So I feel relieved and angry now...

Night Wolf · #1 (**permalink**) 01-07-07, 01:30 AM

Well, durring my infinite process of making my Coupe the exact car I wanted, I replaced my center arm rest. The old armrest was broken, and breaking more, the leather was worn etc... but I never could find one, after looking on ebay with no luck, I went to the junkyard.... low and behold, a '93 Sedan with the same neutral tan interior as my Coupe!.

The armrest was mint, it worked perfect, not a wear mark on it... it was a perfect score, so I snagged it. I also snagged the upper dash pad... figured I am gonna have the car forever and this is a common problem as a car got older.. this pad was mint (mine alrady was seperating in a spot) so I also snagged the 4 factory floor mats... slightly stained, but the right color and embrodered wreaths.

Before I graduated higgh school, I got a high school ring. It was quite expensive ($400) and had quite a bit of stuff on it to represent who I was as a person, basically, I made the ring. I never wore it much, but it was an awesome ring. Back in NY I thre it in the center arm rest and when I would go out, sometimes I would put it on.... so it was in the arm rest.

When I bought my Coupe, I only had 1 ignition and 1 lock key... never bothered me, but thats what I had. I did get a few copies of lock keys made up, but never got an ignition key becuase of the chip. One day my father and I were at this Oldsmobile dealer (still ahd their sign up... awesome) and the guy was like, oh you have one of those keys.... tell ya what, I've got a bunch of them left... $20 and I'll make ya a copy.... so... I did... now i have a spare ignition key.... and it worked fine.

Guess where that ended up? The center consol (like everything else) My plan was to tie the door lock key somewhere under the car hidden, then hide the ignition key inside the car... always thinking worst case senerio, I am somewhere and lost my keys and need to get int he car and drive away, I could.... I always would do things like that.

Well, when the car got stolen... something I never mentioned was... that I think the key was still in the armrest, under a bunch of papers, pens and other various stuff... but in there none the less....

*I* thought... maybe someone broke in to steal the stereo, was going thru the car looking for money, opened the arm rest and saw the ker, and just drove off with the car.

I have been upset with myself, thinking that HAD to happen, I mean the car has Pass-Key, it was nearly out of gas with a locking gas cap, fading paint and was in park with the parking brake set.

Anyway... tonight my step father, mom, Aimee and I were in my room and my mom asked me about my high school ring (which I havn't even thought about in over a year) Thats when I said that the last time I even remember seeing it... and where it probably is..... was in my arm rest of the car.

Well, the old broken arm rest I kept (like everything else on the car) and it was sitting on the arm rest of the love seat in my bedroom with some sock ontop of it....

Well, sure enough, my ring *AND* spare ignition key were in that arm rest.... in my apartment!

Right there, that eliminates any possibility that, that key was used to start the car... something I have been thinking about ever since... and also further explains... who stole it?

That is 1 of 2 keys I ever had for that car.... 1 key was locked in my apartment in an old broken arm rest to my car, the other key was in my key ring 1,300 miles away in NY.

So it got me thinking again... cause all along, I kept telling myself, that HAD to happen, so I kinda didn't give other things much thought... but now its not true.

The GM Pass-keyII system, while soo simple, is quite an advanced system requiring alot of knowladge and alot of specialty tools to get around.....

So who would steal my car? this is how I break it down....

car stereo theif - they break into the car and steal the radio... not the whole car... the *ONLY* part of my $2,500 sound system that was visible from outside the car was the faceplate to my Alpine CDA-9807 head unit. All my speakers were behind factory grilles, my XM wasn't in the car and sub and amps were in the trunk. So it all looked stock except for the face plate of a 3 year old cd player. I could have removed the face plate but didn't.... not that it would have made a difference.

The car had tinted windows and the windsheild sun visor thing across it.... so it was dark inside too.

Who else steals it? joy riding teens? They usually go for easy targets... unlocked cars or old beaters... something to do just that... go for a joy ride... they don't go for spiffy Cadillacs, and you aren't going to get your average pot-smoking car theft 14y/o bypassing Pass-Key either.

Someone that steals an expensive car to sell for parts or on the black market? Yeah, cause a 1993 Cadillac DeVille with fading and peeling paint is worth a whole $3,000..... and the 2001 BMW 328CI parked right next to me was worth nothing. What would you steal to sell for a profit?

Or... maybe someone had a DeVille and needed parts... hence stealing my car... nah.. thats right, last time I was at the local u-pull-it yard, there is, no lie, well over a dozen '91-'93 DeVilles, with a few even being Coupes. My car wasn't stolen cause someone needed a clean grille and dent free door.... not when these parts are redily avalbile and under $20 each.

So who steals a car like mine? from the middle (literally) of a *gated community* apartment complex? Its interesting, the gates that havn't worked for years all of a sudden now started working when I got back...

and the street light RIGHT outside my apartment, 2 spots form where the Coupe was parked was out for awhile... so it was pretty dark in that area.... and right on the otherside of the fence is a not so good community.

