there's no guarantee even one LoJack car will be on the road. Then there's the skill factor

The sergeant couldn't believe he found the car with the brake thingie still attached. I'm sure he'll tell that story for awhile.

They were all preaching secret fuel cutoff. You will have to use your creativity on that one.

This experience has really opened my eyes on how to think like a thief, not like an owner.


Good luck!!!!

Mike [

 

[Little6pack]

Originally posted by mkazigian
he found the car with the brake thingie still attached. Mike [

I bought one of those Brake thingy's & withen 30 seconds I figured I could drive my car SLOW using Emergency brake pedal & low gear.

Wonder if that makes me a thief

You are correct on thinking like a thief.

 

[ghall]

Outstanding--i love to hear endings like this.Congrats.

Geoff

 

[Buicksx2]

Mike,

Congrats buddy glad to hear you got her back. I too got lucky in 87 when my GN was lifted it too was found in Newark (suprise suprise).

Great news!!!

 

[RareT]

Great news....I know you must be one happy guy right about now! Thanks for sharing this experience with us.

Ed

 

[mydesigner]

Dang man I am so glad you got that back i almost shed a tear when i heard about that. I dont blame u for driving it either if i had a car like that I would drive it on nice days too. Dont listen to those punks.

 

[Geoff87]

Glad to hear it Mike!!

To help you celebrate, I'll send you a jar of Papaya seed dressing.

 

[Mease Performance]

theft deterrent

Great to hear the car is back,

this is one of the hardest to figger out theft deterrents:

We have used (in most of my cars) a small (very small) push on, push off switch to disable the fuel pump, you will install this feature in between the main wire feeding the fuel pump relay (trigger wire for the relay not the large guage) and the fuel sender, usually this wire is purple or grey depending on each particular vehicle, the wire you install and tap into MUST BE HIDDEN and MUST NOT SHOW ANY signs of being tampered with, remove your DS seat cover, upper, lower, headrest, whereever you select but it must not (obviously) be located in a portion of the seat where movement takes place while driving make a bracket and mount the switch under the cover buried in the foam where only YOU know where the switch is, and noone else suspects, you will need to be able to compress the switch to enable its features, so make sure to select a good location and again, HIDE THE WIRING!!! run all wires in harnesses where applicable and/or use wires there that you may not be utilizing. This feature can also be used for a starter cutoff going to the starter relay (NOT the solenoid) .

Another method we have used to prevent car jacking is to find a somewhat long distance door lock/trunk open reciever and (what we did to one of my Impala SS's) is utilize the wiring from the trunk solenoid to activate a fuel pump and starter cutout....sooo If mr theif decides to put a 357 to your head at a stop light and force you out of the car just make sure you have the reciever in your pocket or carry a spare with you at all times (hardest to do ) let him go! and let him get about 1/4 mile away (maybe 1/8 depending on your controlling distance) then click the trunk latch button on the transmitter....boom....trunk opens, starter is disabled as well as fuel pump.....No damage is done to your car except for what he has done to you thus far, and the ignition/steering wheel lock is still unlocked so the car wont be driven directly for a pole (unless he steers it there). Works every time (not that any of us have been carjacked...but doesnt hurt to take precautions) FORGET the $500 alarm systems, etc....if they want it that bad....nothing a gallon of antifreeze and a flat bed wont do...they can have it for all that...

good luck and hope this helps!

Regards, <KM@>

 

[turbojimmy]

Re: theft deterrent

Originally posted by Mease Performance
Another method we have used to prevent car jacking is to find a somewhat long distance door lock/trunk open reciever and (what we did to one of my Impala SS's) is utilize the wiring from the trunk solenoid to activate a fuel pump and starter cutout....sooo If mr theif decides to put a 357 to your head at a stop light and force you out of the car just make sure you have the reciever in your pocket or carry a spare with you at all times (hardest to do
Regards, <KM@>

Jacobs makes a device that works similarly. It has an old-fashioned type high-beam foot switch on the floor. You hit it and about a minute later the car sputters and dies. Won't restart until it's reset.

Since Mike's car was driven away after a theif took advantage of a well known Achille's Heel (the column - my car was stolen the same way and I had a screwdriver for a key for a while), would a locking collar on the column have helped or prevented this situation? Clearly the anti-theft built into the chip is ineffective. One because all a good theif has to do is carry an extra chip around. Two because multiple bozos over the years have posted the starting sequence here and on the gnttype mailing list.

I'll be wiring up a fuel cut-off this weekend. Maybe with some decoy wiring, too. Thank for the tip.

Jim

 

[FlyinGN]

those brake pedel bars only work on new cars where you HAVE to depress the brake to put the car in gear. Unless they can defete that too.

 

[streetmonsta]

That is great news, congrats. Please tell me you aren't taking the car to work anymore???

 

[Captain Mark]

Congratulations Mike. Great news!