My brother had borrowed the car to get to work and back (but we put the insurance in his name). He and his girlfriend went to the movies tonight and during the movie two people slim jimmied their way into the car and stole it. My brother and his girl left the movie an hour early because it "sucked". He called the cops and apparently CHP noticed a gold CD on a nearby road within a mile of the theater. They were apprehended and there is no damage to the car.
Heres the scary part:
- The car was stolen in a theater parking lot at about 9:00PM. There had to of been people around.
- There was no damage to the steering lock. Not even a scratch on the ignition. They got in the car and just started it.
- It's not an exceptional example of a w123, except that it was a turbo coupe. It has bad paint and the passenger door is flaking off square foot sizes of bondo.
- The thieves have a history of auto thievery.
I feel like they may have been seeking out this model of car. Maybe they wanted to chop shop it and send the parts off to Egypt. Maybe they just steal classic Mercedes.
OR
Maybe they looked around, saw an old coupe. Thought, hey, we can slim jim that window easily (no window frame) and can probably pick (or whatever they do) the ignition easy since its old and probably not equipped with an alarm.
I read a thread the other day about a fuel line air bleed valve which disables the car. I'm not getting my SD stolen (don't drive the 123 anyway) since Ive put about 5 grand into the car and lots of memories. I plan to install a valve tomorrow along with an electrical solution to interrupt the starter solenoid circuit.
But hey, their caught. I hope they enjoy prison for grand theft auto
