Title says it all in my opinion. To preface, NO, my empeg is still safe here with me. But that's all I have left of my car stereo system, or my car for that matter.

I went to bed at about 12am last night. Generally feeling pretty god after some hard work at home to unwind from office stresses. Wake up briefl at 6:30am tired but feeling pretty good as I get comfortable for another two hours of sleep. GIrlfriend was getting ready to leave for a course downtown.

She leaves the house just before 7am by which time I'm already asleep again. But not for long. Because at about 7:01am she's running up the stairs muttering something about my car not being "outside."

"Where's your car, where's your car?" - it must just be parked in another aisle I dream for a split second, thinking I'm walking out of a local Home Depot. The problem is I'm at home. I live in a semi-detached house. We had two cars parked on our half of the driveway, one behind the other. Oh oh.

I throw some pants on and calmly go down the stairs and outside - in my bear feet, so apparently still not thinking straight. It didn't take me more than one step out the door to notice her car parked half-way onto the sreet and a 2700lbs red (1995) Acura Integra GSR missing from where it was parked the night before (between her can and our garage door).

So I yell out the obvious four letter word. Twice. Did I say yell? DId I say loud? Wake the dead loud. Of course now I'm looking closer at her car. front bumper smashed on the passenger side. Dented, bent, cracked. RED and black scrape markson it. I know where this is going. Inside her car, a gutted hole whee her radio sed to be. The one night she actually left her face plate in the car. Oops. Doen't look like they took anything else from her's.

Call the cops and tell the story. 30 minuts later a cruiser and offiecr are here to take a report. No broken glass so he doesn't know how they broke into the cars - at least that's what goes into the report. Whatever. Answer some questions, provide some paperwork and he files the report over the phone with his station.

He and my GF are leaving ad I'm now on the phone with my dad. Then I have a thought. Hmmm.. He car is automatic and was still in "Park" when I saw it. Thieves don't work alone, why didn't they take it? I'm guessing there's a problem - remember the smashed bumper? So I ask my dad to hold and run outside with a bad feeling. Sure enough as I ge out the door my GF is getting out of her car. I ask her, "won't start, right?" "Right"

I test the ke and it just spins with no action from the starter. Shifter stuck solid. The plastic cover from under the steering column hd been ripped away I just noticed. Likely they tried to force the ignition on this Civic and damaged it. And/or they pushed the car back HARD while it was in park ad screwed something up in the transmission so now the car isn't quite in park and cuts the starter.

Police thinks maybe they came for hr car and ended up taking mine. Not a chance. They likely wanted both, but my car was no freak occuranec and no joy ride. There isn't likely someone smart enough to get things going so quickly without doing stupid things like break windows, that's taking my care only for joy ride. I have no doubt it's in pieces now in someone's garage.

Again, red Acura Integra. No GSR badge on it, but to anyone that knows the models well, there are tell-tale factory signs of what trim level it is. 17" aluminum wheels with nice summer tires (bought 1.5 years ago). Had the car completely painted and repair work done 2 years ago when I installed the empeg. Clarion Pro Audio head unit, empeg sled, JL: Audio tweeters, mids and woofers in the rear. JL Audio Microsub 8.2 in the back with JL 300/4 and 250/1 amps in a custom-built stealth enclosure in the back. Ouch. Oh, my insurance policy? Covers a maximum of $500 for in-car audio/entertainment equipment. That wasn't a problem when I was living in the house and are I was in when I did the install.

It gets better. In the trunk, been there for a long time unfortunately, a nice baseball glove I bought las year, a bat and softball. Ok, who give's a rat's ass about the ball, but he glove was well over $100 and the bat over $200. Ok, still peanuts compared to the car audio stuff. Something I normally don't leave in the car, but I had just been porting around with me recently... My Nikon E5700. Argh. With battery grip and a 512MB CF card. FULL OF PICTURES I hadn't unloaded yet!

I doubt the thieves knew this stuff was with the car. It's probably going to be a nice bonus and nothing more. I don't know what the market is for hot baseball gloves, but I'm sure they can easily resell the electric bits.

Does it suck to be me? But, on Tuesday I did find out that I won a quarterly feature-suggestion competition at work for a $500 (Canadian) prize. Whooop-tee-friggen-do (now).

