My red 88 GT was stolen today (Page 11/15) RWDPLZ DEC 21, 11:33 PM Awesome! Hope the damage is minor and easy to repair. Rsvl-Rider DEC 22, 02:48 AM Well, she is home again after a long absence. I can't think of a single thing that is missing from the car. The custom dashboard glovebox is still there as well as the TXGood cupholder / armrest. The foldable sunscreen was still in the passenger footwell. Even the paperback I had left in the passenger seat was still there. Below is a photo of where she has been for the last month or so according to neighbors in the area. It was parked in front of a house that had been vacant for a while. When the new folks moved in everyone thought the car was theirs. Can't help but wonder if that was just coincidence or planned that way to delay discovery. Jenny arranged to have her brought home on a AAA flat bed truck while I was stuck at work. It's dark and has been raining steadily since then so I haven't really had the chance to have a close look until now. From what I can see the car looks almost undisturbed. No outward sign of any damage at all except a few small chips in the paint. No damage to any of the outside locks so they probably used a Slim Jim. Really, the only visible damage I can see is the steering column. They broke the column housing opposite the side with the ignition cylinder which seems backwards to me but I guess that's where the goodies are. They also left behind rather nice heavy duty screwdriver. I'm guessing that was used to break the steering column. There was damage under the front hood which seems rather strange. The telescoping hood prop was twisted severely until it popped free of the upper and lower mounts, then bent into an L shape and left in the cabin. I can't think of a single reason for it. Another oddity is the white 1988 Fiero GT parked in a driveway just 3 or 4 houses down the block from where the car was found. What are the odds! PK DEC 22, 05:36 AM Very pleased you have your fiero back! I guess they opened the bonnet and then couldn't work out how to untelescope it so used force! liv4God DEC 22, 06:01 AM Glad you got her back!! That is a huge relief! Do you remember the mileage before stolen? How much did the thief drive it? On a similar note, my Fiero got broken into this week out front of my work in SF. Not sure if they planned to take the car or what. Driver's door lock was picked/damaged. Some interior controls were moved and gear was shifted. A few worthless items were taken from the glove box. Most bothersome, was they stabbed holes in my Mr. Mikes seats with the screwdriver/lock picking tool. No idea what the point of the break in was, possibly planned to steal the car, but couldn't drive manual and in anger took any item they could find, stabbed the seat and left. reinhart DEC 22, 06:10 AM Congrats on getting your car back. As I suspected the liklihood of it being any more than a teenage joy ride was miniscule. I just hope they didn't trash the clutch or grind up the tranny. I thought it was pretty common throughout the state to have bi-monthly "street sweeping". Of course the street never looks any cleaner afterward. It's just an excuse to hand out tickets for revenue and identify any non-operational vehicles. Do they not have street sweeping in this area? Figure a cop writing a ticket would have it ping back as stolen right away so it wouldn't have been possible for the car to have sat there for longer than two weeks. Also why did CHP contact you and not local police considering this was on a residential city street where CHP would never be? Rsvl-Rider DEC 22, 12:48 PM quote Originally posted by PK: I guess they opened the bonnet and then couldn't work out how to untelescope it so used force! Good call. That must be the explanation. I guess they couldn't read the word RELEASE on the label. quote Originally posted by liv4God: Glad you got her back!! That is a huge relief! Do you remember the mileage before stolen? How much did the thief drive it? On a similar note, my Fiero got broken into this week out front of my work in SF. Not sure if they planned to take the car or what. Driver's door lock was picked/damaged. Some interior controls were moved and gear was shifted. A few worthless items were taken from the glove box. Most bothersome, was they stabbed holes in my Mr. Mikes seats with the screwdriver/lock picking tool. No idea what the point of the break in was, possibly planned to steal the car, but couldn't drive manual and in anger took any item they could find, stabbed the seat and left. Sorry to hear about your experience. We all need to be thinking about how to protect our cars. At CVXJET's suggestion we are routinely pulling the fuel pump fuse on all our cars. We are planning to get them all set up with some combination of kill switches, GPS trackers and alarms. I don't recall the mileage but I had just filled the tank no more than 10 miles prior. I usually reset the tripometer but sometimes I forget. I'll have to check. quote Originally posted by reinhart: Congrats on getting your car back. As I suspected the liklihood of it being any more than a teenage joy ride was miniscule. I just hope they didn't trash the clutch or grind up the tranny. I thought it was pretty common throughout the state to have bi-monthly "street sweeping". Of course the street never looks any cleaner afterward. It's just an excuse to hand out tickets for revenue and identify any non-operational vehicles. Do they not have street sweeping in this area? Figure a cop writing a ticket would have it ping back as stolen right away so it wouldn't have been possible for the car to have sat there for longer than two weeks. Also why did CHP contact you and not local police considering this was on a residential city street where CHP would never be? The CHP gal who called me told me the neighbor who reported it said it had been there about a month. It might have been left there the same night it was taken. I can't remember the last time I saw a street sweeper in a residential area. Must be a budget thing. As for the CHP call, I think that area is unincorporated so they probably rely on the county Sherriff and CHP for this sort of thing. skywurz DEC 22, 12:57 PM My experience with unincorporated areas is you always have to call CHP and you have to call a few times and it takes about a month for them to come out. I don't like the odds of another Fiero being a few houses away... Really suspicious to me. The only non suspicious thing is that a Fiero owner would know how to close the front hood and probably not look there for the engine? Maybe they were looking for valuables idk. Ill be really interested to see if it starts up. Kitskaboodle DEC 22, 01:20 PM Ron, glad to hear this has a happy ending! In regard to the person a few houses down with the white 88....... It wouldnt hurt to ask them what they know, what they saw. (or whether they get defensive when asked questions) As an ironic twist of fate, it just so happens that there is a Fiero steering column on Craigslist right now in our area...... Kit Rsvl-Rider DEC 22, 02:14 PM quote Originally posted by Kitskaboodle: Ron, glad to hear this has a happy ending! In regard to the person a few houses down with the white 88....... It wouldnt hurt to ask them what they know, what they saw. (or whether they get defensive when asked questions) As an ironic twist of fate, it just so happens that there is a Fiero steering column on Craigslist right now in our area...... Kit We plan to go look over the area soon. Jenny spoke with some of the neighbors while arranging towing, etc. but I would like to get a feel for the area as well. I still hold a small hope that the thief will be found and punished. I wish they would have done fingerprinting on the car but that just doesn't happen in low priority crimes like auto theft. Funny. I did see that column on Craigslist but a friend has one closer so I might go that way. There looks like some broken pieces inside my column, and of course the housing is trashed, so a replacement is most likely required. I will absolutely being talking to the Fiero owner. I doubt anyone could be so stupid as to leave a stolen Fiero on their own block, but If nothing else we'll talk him (or her) into coming on a Vine Run. There are more Fieros out there than we think! Shortly after the theft I was driving around taking the long way home and looking for my car when I spotted a blue GT parked on the street. The owner spotted me idling in front of their house ( I was in my white 87 GT). They came out and we had a nice long chat. New owners and very nice people! Larry Nakamura DEC 22, 07:06 PM So glad to hear you got your baby back and it wasn't found wrapped around a tree trunk or something similar. I have always used the good old CLUB on my steering wheel. The way I put it on has the handle block the shift stick too. The thing is that it is easy to use. Just be careful with the leather steering wheel when putting it on and off. It is a visual deterrent as well as a physical deterrent. I want to try and keep the car from being stolen rather then get it back after it was stolen. Hope to see you and your baby at the next wine country ride.