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FYI Warning- Odd Parts Theft in San Francisco
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JJM86
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 14, 2015 1:48 pm    Post subject: FYI Warning- Odd Parts Theft in San Francisco Reply with quote

Just wanted to post about something that happened to me the other day as a warning/FYI to other VW folks in SF. I have a '71 Squareback and live in the Potrero Hill area, typically have zero crime problems related to my car.

The other night I came home to see my gas flap open, which was odd because I knew I closed it when I filled up recently. Went over and not only was the flap open but the filler cap was off and sitting on the top of the fender. My first thought was that someone had siphoned my gas out. Get in, check the gauge and it's exactly as i left it.

Another extra odd thing was that whoever did this set the broken filler door catch on the fender next to the gas cap. Why would a gas thief or random vandal spend the time to put the broken part on the fender??

I find on close inspection today that someone stole the filler neck seal, the cup that fits around the filler neck and keeps all that tire spray from getting up on the cap and top of the neck. This is frustrating for me because not only did I recently(and finally) replace this but now I have to find and replace the whole filler door release cable in addition to a new seal.

I know I can find both of those and that they're not the worst that could happen to my car. What really upsets me is that this doesn't appear to have been just a random vandal or gas thief but someone who knew VWs enough to know about that part and specifically steal it off my car. I can't see why a random person would steal that and why they'd spend the extra second to set the broken catch on the fender. Eeveryone I've met that was a VW enthusiast was also a really cool person but I guess there are low-life thiefs in any group...

A friend of mine told me how someone in his neighborhood stole the one year only wiper arms off his Bus (I forget they year, just that they were a one year only part). Maybe the same person, maybe not, who knows?

So just a warning/heads up to anyone in SF with a VW- hopefully this doesn't happen to you.

-Jeremy
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Mike Fisher
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 14, 2015 2:08 pm    Post subject: Re: FYI Warning- Odd Parts Theft in San Francisco Reply with quote

That is or was a hard to find part. Tram knows where to get a new Mercedes version that fits our Type 3's I believe.
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ONEBADBUG
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 14, 2015 3:49 pm    Post subject: Re: FYI Warning- Odd Parts Theft in San Francisco Reply with quote

I probably shouldn't share this, but back when we were young and foolish, one of buddies had a bug carb with some weird problem he could never get to run right. In the dark of night, he exchanged it for some random car parked on the street. Carefully installed the defective carb on the poor bastards car. I always wondered about the victim suddenly having a car that runs like crap!
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 14, 2015 4:47 pm    Post subject: Re: FYI Warning- Odd Parts Theft in San Francisco Reply with quote

Hopefully you had everything finger printed.
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hitest
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 14, 2015 5:10 pm    Post subject: Re: FYI Warning- Odd Parts Theft in San Francisco Reply with quote

ONEBADBUG wrote:
I probably shouldn't share this, but back when we were young and foolish, one of buddies had a bug carb with some weird problem he could never get to run right. In the dark of night, he exchanged it for some random car parked on the street. Carefully installed the defective carb on the poor bastards car. I always wondered about the victim suddenly having a car that runs like crap!


As long as confessional's open...
I bought my Thing in high school. A buddy and I were barhopping as seniors and parked a few cars down from another Thing. You know where this going. Walking past I noticed something on his that made me do a quick run back to my car- I traded my somewhat crusty gas cap with his near mint example.
Few I feel better now. It's been eating me up.
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OB Bus
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 14, 2015 5:36 pm    Post subject: Re: FYI Warning- Odd Parts Theft in San Francisco Reply with quote

Not specifically VW but 30 years ago we had a Toyota pickup. Over the 3 years we owned it someone stole a bench of small parts: turn signal lenses, knobs, dome light assemblies, interior door handles and a gas cap. Early 80s Toyota pickups were really easy to break into until they issued a recall to add a small metal plate over the door latch.
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JayO
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 14, 2015 10:56 pm    Post subject: Re: FYI Warning- Odd Parts Theft in San Francisco Reply with quote

Alrighty then, as long as the auto parts theft confessional is open ...

"bless me father for I have sinned", here is my one and only VERY VERY LONG theft story :

It's long so skip it if you want, I won't be offended, but this story never fails to kill when retold at parties all these years later. Smile

When I was in high school me and my best friend Jim worked at a local gas station, pumping gas, doing oil changes, tires, etc.
Jim had an Olds Cutlass, mid seventies 2 door, not bad shape but the interior was trashed.
One day another Olds around the same year gets towed in with a blown motor, belonged to an old guy, friend of the gas station owner.
The interior was mint and same exact color as Jim's Cutlass, so Jim asked the station owner about buying the car for parts.

The station owner said it wasn't for sale, the old guy wasn't sure if he was going to fix it or not, so the car sat... and sat... and sat.
After a few months, Jim said "I need your help to grab the seats out of the blue Olds when we're both working next Saturday".

