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Home My WebLink AboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1971-11-18, Page 42Dile r The Signal -Star, November 18, 1871 --Car Care Supplement—Page 12C . Million Cars Ekpected to be • StQlen:This-Year.• Pro's ,Find t' Ways of Getting A round Locks; Reduce Thefts, Lower Accidents New Devices Thwarting Joy Riders; Older Autos Become rgets By ROBERT W. IRVIN One of every 100 cars and trucks in the United States was stolen last year. Or, to put it another way, almost one million vehicles were stolen in a year when new car sales- totaled It seems like a contradiction, but -these thefts — which are at a record high come at.a time when all new cars are be- ing equipped with anti -theft devices to lock the steering col um,n, transmission and ignition. - Hbwever, these devices have only been on cars for the last few years. There are probably still 90 millionAvehicles oat" the road without them. So, it will likely be some yeah before it.can be determined how .much -.the -new devices pili ent thee, ,,;; ' 'Nada wnWn i` e,' car theme's .are 'still on the increase. In 19'68 some 777;800 cars were- stolen; in 1969, 871,909. °Tlie •FBI has not yet released mostrecent figures, but -.they are expected. to "showvanother-increase to w_eii over 900,000, perhaps one - million annually. Cars Now Even T The anti -theft locks are not stopping the professional car thief, according to offi- cials from industry arid gov- ernment. The, pro mows how to defeat .the _lock -- in some cases by physically remov- ing it. San Francisco police re cently-,reported to the Auto- mobile Manufacturers Asso- ciation (AMA) that many professional auto thieves op- erating in their city' were towing the riew cars away. Instead of, trying to break the lock on the- street, they haul' the car to a garage where they can work .on it in private." ' • However, 'towing the new cars can be a problem for 1970 TORINO Two -door, V-8, automatic!, power brakes, power steering, radio, .one owner. • 1470 DODGE CHALLENGER Two -door hardtop', V-8, standard transmission, bucket.seats, radio, 13,000 original miles, local. 14b9 FORD PICKUP 1969 METEOR Four -door, V-8, automatic, power brakes, ,power steering, radio. 1969 FORD PICKUP 969 FORD PICKUP 1961-FARGO VAN 1969 METEOR Two -door hardtop, V-8, automatic, power brakes, power "steering, radio, good clean car. owed Away both thieves and -police be- cause the devices lock both the trans -mission and' steer- ing column. With the con- ventional rear -drive Ameri- 'can car, you can't pick up the front wheels and tow it because the transmission - keeps the. -back wheels locked. You can pick up the rear end and tow the. car, provid- ing the' front wheels : are locked in a -straight ahead positio. But you can't tow it this ay if the front wheels But Robert L. Wilson, seg¢, retary of the AMA's vehicle security committee, said the device "definitely has -an ef- fect on the joy riding kids. The juveniles are stealing a lower percentage of new cars. And--that-was our m am- thrust . with the device." The only available statis- tics show that about 40 per- cent of the cars stolen` had the keys left in the ignition. - This, of course, defeats the purpose of the triple -locking system. To remind people to remove their keys, cars for the last cnuple_o.years,-have had .awbuzzer-whitTrIounds i-f'the driver's door is opened °with the key still in the Auto Executive P New York Gity is called, among othelr'things, the sto- len car capital of the world. , Chicago is ninning second. Coe auto exitive theorizes,, "I know there are a lot of organized groups "in New ,York and Chicago who steal cars — make a business out of this. "In my, opinion, the most . technologically sharp indi- viduals come out of Chicago. The car thief there is like a were tuned wken the co,„,..,l- umn was locked..The only re- course then, is to put dollies under the, wheels to tow the car. Obviously, -no juvenile is going to go to this trouble to steal a car just for kicks tion. In an`effort to makeJit eas: ter for police to identify a 'stolen car and to make it tougher for thieves, Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN) are now mounted perma- nently on -the • nstrumerit`" panel. New cars have had to have the triple lock since January 1, 1970 under a federal safe- ty regulation adopted be, - cause stolen cars are 200 times more likely to be in- volved in a traffic accident, according to statistics. Thus, -if you • cut down the narr�, L of 'ear thefts - .a--,•-,. you should cut" " down the number of oacci- dents, oints.` Finger frustrated engineer. lit seems to know all the fine ways of doing th' s a real sharp cookie, good with a hammer and a torch."' He 'also said that "while thefts last year ' were very definitely a new record, I can't say that -new cars are being stolen at the Saine rate they used to be. My own per- sonal opinion is'that we are getting a lot more- profes- sional than joy riding Doii'tJet winter "won't starts" catch you! • 1 A .111.111111. :.111.1;::::.:;:• ..:::::::.......:.::.::::::::...: USED NOT A 0 CARS :::: • r: s%' �:C... ..r x;,:::;.y;. •. ..; .+ tf:%;.%...:,: •::::.1;:.1•::::::::.1.1:..: ;: r... ;••:.} ,: :r}: : +. :y rr } %::'r':' %i: ii::•f•. ;:•:•: . ..{:::.;.•.; •::: y,+ v: ,:::::•::•:$: .1.111: :.:•�:::,:.:% .1.111.. :.,:::.. .. .:'•%�.. • .1.1.1.1: n: •••.1':•.1.1.1... � ••. :r .1.1.1:.1 ,••r,: uron u motive Ani Supply. Ltd.: PHONE 5246271 263 HURON ROAD, GODERICH MARQUIS — METEOR MONTEGO — COUGAR — COMET IVIAVERt 1‹, _77tORTINA - FORD TRUCKS' Clinton Representative GEORGE CUTLER — 482-9782 1968 FAIRLANE Four -do -or, V-8, automatic, .radio. 1968 METEOR Four -door, V-8, blue, automatic, power brakes, power steering. Thieves Keep Up wittrrithes Officials also note a rising number of stolen trucks and recreational vehicles. --II-The- thieves are ---moving into this field as these ve- hicles become more popular," one auto spokesman said. "It's' very tough to identify them too, because ther"are so many manufacturers.r About 84 percent of stppfen cars are now recovered, Blown from 92 percent (of the 288,- 300 cars -stolen.) recovered in -- Y959: Thus, as a larger" percent- age of the thefts are by pros,..._ the percentage 'of . cars , re4- • covered will probably con- • tinue to drop. While the locks apparently won't stop a professional thief, the warning devices which are available as acces- sories may stall him. One auto man said, "a warning system individually tailored to a oar can be suc- cessful. But if the warning system is installed on a pro- duction line, then the' thieves • know how to beat it. "They will -go to junk yards and buy wrecked cars just to `operate' on them — like, a school for thieves." T .1. 1.111* ��•up for. afe 1968 CHEV. V-8, four -door, automatic. 1968 DODGE MONACO Two -door hardtop, automatic, radio. V-8, 1968 METEOR Four -door hardtop,' V-8, automatic, power brakes, power steering. 1967 THUNDERBIRD Four -door, V-8, automatic. See this unique uxury car. Fully nipped.' e 1967 CHEV. Co vertible, V-8, one - own au tori ' atic radio. d io. 19 ME 7 CURY Two -door hardtop, V-8. Priced to sell: 1967 THUNDERBIRD Two -door hardtop. Fully oad ed, 1967 AXIL5 1 Four -door, V-:8, immaculate, automatic, power steering. See this one for a good Buy. Plus a good selection of older model units in .excellent condition. i• r 1 * • it