"Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen" (distraxi)
10/08/2016 at 19:35 • Filed to: Commodore
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"Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen" (distraxi)
10/08/2016 at 19:35 • Filed to: Commodore | 2
| 8 |
Spoiler: No this story doesn’t end with the bastards getting strung up by their balls as they sorely deserve.
Some of you might remember !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! from storage a few months ago. Here’s what’s happened since.
Fortunately it was insured. But to make life interesting, I’d only taken out the policy the week before. Literally the last time I saw the car was when I took some photos for the application form. So I got a pretty good grilling from the PI the insurance put on the case. Eventually she decided it was a legit theft, but talk about paperwork: they have a standardised process they run through for car thefts, and a racecar doesn’t fit. Go on, try filling out the box under “list all modifications”. Or the one under “provide evidence of maintenance history”.
Meantime, my wife had posted the theft on Facebook. Within a couple of days her post had been shared 1500 times, including by every NZ car club and motorsport group I’ve ever heard of and a lot I hadn’t. Kinda cool to see the community pulling together. Also amazing the power of social media.
A couple of weeks later, we got a Facebook message from a stranger: a guy who knew a guy who said he knew whodunnit. He was willing to talk to the PI, but his source wanted to remain anonymous. So the PI talked to him, got a name, and went to the cops. Who basically said “ yes, we know this asshole well, it sounds like his MO, so it’s probably a good tip. But he has multiple places he stashes cars, and unless we have some evidence better than a tip we’re not going to get a warrant for all of them. So we’re not going to do anything about it ”. Your tax dollars at work!
...and that’s where it ended. We know who did it but they’re going to get away with it unless the cops fall over some other excuse to raid them.
What really pisses me off about the whole saga is that a car which has survived 30 years as a race car, and had multiple people pouring love and money into it over the years, isn’t going to get to go out in a blaze of glory like it deserves to, but will get parted out and carved up in a chop shop somewhere.
Anyway, insurance eventually paid out, and now I’m looking for a new toy. I’ve decided that as long as I’m living in a place with damn all parking, a car which needs a trailer and tow vehicle is too much hassle, so I’m going to give the racing a break for a while and instead get a streetable track rat. I’m also thinking “ slow but with handling ” for a change, since the Commodore was the epitome of the “ get it straight then light the fuse ” school of driving. Currently debating between an NA/NB MX5 (and keep a separate DD) and seeing if a Toyobaru is liveable with as a dual-duty car. The MX5's going to be cheaper to make mistakes in, but against that if I‘m not putting a full cage in it (not street legal in NZ) then a tin top and some 21st century crumple zones would be nice.
Watch this space...
Jonee
> Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen
10/08/2016 at 19:41 |
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Damn. That’s frustrating as fuck. And, what the hell can the guy do with it at this point?
Spridget
> Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen
10/08/2016 at 19:52 |
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Uh . . . pretty sure that’s enough evidence the guy did it for a warrant, at least here in the US.
HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
> Jonee
10/08/2016 at 19:55 |
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Go full fast and furious, find six other friends, who are ethnically diverce and all have special skills then some how become friends with the thief to find out where his cars are stashed. Procede to steal all his stolen stuff and torch the buildings.
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Jonee
> HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
10/08/2016 at 20:00 |
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I was talking about the asshole who stole it, but yeah, definitely.
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Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen
> Jonee
10/08/2016 at 20:39 |
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That’s exactly why I didn’t have it insured for ages - why steal it? You couldn’t use it on the track: there’s about 5 caged VC’s in the country, it’d be recognised in 2 seconds. You couldn’t convert it for road use. You couldn’t stick the engine in a road car, it only runs on racegas. And you couldn’t use it in another racecar - the motor’s as identifiable as the car to anyone in the community. All you could do with it is strip it right down and sell it component by component, or do burnouts in a deserted spot till you blow it up. Or maybe export it to Oz, it’d be more anonymous there.
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Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen
> HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
10/08/2016 at 20:42 |
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I’ll get right on that :-)
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Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen
> Spridget
10/08/2016 at 20:54 |
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Car thefts aren’t exactly a priority for the police, but I doubt they’d pass up the chance to collar a repeat offender - and probably clear up another couple of dozen thefts while they were at it - if it’s handed to them on a plate. So if they say that’s not enough, I’m inclined to believe them. Plus if it was BS the PI wouldn’t have let it pass - she’s paid to recover the vehicle if she can.
Nauraushaun
> Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen
10/10/2016 at 05:48 |
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At least insurance paid out