I said "the rear seat maybe, but that's a 4 door so the front seat is different" (it was a bench seat).
He said " I measured the bolt holes, and it will bolt right in, I'll just slide the front seat forward when somebody has to get in the back".
I said it was a mistake, many times.

We were the ones who locked up when the station closed at 9 PM, so after the owner left at 5 we waited util it got dark.
It was the perfect crime at first, I unbolted his rear seat while he was out back unbolting the other one, we swapped the rear seat in about 5 minutes flat.

Then it was time for the front seat, and again I said "dude, this one doesn't fold it's going to suck in your 2 door", but he was adamant.
It was just about closing time, we had bolted his folding seat in the 4 door, and were walking the non-folding seat to his car in the shop when a car pulled in for gas.

It was the COPS !!
They had an account at our station, we used to gas up all the town cop cruisers there.

This was a small town, my father was a selectman and Jim's father was not only a lawyer, but his grandfather was a judge at the county courthouse.
Needless to say we knew all the cops, but even worse than that, they knew "exactly" who both of us were - shit !

They watched us walking the bench seat around the side of the building and stuff it quickly into Jim's car.
I went out to fill up the cruiser, and the cop was joking about how "you boy's better hurry up and close, 'cause old Tony (the station owner) isn't paying any overtime" ha ha.
We were terrified, both shaking in our boots, ready to piss our pants, and trying to act natural making small talk with the cops.

I gassed up the cruiser, said good night and acted like I was locking up the pumps and the station.
The cruiser just sat there at the pumps, filling out his mileage log, talking on the radio and whatever the hell else they do, but he wouldn't leave !

So after about 10 minutes, the cops are still there Jim says "we gotta get out of here", so he pulls the car out of the shop.
I finish locking up the shop, and jump in the passenger side, cops still sitting by the pump looking and waving good night to us.

I didn't know it but Jim hadn't bolted the seat down, so as we were pulling out onto the road, both of us still smiling and waving to the cops acting natural.
The front seat fell over and we both hit the back of our heads on the rear seat.
With the front seat still laying on the floor behind us, both of us sprang to our knees, while still smiling and waving to the cops out the window and acting natural.

I don't know how Jim did it, but somehow he worked the gas and brakes from a squatting position while still waving and smiling and drove away.
To this day we still talk about the confused looks on the cops faces, as both of us disappeared from view, then spring back up still smiling and waving to them !
Yet they let us drive away like everything was normal !

So now the for the epilog :
A month goes by and Jim says "you were right this sucks, next Saturday I want to swap my front seat back in".
We show up to work on Saturday, and the car is gone, owner says "old guy didn't want to fix it, so we sent it to the auctions yesterday".

So for the next year or so every time somebody grumbled about getting in the rear seat of that car, Jim used to say "blame Jay he talked me into putting this seat in here, I was against it".

F**** you Jim, Smile , what are best friends for. Smile.

- Jay
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JJM86
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 11:27 am    Post subject: Re: FYI Warning- Odd Parts Theft in San Francisco Reply with quote

Hahaha, pretty funny how my complaining rant about a shady theft turned into a confessional booth!

I can add to the stories with a short one from my mechanic friend, who has been driving and fixing VWs and Porsches since the late '60's. He told me that as a high schooler (bored in New Jersey & Connecticut), he and his friends used to steal spare tires out of Beetle trunks for fun. Recounting, he said how more than once he or a friend would start running away with the tire only to get snagged and knocked down by the windshield washer hose that was still connected to the tire valve. I thought that was a pretty funny punishment for thieving teens.

Maybe I'm paranoid but I feel like my filler neck seal incident isn't really the work of bored teens, though, but someone who knew the car, the part, and how to steal it. I'm pretty sure the teens are the ones who smashed out my roommates' car windows a number of times, stole one of their cars and stripped it, and recently stole the battery from my '61 Falcon...

Either way, I guess I'm just a new "victim" of the reality of living in a city with major affordability issues and an extreme (and growing) gap between wealth and poverty. I just hope more stuff doesn't walk away like OB Bus's Toyota...
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itskyle
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 22, 2015 9:21 pm    Post subject: Re: FYI Warning- Odd Parts Theft in San Francisco Reply with quote

I don't live in Frisco...

And my only automotive confessional story isn't *necessarily* a theft...

But here goes...

When I first started driving my beetle, I often looked for parts at the local junk yards. This was back when:

A.) You could find beetles at the local junk yards.
B.) You didn't have to PAY ADMISSION to get into the local junk yards.
C.) It was the honor system, help yourself as much as you can, if you need help pulling an engine, etc, something heavy, please seek out help.