My car was solid even though it had very high mileage. I fear I'm going to get SWEET FA from the insurance company when all is said and done and that I won't be able to get a replacement without going into debt. I had owned my car free and clear for quite a few years.

And that's my sad story for today. Once again, typing from an IR keyboard sitting on my bed with my computer on the floor (temporary). Sorry for any typos or missing characters. I know there must still be a ton of them.

Bruno

Ontario plates ABTJ 952

That's gotta be the worst feeling....

I hope you get your car back.

Man that sucks. Buy a gun and hope you catch the bastards in the act next time.

I hear this kinda of stuff all the time the Integra is the most stolen vehicle so it kinda comes with the turf. BTW I just started a new project integra details to come but its gonna be prepped for the Honda Challenge,(and no it wont have an empeg installed). What kind of security did you have?

Argh. My sympathies. Those jerks.

The Integra is the most stolen? I thought it was the Camry or Accord, considering they're the #1 or #2 cars (in the US, at least. Maybe you're talking about Canada for Buno's sake).

Anyway, best of luck, Bruno (with insurance and everything). I hope they catch the bastards and lock em up good.

Keep us posted. We'll certainly keep wishing you the best.

Well total number yes camry and accord are 1 and 2 i think, but percentage wise the Integra is the most stolen. 24 out of 1000 are stolen the next highest is the jeep at 8 out of 1000.

Does it suck to be me?

Seems that way.

Sorry to hear of your loss.

While the stuff is mostly replaceable (painfully expensive, perhaps, but replaceable), those pictures are gone forever.

You have my sympathies.

-jk

Does it suck to be me?

not totally, you still have youself, your girl and your empeg.

So sorry to hear this. You have my sympathies.

Very sorry to hear about this, Bruno. Best of luck with getting your girlfriend's car repaired and getting your car replaced.

Thanks for the kind words guys. Yes, we still have our health, but even though it was just the car, it was still on my property and there's a certain sense of invasion. I'm sure the feeling would be a lot darker had someone come in the house, even while we were out.

Integras must be high on the theft lists. It cost me more to insure that car than it would for a newer model BMW Z3. Or Acura TL to keep it in the same make.

Hmm.. So now that the car is gone... I'm still paying the same monthly premium even though I'm driving a rental Toyota Corolla. I'm going to have to speak with the broker about that. Doesn't seem right.

It must have took me until after 3am to fall asleep last night. Went to bed at 11pm. Arrgh. Brain constantly going through one thought and another. Had to get up a bunch of times and even found myself checking the window a few times. Did see a skunk meandering across the road at about 2am, but not the particular skunk(s) from the night before.

Still waiting to hear back from the claims adjuster surprisingly. So I'll be giving the broker another call to find out what the hold up is. I want this in motion - the amount of rental coverage they give me only lasts 20 days. Next thing you know they'll tell me it's going to take at least 30 before they're willing to make a settlement. Talk about being a puppet on the end of the master's strings.

I hate insurance. Almost as much as (other) thieves.

Oh, I didn't have a security system in the car. Police did ask me, but also said it probably would not have made a difference. The car would still have been gone. Frankly I can't think of anything to really prevent it. If I could, I'd certainly market it to others. A home alarm system I'm going to look into however. But I'll want to test it out. Anyone have any experience in this field or even as a customer who's had to make use of their own system?

Bruno

but even though it was just the car, it was still on my property and there's a certain sense of invasion.

Having been through two stereo thefts myself, I get more than just a "certain sense" of invasion. It makes me feel completely violated, and I am depressed for weeks afterwards. And those were just CD players, I can't imagine what it must be like to lose all the stuff you just lost.

Sorry to hear about this.

According to the list (PDF), the Acura Integra was # 28 in 2001. This is an interesting fact as well.

This is an interesting fact as well.

That is interesting. Out of all those cities I would think Jersey City would be #1.

ahh crap
phoenix is number 1

I think it's a little deceiving because of the way it's calculated, but then again, how else would they calculate it?

The vehicle theft rate was determined by dividing the number of stolen vehicles by the number of registered vehicles.

