Now that I finally have the car I've always wanted in my garage (68 Convertible), I occasionally have visions of it being ripped off -- either stolen out of my garage, or stolen while it's parked somewhere.

Given how easy these cars make it to access everything, especially the convertibles, I'm wondering if anyone has installed an alarm system or some other method of protection (ie perhaps a hidden ignition switch) that they feel will thwart the average thief.

I was thinking that perhaps an inexpensive alarm system could be used to switch critical power (perhaps igition, perhaps starter, ???) on and off. It would certainly be less clumsy and less obvious than flicking a "hidden" toggle switch under the seat.

Has anyone else given any thought to this, or am I the only "paranoid" in the bunch?

Thanks in advance,

Dave,

Nice looking car. I don't think you are being paranoid. I don't drive my car to places I have to leave it for long periods of time. I park it where I can see it from a restaurant, etc. There always seem to be enough people looking at it and I think it would be hard to steal when I am out and about. The more probable scenario is having it stolen from my garage. I usually disconnect the battery cable when it is parked in my garage.

There are alarm systems available - check the Year One or Classic Industries catalogs.

The easiest is a hidden switch or one of the clamping devices for the brake and/or clutch pedal.

Good luck, and again, nice looking car.

Tom

You can install a remote controlled alarm system that will disengage the starter. I like the idea of adding a microwave (motion) sensor. It can be adjusted to where if someone reaches inside the perimeter of the interior the alarm will sound or give a warning.
The system can be installed in a stealth manor so you don't even know where the alarms components are.

There really is not much to installing one but if you have never done it before you may wanna consult a local security system dealer

David

face the reality, if someone has any knowlegde of any old cars, and they want it bad enough. it will be gone no matter what you do.
have you seen the movie "Gone in 60 seconds"?
i hate to tell you this, but it is reality! the only person you have a chance to stop is a complete amature. so throw a switch in it somewhere, it will stop this type of theif. but it is the only type you can stop. even the lojack systems are a joke now.
to ease your mind, keep it insured with an "agreed value" from your insurance company.

just my opinion and thoughts

Hey Dave,

I know more than anyone how you feel. my car is a daily driver so i have everyone eye'ing it everywhere and they want to know what's in it and stuff. and yes of course it got broken into.
a couple of things you can do.
As far as a kill switch, if you have an aftermarket ignition like i do with a box. you can take the purple magnetic pickup wire and connect that to a ground of some sort, and put a switch on it (this is also explained when you buy a box, VIA either MSD-6A or something) that would just have the car crank, andn crank with no spark, even if they spliced the wires.
The other option is an alarm that has a kill switch in it (i believe its mainly stock on all alarms now)you would either need a motion/shock/proximity sensor with that also.

hey i got a question for you guys:
How do you keep the friggin cats off the car?!?

Flynnstone is correct, someone who wants it bad enough is probally gonna get it. The alarm or any theft deterrent will hopefully make a thief aim towards an easier target. All you can do is hope whatever type of security you use is enough to slow a would be thief down to the point where they may get nervous and abort the mission
I personally took a few extra steps on the installation of my system to make it difficult to disable or bypass. Hopefully that will slow em down til I show up with a little renforcement

Dave

The fact is that these cars are very easy to steal. I lost my keys to my '68 when I was in college ('72) and it took me less than five minutes to hotwire and take my car. I found some scraps of telephone wire left around some constuction and jumped the battery to the coil. Then I coasted the car to start it. If the car had been an automatic, it may have taken an extra minute or two.

One thing you can do to help is to run a hidden switch from the points side of the coil to ground. If the points never open, the engine won't run.

Back in '72 I had to leave my keys in the car at some of the parking garages so they could move the car so others could be let out. I put in a thermal time delay switch that let them run the car for three minuts and then killed the ignition. Amperite made these. It was a 12 volt heater and bimetal all inside a glass bulb. I forgot to turn it off a few times and would get three minutes away when it kicked in. I got the idea from my uncle who's Tempest was stolen but found a few blocks away because it would always stall out for the first ten minutes. Thieves don't stick around a stalled out car. They may stick around tinkering on one for a while in order to start it.

With some of the electronic ignition kits it would be easier to conceal a kill switch.

Another way would be if you have installed an electric fuel pump, to add a hidden fuel pump switch somewhere.