I am at a total loss... the only thing that I thought, and was going off of actually being possible, is now gone, I have both stinkin keys to my car.

I had her in park, with the emergency brake set... all 4 wheels of a Cadillac were locked up... that car wasn't moving without giving up a fight... yet there was/is not a single tire mark, broke glass, or anything at all on the ground.

Was it towed? who tows a 13 year old car with $3,000 to steal it form a gated apartment complex? That would mean they have to either drag it onto a flatbed with all 4 wheels locked up, or break in, smash the steering column to get it out of park, then know Cadillacs, and know the parking brake was set to reach up under the dash and find the emergency brake release (that even sometimes I coudln't find)....

Was it driven out under its own power? Someone had to bypass that pass-key system... I know there is always someone who can steal anything... but why would someone bother with an old car when there are brand new Caddys all over they could steal, or a mint BMW 2 spots away form my car they could steal... basically, if someone had the abality and equipment to steal my car.... why would they?

Also, it woudln't have gone far... there was no more then a gallon of gas in the tank.... the gas gauge was flashing E that Friday, and yet I drove to school and into town, I was gonna throw $20 in it, but figured I'll be gone for a week and drive my Olds down, that it didn't make sense... plus, I had a locking gas cap... so still, if it was driven anywhere... it would need gas, and someone would be busting up a gas cap while at the gas station? Ofcourse that car could have atleast 20 miles or so... which is quite far in this city.

Havn't heard a single thing about it either.

It was stolen 2 days after I left... 2 days.... I could have simply stayed home one weekend and it woulda got stolen.... no... I think someone knew I was leaving... the only people that knew I was leaving... my work (noone knew where I lived though) my school (people knew where I lived)... so I think it was somewhere form there... or... someone from my apartment complex... otherwise... who?

It sucks.

Night Wolf · #2 (**permalink**) 01-07-07, 01:57 AM

Oh, and another thing... so there is an issue with the registration to the car (long story short car dosn't show up as stolen to the NYS DMV and big mess so apparently I've been driving with a suspended license for months and not known it... getting it solved now)

and also, someone was running car faxes, so I put the VIN up... never came up as stolen, last thing that came up was me registering it back in 2003!

So, I went to the police and wanted to see whats going on....

apparently when the report was first made, the VIN was never entered....I *KNOW* I gave the VIN... becuase I siad, "Heh, I memorized that VIN... here it is....." and ALSO went to my fire box in my closet, pulled the title out and read it back to him....

Well, when there is no VIN, apparently the file is tagged and after 90days the computer asks for a VIN... so instead of give me a call or send a letter (all concat info is listed ont he report) they do the logical thing and *remove the car from stolen car database!* Yeah, smart move.

So I went back and the front desk officer said they re-entered it into the system and its fine now...

As I was driving away, I realized something else.... they never asked for the VIN! and it's not on the report..... sheesh. So I am going to go back there and tell them to add the VIN on the report and give them my parents address to put on there since I'll be moving soon.

So I asked... what if the car was recovered but didn't come up as stolen? They said that the agency enters the VIN into a system, I said if not claimed does it get sold at auction? He said yes. I aid how long does it take? he said usally 6 months if not claimed (6 months comes up end of this month)

Sp they ran the VIN in their database and said nothing came up.... surprise there.... which is funny, cause I don't know how they got the VIN... I need to check my newest copy of the report and see if its printed on there.... also check my old copy and see if its on there.

So they said it *should* show up as stolen now... so...like.... if a cop was to run the VIN, it actually comes up as stolen... and I can kinda get my license back on track.

It just really fustrated me more, I know the cops didn't do a darn thing about it... but atleast put all the information down on the paperwork... how can you leave the VIN out of a stolen car report... isn't that like stolen car managment 101 or something?

ya know I can't believe it..... in 10 days, I will have taken these pictures exactly a year ago...wow.

Thats the worst... I see that interior... man.. the interior is one of the most important parts of a car to me, the driver. and I did so much to that inteior, I was always thinking about cool things or long trips. Even the steering wheel cover was thoughtfully chosen. That wood trim on the dash is real... form an '87 that I sanded, stained and polyurethaned. Thats my high school tassle hanging form the mirror, I swapped the digital dash in the car. The awesome sound system cause i love listening to music.... gosh. Atleast my CD's radar detector and GPS were NOT in the car when it was stolen.

Here is the spare dash pad and mats that I still have (that I will not sell) and the new center arm rest (that was on the car)

I would go the junkyard and buy soo many parts becasue I figured one day in the future, it would be hard to comeby and nobody will be making parts for them... I have a spare ECM, spare fuel data center and electronic climate control, as well as various other parts of the car.

Gosh, this got me really missing that Coupe. If I can ever find another Coupe in Slate Bronze Metallic (only 1993) with either the neutral tan interior, or another color I like.... I would pick it up, go quite out of my way to as well.

Aleast its not a rare car that everyone wants... noone really knows about them, and its not in high demand, so if one pops up, I may be able to grab it.