Most Stolen?

[cagstorm]

Forgive me if this has been talked about before. I am new here...

My Question is this. I know this is kinda a sour subject, but I am wondering what the most stolen beetle is. What year is the most desirable to those dogs that take them. I am in the process of getting a 67 lowback. I seem to be seeing a lot of them on the stolen board.

What do you fellas think?

[WagenKult]

Well, as someone who has some experience with this (very recent experience) I would have to say that I don't think there is any specific year that is more enticing to a car thief. If they want it, most likely they will get it. The thing to do is to make it difficult for them to get it rolling. I had just purchased a Berg shifter. If i had it to do over I would have purchased the locking Berg shifter. The extra money (a few hundred dollars) spent would have made it more difficult to take, being that it would have been locked in gear. I had a locking devise that prevented the brake pedal from being pressed, but that was not good enough as I believe they were prepared with a flat bed truck down the road from my house in the early morning hours. They just rolled it out of my nieghborhood. My point is just to make it hard for those douche bags to be able to take your bug. Damn I miss my bug
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[henrym]

When I was at Berg buying my locker, they told me Ovals and 67's have "STEAL ME" written all over them.

I was going to purchase just a regular Berg shifter but after hearing that, I bought a locker for my 67.

Someone on this forum once told a story of Gene Berg demonstrating his locker at a Bug-In and challenging people with a hammer to "break" the shifter and get it unlocked. Wish I could find that tale, it was great!

[LordGarth]

Well, my '66 was stolen once, got it back in better shape than when it left. Stupid cops though, kept asking me if I was SURE I didn't sell it. I think any bug without some kind of steering or trany lock and out in the open is just asking to be stolen.

[Asunder]

How big of a deal is it to install one of those Berg locking shifters?

I have a 67 Type 1 in pretty decent shape and I guess have to worry about such things.

I am sorry to hear about the stolen cars in this thread..It must be a horrible experience to go through. I wonder what is the fate of these cars and whether or not the thieves are familiar with Samba and these forums..but then again I would think it would be hard to sell one of these cars unless they immediately go to a chop shop and get parted out..which would be a sad ending to them.

[Hella-Buggin']

I installed one about a year ago on my 62. It takes some time to do right but well worth the piece of mind.

[henrym]

The hardest part of installing the Berg locker is getting your hands on one. They are hand made, of exceptional quality and often run out. Give Tim at Bergs a call and he can tell you if they have these in stock.

They come with very detailed instructions. Don't start reading them with greasy parts in your hand. Sit at the kicthen table, open a beer, suck on a Zotz and read them twice to make sure you understand the steps. Then go out and install it. It has to be positioned just right or it won't shift correctly and the rotating lock/stop may need adjustment to ensure it locks correctly.

They aren't cheap but it's one of the best investments you'll ever make. I don't even lock my 67 now. If a thief wants the car, I prefer they not break a vent window or door handle to get in. There's nothing in my car worth stealing so they are welcome to open the door and have a look: the Berg locker will stop em'.

[suebug]

I had my sweet little 67 stolen but I got her back, and this was many years ago when they weren't quite so coveted. I know many people that had 67s and weren't as lucky as I was.
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'66 Sundial
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[bill may]

you have been driving this 67 since 1974. when was it stolen? the berg black race car (1967) was a recovered stolen 1967.
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[suebug]

[henrym]

Bill are you sure about the Berg black car? (I should probably know better to question you as you're usually right on the money).

I can't remember who told me, may have been Doug, but the black car actually had only a very few miles on it--I think less than 24,000. It originally came from Washington state (like the Muffin) and I believe was a car that Berg purchased and used originally for "test bed".

My memory fails me past this point and I could very well be wrong so I apologize in advance. I've always loved that car!

[KTPhil]

Yeah, '67sw get stolen a lot. Like my restored zenith blue baby years ago. Put in a kill switch someplace nobody has ever told you about and not visible and at least the casual hot wirers will be stumped.

It's worth it!

[bill may]

[61bug]

I was doing a skim through the stolen pages. I could say a good, really good % is 67 Bugs
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[cagstorm]

[gt1953]

would the clutch jsut do it ...push the pedal and off you go.
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Volkswagen: We tune what we drive.
Numbers Matching VW's are getting harder to find. Source out the most Stock vehicle and keep that way. You will be glad you did.

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({59 Euro bug, 62, 63, 67, 68, 69, 73 type ones 68 & 69 type two, 68 Ghia all sold})

[Erik G]

[cagstorm]

Well I just paid the man the money for a 67 with original pan. Amazingly there is just surface rust in the areas that I could get to. I checked out the package tray and it is as solid as when it was made. I think I got a pretty good deal. 600 for the body and he is going to put a good 1600 dp and other odds and ins for another 600. I will have to rebuild the brakes but that is not too hard... as I have done this when I was younger on my first bug. I will post pictures in the 67 owners thread. since I am now the OWNER !!! not just the looker.

[mick cassidy]

im not a person to play patty cake and i got a lot of $$ in my bug i have bought a boot the kind the city uses it cost be a lot like 780- but i can say
it will cost me ton if it got jacked i live in la and you got to chain it to keep it , i know car thieves ( sorry) they even make fake paperwork to say its a repo and jack bmw's at the malls . i know if they want it its like a drug to them they will chop drill hack for about 20 mins then when thier fustrated give up ive got a stainless 6 spoke steering wheel that has a club and wont be cut with bolt cutters or hack saw , fuel pump kill switch fuel pump cut off valve ign wire pulled and a computronix ign that you can actually remove the module real quick and i doubt if a thief carries a spare as there not cheap , layes of security is the key to keeping your car

[sickbug19]

Last July some douche tried to steal our 66 sedan. It was right after the 4th and my sister had left the car unlocked, I went to go move it and noticed the door ajar. I was like WTF? I took a look inside to see the ignition all fudged up, the tube guide for the hood release was all busted up, and the car was in shambles. Needless to say, the dumbasses tried to start it with a screwdriver, when that failed they tried to open the hood which was stuck since I was too lazy to adjust it so it'll open better. So I simply just did my thing and opened the hood with ease. I went from being pissed to laughing my ass off. I was like wow someone needs to find another criminal career
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