As someone here said, if they want your car badly enough it's gone. A friend woke up at 3AM to see a tow truck backing up to his Grand AM. If he had not wakened and turned on the outdoor lighting, it would have vanished. You can only make it more difficult to steal, not impossible.

I was thinking about a different route for my 'bird. Has anybody ever tried a remote control kill switch that could have the switch hidden somewhere under the hood or dash, and then be controlled with a keychain transmitter to open or close the switch?

I shudder to hear you all living in places that concern you so much about getting your cars ripped off while your back is turned!! That concerns me as a citizen and leads me to believe that everyone needs a gun-case full of rifles and shotguns like I have here in Tennessee!! And I let every frigging person that comes near my place know how much firepower I have in this house, be it the paperboy or the air-conditioner guy. Every visitor is shown what a great "classic spread of armor" I have "inherited from Grand-Dad".
I use a simple 100 dollar sensor alarm on the car and of course a big steering wheel LOCK FROM HELL! $69.99 at your local store.
It hurts me to hear so many of you living in an area where that might not cut it. I ask that you all move toward my part of the U.S. if possible. It'd make a great FGF party!

Well someone tried to rip my car off years back but thankfully were too stupid to put the screwdriver in the ignition,instead they tried to remove the cylinder and hotwire the car with no luck or maybe time.They did however manage to make a mess of my dash area,glovebox,not to mention cut my roof to get in the car.I ended up removing the hood latch handle and kill the power to the car whenever i would park it there after.My bigger problem was keeping the emblems on the car.Seems everytime i would park it and come back,another one would be ripped off,especially the gas lid bird.Now to figure out how to secure my deluxe wheel center cap to the wheel so that doesn't go missing in the future.I wish there was just more respect out there for any classic cars.Shame about the amount of money,time and passion that goes into our cars,that someone would do something careless to them.

David

Hey nashville: I'm a redneck too, but you've got to realize that a few people out there ARE NOT and don't have good morals. And I live in a nice neighborhood in a great town, where I can leave my house door open for a couple of days while I'm out of town, and nothing happens. But why would we have FGF's if we can't drive them? And that means parking at public places sometimes. The rest of the time mine is in the garage, locked down. Although it could be in the driveway with the key in it, and nobody would bother it. I guess the reason for some protection is for those "rainy days". And I've had a couple of break-ins in other vehicles I've owned.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I was thinking about a different route for my 'bird. Has anybody ever tried a remote control kill switch that could have the switch hidden somewhere under the hood or dash, and then be controlled with a keychain transmitter to open or close the switch?</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">dave1969...
Actually most of your remote alarm systems use a starter interrupt similar to what you describe...once you arm the system a relay is activated (usually the relay is spliced into the starter wire somewhere)and if someone tries to start the vehicle the relay energizes and opens the circut not allowing 12v to get to the starter.

Dave

I hear you, Dave. I used to have a Viper alarm in my bird (in about 92) that did what you are talking about. But if you know it's there, you can defeat it. I mean something besides an alarm... a remote kill switch that only I know about (and supposedly well enough hidden)... only I can deactivate with my remote transmitter. An alarm system, with shock sensors and motions sensors, will have to be mounted somewhere with a line of sight to the interior. I'm thinking about something that grounds out the ignition that is hidden within the air cleaner, or in some other inaccessable (or not thought of) area.
I liked the "headphone plug" idea. Who would figure that out?
And yes, it's true... the gone in 60 seconds thing... If they really want it and are pro's... forget about it.

I went a simple route, inexpensive ,but but still fairly useable, I removed my neutral switch, use a "wiggle" switch hidden under dash (its so hard to find that even when I tell a mechanic or inspoector where it is they have a hard time finding it......)
yes, the car will start in all gears , but it wont crank, and it will remind you to hold the wiggle switch...it reacts just like when you have car in gear and have the neutral switch....
not a fail safe security ,but slows them down if they try...if they REALLY want the car ,it will be gone , no matter the system...only way to find it is a lojack...which I have not invested in..

They disable Lojack systems, too. All they do is shear off the transmitting antenna.

