GPS antitheft tracker advice

[jbcollier]

The Europa is ridiculously easy to break into and steal so I’m thinking of fitting a GPS tracker — bonus that the Europa is fibreglass and won’t block the satellite.  However, I have heard that good thieves simply can scan RF devices and find them quite easily.  Anyone have any experience good or bad?

TIA

[BDA]

They are easy to break into - having broken into mine once (just cut out the quarter window with a knife).

I'm not up on a GPS tracker but I would think that an ignition cutoff with a hidden switch would probably be as simple and effective as anything. But you've certainly thought of that already...

[jbcollier]

I have a battery cut off switch behind the dash with the removable handle poking out underneath.  On the S1s underneath the dash is part of the body and somewhat sealed up so you have to take the speedo/tach panel off to get at the cut off switch's connections.  I'm also thinking seriously about fitting a removable steering wheel. Not only for theft deterrence but also to make it easier to get in!

GPS trackers are not too expensive.  I can get a satellite one (Spot Trace) for a little over a $100 with a $100 a year to maintain service.  Pointless though if it is common practice for thieves to scan for them.

[EuropaTC]

Having had our Europa broken into whilst on our driveway and the Elan stolen & later recovered, I can understand your thinking. Trackers are available over here and were a big thing once but with the advent of companies using them to track employees in company vans there seems to be an industry set up to defeat them. You can find instructions on what to buy and how to defeat a GPS tracker on t'interweb....   

http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_5718205_block-gps-tracking.html

The Europa was entered by using a screwdriver in the lock and simply wrenching it round. The Elan didn't have a mark on it and the police said the thieves had keys, perhaps not surprising as the types of locks on these cars are pretty poor and I've used the wrong key to open that car myself !

So I go for the battery cut-off with removable key with a couple of additional cut-out switches hidden away. If you have an electric fuel pump that's another handy circuit to bridge.

A lot of the Elise owners fit removable steering wheels for both access and anti-theft and I reckon that's an excellent idea.

I think visual deterrents are the way to go, obvious steering wheel locks (or remove the wheel ! ) and flashing LEDs from either a genuine of fake alarm system are the first line of defense, followed by preventing it from starting should deter the enthusiastic amateur thief.   A pro thief will have a low loader and there's not much you can do then.

Brian

[4129R]

When I had a Mini Cooper S, the best way of immobilising it was to take the rotor arm out of the distributor.

Not too easy to get to in the Twin Cam engine though, but just as effective.

Alex in Norfolk.

[buzzer]

When i was a young lad along time ago the thieves used carry around rotor arms!!! My mate had a Mk2 lotus Cortina, had that stolen just about weekly no matter what he did to it!. I think one of his last tricks was to take out the gear lever! the thieves didn't usually carry one of those!
Mind you most modern cars with electronic key can be stolen without making a mark on them to.

[3929R]

It seems to me that anything and nothing can stop a thief, dependent upon who it is and how determined they are. A local car thief was caught because he couldn't drive a manual transmission well enough to get away. On the other hand if a car is loaded into an enclosed trailer, I don't think a GPS tracker, kill switch, steering wheel club, or removed steering wheel will help. With a more common car I think the goal is to be more difficult to steal than the next one. But if there is no next one, then I guess the goal is to stop the amateurs or maybe slowdown the pros. At least there is not a huge financial incentive for a pro to steal a Europa! (A paragraph of drivel and no answer to your question)

[4129R]

As most people know the chassis number, and owners of most of the surviving Europas, I don't suppose there is any market for selling a stolen one.

If anyone puts a warning on this forum about a particular chassis number being stolen, then we can warn the specialist suppliers to start asking for chassis numbers before supplying parts.

If say there are only 2000 still around, then a stolen one will soon get noticed.

It seems that the production numbers were;-

S1     644
S2   3615
TC   1580
TCS 3130
Other 291 (presumably 47s etc)

Total 9230

Alex in Norfolk.

 

[blasterdad]

James Bond had the best Anti Theft device in his Lotus hands down...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmpBYcM06Sk

[Rosco5000]

You may want to look into a modern alarm if you rarely leave the car unattended other than your locked garage at home.  My good friend is an audio installer and all his top of the line alarms have fuel pump cuts, etc. but they also page you on the key fob 1-3 miles away depending on model.  I like the idea of this type of alarm as you can react yourself to someone trying to steal the car as long as you don't leave it somewhere out of range.  As annoying as those alarms are the other trick is to put a second siren inside the cockpit somewhere, this will make it very uncomfortable for anyone trying to sit in the cabin with the alarm going off, just don't accidentally set it off while you are in the car.
Here is an example of a paging alarm, I don't know if it is a good brand/model.
https://www.compustar.com/product/security/pro-t11/