Is a hidden ignition switch my best option?
I just finished getting my car painted and now i want to protect my investment of time and money I have had my car for 20 years and now that its painted I will be worried when i start driving it again. A friend told me I can have GPS put on the car I am Sorry its not a Cougar but my 73’ XR7 is next in line to be painted. Thanks for any advice.
The most basic thing is to pull your rotor out of the distributor, or at least the coil to distributor wire. The hidden switch is a good idea, too. To protect against getting picked up by a tow truck, just be proactive about your parking. I see you have your truck blocking it in the driveway, and that would probably be your best bet.
I have a hidden disconnect in the wire that runs down to the starter which has the removable key. It might at least slow down someone trying to start the car. I also use a steering wheel lock bar which also might slow people down enough that they move on to the next car.
Thank you guys for the great ideas. its truly appreciated.
I have thought about this as well but has not been on the top of my list since I park it in the garage and have yet to have it on the road much.
The first and most important is to insure the car for replacement valve or total value of investment if more then the replacement value. If a thief wants it bad enough they are going to get it one way or the other. Not to mention this also protects you from other drivers on the road or damage done by an attempted theft.
Second would be to disable the ignition or starter. ideally you would do both. It could be as simple as a hidden relay and switch. They key is to make it look like it belongs and is not easily defeated.
Third is secure the hood so it cant be opened to defeat whatever method you deploy.
Being a ford superduty owner for many years before factory alarms and PATS systems I have had the honor of being a target for thief’s many times. I have done all kinds of things to deter my stuff from being stolen. The key is to make yours less desirable then the next guy so they will move on to someone else. Even something as simple as a flashing light on the dash or a club on the wheel(easy to defeat but the extra few seconds makes then pick a different target) will make them move on. I always had a secondary kill switch to prevent them from getting the truck if they got in(which happened). The biggest suck of all of it is the damage they end up doing to the door and ignition before they realize they cant get it started but better then it being gone. Typically they would steal superdutys to run people and drugs across the boarder so if you got it back it was pretty beat up.
I had a steering wheel lock bar ( i think it was called “The Club” ) and while it worked [ and was a good (+ initial visual ) deterrent ], it would rest on the rim-blow horn switch, and cause the horn to go off. I tried as many different positions as possible, which were limited by the three spoke design. But it would inevitably slowly move down to the lowest part of the wheel, due to the weight of the lock bar ( and gravity ! ) and set off the horn. I stopped using it for those reasons.
I put a bullet connector in the black ground wire in between the distributor and coil. With that disconnected you can’t hot wire the car under the hood or at the key switch. I drill a hole in the hood release lever. I then add a bolt from the bracket that holds the release lever, that passes through the hole. The bolt is cross drilled so I can put a clip through it. The bolt won’t allow the lever to move forward effectively locking the hood. I also use a cable style gun lock that I run through the U shaped part of the hood latch and then through the grill. On my old Bronco I added a line lock to lock the brakes when I parked it. None of this will stop a thief with a winch and a roll back wrecker. It just makes other cars easier to steal than mine.
It takes 2 pieces of wire to start these cars, so starter disable is a waste.if your car is gonna sit, put it up on blocks.
If you have a ragtop, never lock the door…at least the top won’t be cut if you get it back.
I once heard of this electronic ignition system that works very much in the same way as the Petronix electronic points system does with an additional feature. It has to have the correct RFID signal for the unit to function and the car to start. This unit is the whole entire distributer. Was speaking about it a while back with someone who put it on his 289 Mustang. Need to do some research to find the name of this product unless someone else has heard of it.
there are lots of good ideas listed unless the person stealing your car is a pro with a autoloader (repo truck) or flatbed and lets face it the person stealing your classic is most likely a pro.
I would think the best way is a GPS system linked to your phone, if the car moves you get an alert on your phone and the car can be tracked. I have not looked into any systems but there must be some good ones out there.
Thank you to all your great ideas and taking the time to respond the Cougar Community is full of Great people Thank you all.
I’m kinda diggin the boot idea!
Consider LoJack. While it will not prevent your car from being stolen it can reduce the time required to recover your vehicle.
You could just pull the fuses but that gets old. Just prior to the fuel pump, you could put in a shutoff valve. They’ll start the car, but the carb will run out of fuel. Thinking the car is unreliable, they’ll walk away hopefully.
Really depends on how bad they want it. Flatbed tow truck and 5 minutes and it’s gone. Some jumper wire for the coil and a long screw driver and pre 70 car/truck are easy.
Tire boot on the front tire is the best way. Hard to drive/remove and tough to tow. I use a hiden fuel shut of valve. a manual one.
Thank you guys for all the great ideas I appreciate all of you and all your help.