Should I really worry about my G-Body getting stolen?

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I guess I have been lucky. No one messes with my Cutlass and it sits unlocked in my driveway. I leave parts and tools on the front porch or in the bed of my truck for weeks and no one messes with it. I have had 2 mowers, an edger and a weed eater stolen though, which has prompted me to only use garbage picked lawn tools now.

 

[Doober]

:lol: I guess so! I want to live in an area where people are more interested in my lawn mower than my tools :shock:

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well, it helps to be on a first name basis with your neighbors and that they watch out for me. If someone I know comes to my house when I am not there to wait for me, someone will confront them and ask who they are and why they are there. I have lived here for 12 years and it's not a bad place to be. I also have one of the only G bodies in my neighborhood, so there are few people who would want anything off of it. The guys who play with V8 cars are all older than their teen years and are not much into stealing. They have too much to lose by getting caught.

 

[8GPLE7]

My '87 GP has been broken into 5 times, FIVE TIMES!!!! Then people have tried to steal it twice!!! Once when I was at a restaurant with my then girlfriend. The manager came up asking people who owned the "maroon monte carlo" :lol: I said I did then he tells me someone tried to steal it. I ran out to the parking lot and saw my door open, headlights on, and busted column. :evil:
Second time I was in my apartment on the second floor and my car is in view when looking out the door, around 4pm, and I hear this car turning over and over, and i'm thinking to myself "that kind of sounds like my car" :shock: . Then it dawns on me that it is my car, I jump out of the chair and ran to the door to look outside. It just so happens I had brought my big'ol snap-on pry bar home with me from work, along with some other tools, it's about a good six or seven lbs.. I had set it by the door, I don't even remember grabbing it but I did and ran outside. I see my wipers are on and the door is open. Then I see this other GP drive by with two guys in it and I know immediately its these guys. I look at them, they look me, then they see 'The Equalizer', my pry-bar, and they hit the gas and squeal out the complex.
So yeah, you should worry. For some reason these cars attract a certain criminal element.
Oh, the reason they couldn't drive off with my car is because I have a total of three switches in it. They are hidden very well and unless you have all three "on" the car will just turn over and not fire. Since then I installed a car alarm. I put the alarm "box" waayyy up there and ran the wires up in there also. The only way to get to it is to take the dash out.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I will also say that my car has been a junk pile for most of the last 10 years, so no one bothered to look at it. I am hoping no one bothers it now that it no longer looks like a demo derby car being prepped. I may try the multiple kill switch idea. It sounds like a good one.

I will also say that for some reason, apartment complexes seem to attract more than their share of thieves. Maybe it's the target density, or maybe it's the demographics of some residents and their friends. (not everyone, just some of them) It seems no matter how nice the complex or how high the rent, there are always a few bad eggs in every one of them.

 

[Doober]

When I redo my '78 I'm aiming to wrap the alarm wiring to appear just as another part of the car's harness, and the brain will be somewhere you can't access easily. I'm also planning to run an 'automatic' latching relay of sorts.

 

[Minion1186]

some article i have read said that the two most frequent cars that are stolen are 1986 olds cutlass supreme and 1979 pontiac trans am/firebird.
1 i think the cutlasses were stolen a lot because the were hugely popular in the late 80s
2 they were one of the best selling cars in america
3 they are simply awesome
its a shame so many are stolen or wrecked,i watch cops a lot and there are a lot of g body cars in police chases,most of which ended up in disaster or are just plain stolen,sad though.One episode shown a blue metallic 85 salon that was going over 90 mph,hit and recocited off a tree and slamed head on into a police car,after they showed pics of the cutlass and the whole front end was lifted up,I ALMOST CRIED.

 

[Silent viewer]

cutlasses were stolen more because there were allot more made then other g bodies

razor blades as great of a idea as it sounds is a very very BAD idea, had a friend do that, 16 year old punk kid tries to steal his cd player, damn near takes his fingers off, goes home and has to explain to mom why he needs to go to the e.r., cops called, kid busted for minor crap, friend sued for injuring the kid! yea, f*cked up huh??!?!?

as far as not having a anti theft something, trust me it is coming! all it takes is one thief to drive by and see it even if it has sat there for 20 years without being touched! good part of town doesnt matter. anyone that doesnt have something on a g body is a crazy f-ing fool, it takes 30 seconds to steal these cars, trust me! i have had so many people i have known over the years have theirs stolen, both stock and custom.

anything even a club is better then nothing. 14 year old joy rider sees a car that his buddy showed him how to jack, sees club and moves on to the next one. anything to slow them down is goo, the longer they are there the better the chance of them getting seen by somone.

me, on all 3 cars, column locks, 2 way pager alarms, starter kill, distributor kill and a 12 gauge sitting in the house, if nothing else the gun will stop them and maybe help keep them there till the cops come, i wouldnt actually shoot them unless they shot at me. if they can get it after all of that then nothing is going to stop them. the people that can get through all of that are not stealing g bodies, they are stealing high ticket cars that bring in more money.

 

[Turbo Regal]

Yes, you should be worried about your car being stolen! These cars have been hot theft items since the day they left the show room floor! It's any wonder why the dealerships didn't just keep them all under lock and key.

Fortunately I've never had one stolen, but I did have an 86 Cutlass Supreme back in '95 that was formerly my cousins...he said twice someone tried to steal it.

As mentioned, G bodies are easy to steal. Plus a lot of them are being pimped out into low riders or high riders (donks). Not to mention I'm sure some of them are taken for joy rides.

The club, as mentioned is a joke. So is that one collar guard that locks around the column.

Hidden kill switches, Steadfast column guard are what you need. I recently did purchase a Steadfast....have yet to install it (thinking of power coating it) but it pretty much doesn't easy come back off once installed.

Kirbans sells a "mystery" theft device for G bodies....for like $25.

A loud siren inside the car would also probably be of help. I'm talking painfully loud. And don't forget Lo jack if your local PD uses it.

Keep in mind nothing stops a tow truck short of you capping the driver thief dead between the eyes.

Some cars like the Grand National I think are stolen because of how much some of the parts bring.

 

[ddub46]

I have had my 84 cutlass taken for a joy ride. I had a column lock on it but that night i didn't lock it. From what I figure the kids( they had to be young because I had a bunch of tools in the back and the were still there) used my car to break into other people cars around my apartment complex. I guess the car cut off on them and they couldn't get it restarted so they ditched it. The bad part about it and they only stole my column lock. So i had to get a new steering column and now I'm trying to find a new column lock. It seems like i can't find any in Michigan.