I went to an electronics store and bought a small printed circuit socket (like the diagnostic ports) and printed circuit board with contacts, and spliced it into the ignition wire. No crank, no spark unless the little circuit board was plugged in. I drilled a hole in it to hang on one of the two part keychains, mounted it under the edge of the underdash plastic, and just slipped the board in to activate the circuit. Anyone with half an hour, a flashlight, a jumper wire and a multimeter could have defeated it...but this is not your typical car theft scenario. It was especially useful since this car had a punched out ignition and would otherwise start with the screwdriver I kept on the seat. It would have been even more effective with a noisemaking alarm system.

A really cool solution using new technology would be to get one of the magnetic solenoid, where you pass a small ceramic magnet past a hidden relay to magnetically activate it, then start the car. Once the ignition is shut off, the relay deactivates and the ignition is disabled.

Don't be fooled into a falsed sense of security with today's auto alarms (Viper, etc...)The FCC only allows a certain amount of frequencies for specific uses - garage doors, auto alarms, family walkie-talkies, etc...)

Any average thief can latch onto a number of car alarm key fobs (spelling?). Here in Flint - and the surrounding areas - they then head off to Meijers, Walmart, Showcase Cinemas or any place with a big parking lot. Then they just walk through the lot pushing their alarm fobs until a desirable car unlocks.

My brother-in-law (the police leuitenant) says they usually do this at night because it's so much easier to tell which cars are unlocking because of the flashing headlights. Nice huh?

I have a Viper alarm for my truck, but I rely on more complicated methods for the fun cars.

- Jake

a pit bull sitting in the front seat would be a great deterrant.

Slayer (Dave), as most have mentioned, an alarm may not be the ultimate solution, it Will, be some what of a deterrent for most of the low end criminals, and the more deterrents they notice, the less likely they are to bother...

So yes, I would install an alarm, even a very basic one with Lights flash, a flashing LED, starter interrupt, and add a proximity sensor that will work for the interior when the top is down, (if some one reaches in to take your sunglasses it will go off) and a shock/motion sensor for towing/impact glass breakage etc.

Most will come with this stuff, and or with the ability to add a few sensors. I'd also add an extra LED, and would install them in a location where it would not damage anything permanently. Like get another set if windshield pillar moldings, and down at the base, near the screw I would drill a hole in each one and mount the LED there, right at the windshield/dash where it can be seen when flashing from most any angle, but when not on, almost hidden from view.

(I installed tweeters in the pillars and you hardly notice them) http://tinyurl.com/5nfxb

The Proximity sensor can be hidden under the console or in it and will cover most of the cabin.

You can install an alarm yourself (or a shop can) to where it is all hidden so well, that it would take a thief too long to track down the brain and or the back up battery or the siren... that they would just leave the scene.

(Or even just the flashing LED kits for appearance)

Then in addition, I would also use something like Johns suggested, a Club, or one of the Brake pedal locks etc... and then, maybe a manual kill switch...

Like I said, if there are a few deterrents visible, they will be more than likely to just pass on the opportunity to relieve you of your pride and joy!

These are some of the things that I plan on doing at some point, (I have a pedal lock and a club, and have the alarm, yet to install though) because, yes, I like to drive my bird as much as I can, and especially if or when I go on a trip, and have to park in a hotel parking lot or even to the store or? I just like to know I've done all I can to make sure my baby is as safe from creaps as I can!

Just something to think about. While not fool proof, they do help!

Brett - 67 Drop Top 455!

I'm just sorry we live in OUR America and many of you all are being threatened by folks that would break into our homes, garages and such to take away our prized posessions. I'm not ignorant to the reality, just lucky to live in an area where that rarely happens. When I hear what some of you have been through I want to kick some *** and lay down the law! Forgive me, friends. I pray these types of incidents aren't the norm.

Nash, maybe I`m lucky too...growing up in Sweden where I had my cars broken into, almost stolen (they tried..)a few times...I`ve never had that (touching wood..)happen here (so far)...I do have my kill switch , but it hasnt been "tried" yet...
a few years ago (20) I had my home broken into, it was a mess....lost some valuables, but figured it was partly my fault...I had bought a new motorcycle and advertised the old one for sale, two guys came by and one bought the old , the other guy was VERY interested in my new ,wanted to buy it, but I didnt sell it (of course), a week later IT was gone , plus other items , the whole house burglarized , wife lost jewlery, but I think he decided to come back for what the bike he wanted , and I had let them in my garage and see it...