Anyhow, my grandfather needed a part for his Olds (it was probably under warranty, but he was that cheap and that proud to never admit any vehicle he made may need a replacement part of anything to the same dealership he bought it from) and we were looking for an ashtray for my 74 Superbeetle.

It was, of course, a one year only part.

I had taken to looking into the glove boxes of all of the beetles.

I found one glove box that had about 6 prescription medicine bottles full of change. That's right, actual hard currency!

I showed my grandfather, he said, we never shipped money out with our cars from the factory...

He did relent, and let me keep the money, but promised me not to tell a soul.

That was almost 30 years ago.

I never told anybody until now.

We did pick up some random part, and pay for it on that trip. I forget what it was. It may have been a headlight ring.

Kyle
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hitest
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 22, 2015 10:18 pm    Post subject: Re: FYI Warning- Odd Parts Theft in San Francisco Reply with quote

On a 1986-ish trip through a junkyard run by people I swear were extras on The Road Warrior, there were three of us guys and one girl. This was the coolest girl in HS. We pulled all the gravy off several old VWs and most of us were soon out of money. One friend needed taillights for his oval, so in walked our "B" cupped girl, out walks a "D" cup woman!
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I wonder what the nut looks like.



'62 L390 151, '62 L469 117, '63 L380 113, '64 L87 311, '65 L512 265, '65 L31 SO-42, '66 L360 251, '68 L30k 141, '71 L12 113, '74 ORG 181

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Tbirdusa
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 23, 2015 12:59 pm    Post subject: Re: FYI Warning- Odd Parts Theft in San Francisco Reply with quote

It wasn't me, but a good friend at the time, and that time was 1988.

Bill had super bug, a Vega with a 350 V8 and some other piece of junk. The Vega was his pride and joy, the bug was just the daily driver but how I met him.
Bill worked in a transmission shop and the shop had the contract with the local cable company. This was back in the day when if you paid for Showtime or HBO, you got some kind of line filter and that gave you access to the channels. Needless to say, he had HBO and Showtime. They'd send the 1 tons in with all the work boxes on the sides and hand the keys to them saying, "transmission is slipping". When his boss was on lunch, Bill would open the work boxes and rummage through for whatever cable TV items he, or his friends, needed.

But that's not where I was going... he got a bit more greedy. His boss took a 1 week vacation out of the country. Bill knew he had 1 week to get his ultimate plan pulled off. Yes, the 1 ton 350 Chevy V8's in a work truck came with forged cranks. His Vega had a cast crank. So, after closing one night, he brings the Vega in and up it goes on a lift and right next to it, the "donor" vehicle.

Was a long night he told me but that's the story of how the Vega got a forged crank.... and the cable TV truck ended up with a cast one. He's been divorced 3 times, in the end, he got the crank, and the shaft !!
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Ran When Parked
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 24, 2015 5:55 am    Post subject: Re: FYI Warning- Odd Parts Theft in San Francisco Reply with quote

Tbirdusa wrote:


.... He's been divorced 3 times, in the end, he got the crank, and the shaft !!


ALTERNATE ENDING

"He's been divorced 3 times, in the end, he got the crank, and got to shaft three different women !!"

END ALTERNATE ENDING


...And now, back to your regularly scheduled browsing...
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 6:20 am    Post subject: Re: FYI Warning- Odd Parts Theft in San Francisco Reply with quote

I bought a new boat back in September. Took it out one weekend and decided to fill it up as we were heading out early the following day. While there I pumped the head out. both the fuel cap and waste pump out had very expensive Stainless steel caps and both had a retainer chain, but I distinctly remember securing both.

The next day I go down to the pier and first thing I notice is my waste cap is missing. So is the nearly identical boat about 5 slips down the pier. He made a point of stopping to chat and to tell me he was pulling his boat for the season. funny how my cap disappeared the same day as his boat...


I drove a 72 Chevelle SS in High school. I swear there was probably one good set of Rallye Caps and rings between the 4 or 5 of us that had Chevelles at that time, and that good set of caps probably spent time pn all of our cars. It got so bad at one point, if I was at a party, I'd have to pull my caps and rings and put them in the trunk when I got there or they would suddenly become bent and rusty.
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 05, 2016 4:41 pm    Post subject: Re: FYI Warning- Odd Parts Theft in San Francisco Reply with quote

ONEBADBUG wrote:
I probably shouldn't share this, but back when we were young and foolish, one of buddies had a bug carb with some weird problem he could never get to run right. In the dark of night, he exchanged it for some random car parked on the street. Carefully installed the defective carb on the poor bastards car. I always wondered about the victim suddenly having a car that runs like crap!


in Tom Wolfe's "Pump House Gang" he details how the gang had a bus they would roll around in and when the engine died, they would just swap it for someone's running engine in the middle of the night. it was claimed they could swap in 5 minutes.
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