They don't mention what kind of order they are in, if any, so who knows.

true. i just assumed. but, first or tenth, its still scary

Ugh. Sorry to hear it man. Having had my Civic Si and empeg both stolen in seperate incidents... i'm now extremely paranoid about my WRX being stolen. I've been looking into all sorts of insane kill switches and security measures. I don't know if i can bring myself to pay for lojack... but i guess that's another option. Or one of Clifford/Viper's new GPS tracking systems. I just want it so the damn thing can't be stolen. But i guess if they really want it they'll get it no matter what.

Anyhow, i hope your car isn't recovered and if it is found i hope they total it. Mine was found and not considered a total (though after the whole ordeal was over, it was WAY over the total value.. damn adjuster), and it was the most annoying 4 months of my life. =\ Hope it works out better for you, and i'm really sorry about the pics and camera.

One of the best security devices I have found is a cheap DIY fuel cutoff.

One of the best security devices I have found is a cheap DIY fuel cutoff.

details! This was pretty much what i've been planning to do... i just haven't planned how to actually do it. Are you just running a physical switch from the fuel pump to the cabin or a relay off an alarm or....?

using a relay I basically made a switch to turn on and off the fuel pump, you can hide the switch anywhere in the car. One of my prefered installs is to wire it so the switch it uses is something like the AC button or something of the sort. You just need to be able to find the ground for the fuel pump. The downside to this is they can still tow the car but driving it away is impossible unless the switch is found. I have found some nice switchs using a reed switch and a magnet on your keychain to activate it. http://www.mr2.com/TEXT/IgnitionKillSwitch.html

An interesting way to augment a fuel cutoff switch is with the seatbelt latch switch, so that BOTH the cutoff switch AND the seatbelt must be engaged. Since most theives won't buckle up before trying to start the car, they won't get anywhere, even if they find the "hidden" fuel switch.

You can modify the fuel cutoff scenario by having the fuel cutoff delayed by a timer, so that the engine gets fuel for 30 or 90 seconds before dying. They start the car, get it out on the road somewhere, but not very far away, and it dies. Now they are in the middle of traffic, and don't want to spend time "fixing" the problem, so they split. Since the car is probably in a non-normal spot, the police will become aware of it soon, and you will get notifed.

If you want to get fancy, have the fuel guage show an empty warning right away (before the timer kills the fuel flow), so they think the tank is really empty.

My friend has a similar setup as described but it was from an actual company and saved his car. He and his roommate both drive integras, his roommates had a basic security system and was stolen to later be found gutted, his car on the other hand was found stalled in the middle of a four lane highway with little damage other than a busted steering column cover

You can modify the fuel cutoff scenario by having the fuel cutoff delayed by a timer, so that the engine gets fuel for 30 or 90 seconds before dying

Or just get a car with a V8. Result is the same

yeah i heard that about 101s

yeah i heard that about 101s

Well, on the 101 there's also the wonderful aerodynamics you expect from putting a lot of junk on top of a 2-meter-high brick

Always wanted one for some perverse reason a soft top. if you going to buy an SUV make it a proper one and go scare all the owners of those wee range rovers

Always wanted one for some perverse reason a soft top

They are fun, especially when stripped down to the "airtransportable" shape - no cab roof, doors, windscreen or other "non-essential" items.

I have an old Corvette and when I get out of the car I switch the coil wire in the distributor with a spark plug wire. This is very low tech but I have a feeling would do the job. The car just backfires when you try to start. Its hard to initially see what is wrong so hopefully they will just move on.

A friend of mine and I discussed various ways of screwing with car thieves a while ago, and we came up with a few non-standard methods that might be effective, such as these:

1) Put a non-return valve in each brake circuit, with an electrically operated via hidden switch bypass valve across each one. End result is when the brakes are used, they stay on, and the harder you press the worse the situation gets. Car immovable.

2) Put a pressure-switch (oil pressure type) in the brake circuit, and wire it to the horn. Every time the brakes are used the horn goes off. Car movable, but very obvious

3) mount a small scrolling led sign in the back window, and set it up so it normally acts and looks like a high-level brake-light. If the car is started without the hidden switch being disarmed, sign scrolls ''I am a stolen car''. Attracts police attention.

pca

Genius! All of them!