Porsche-O-Phile

Ain't that the truth lately! Granted they wouldn't have gotten anywhere (the entire engine is pulled apart at the moment, intake off, etc.) but they might've gotten frustrated and just decided to vandalize it out of frustration, either that or call their friend Pancho with the tow truck and cart the whole mess off. Either way, I'm happy someone was around to see and intervene (especially him)

Crazy Eddie

Those scum bags may come back !!

Good luck
Ed

josephsc

Oh man, I feel for you! This car just has not been kind to you -- maybe it's a sign.... I hope they don't mess with your other car!

smkn951

wish i was your neighbor, so i beat the **** out of both of them and then drop the car on them make it look like an accident then ask what the hell they were doing working late at night w/o lights and then show my badge
F&^% it i'll just call for the medics..........that'll give me more time to kick them or maybe drop my tool box on their legs and accidentally run over what ever is sticking out from under the car (i didn't know someone was there it was 2 freakin AM in the morning there was no light!!!!)
i had my car broken into, on a military post while i was in the field.
ps. sorry for being bitter, NAH!!!!
let me catch just one PLEASE!!!!!

Porsche-O-Phile

Yea, seriously. I think it's a sign I need to go on vacation or something. Anyway, the other car is safely tucked away in the garage (in pieces). Bill's actually going out of town for a couple of weeks so he gave me use of his garage in the meantime for this car, which is good because I can work on it a lot easier and it's secure that way.

Parking is a huge problem in most urban areas - really an obvious one here in Long Beach. There are a lot of older buildings that were constructed under previous versions of the building code, that didn't require very much parking for residential construction. Thus, a lot of the buildings have very tiny garages that are afterthoughts, if they have any at all. They certainly don't have enough to support one car (or two) per unit in the multi-unit buildings. As such, there are a lot of vehicles forced onto the street. Add to that the onslaught of "idiot-sized" SUVs that don't fit into these garages, there's more vehicles on the street. Add people visiting friends, there's more.

Street parking around here is absolutely the most cutthroat thing I've ever seen. I've literally seen shouting matches and near-fights break out between total strangers over parking spaces around here. I like Long Beach and all and it's a heck of a lot more affordable than anywhere else in SoCal (the areas that I'd not feel like my life was in danger living in anyway), but it does have its problems.

Parking is crazy - the only place I've ever been where it was worse is Boston - there people just double and triple-park as required and it the cops don't even bat an eye about it (used to be that way anyway, don't know if it still is). The common courtesy was to leave your phone # in the windshield so if someone you blocked in double-parking needed to get out you could move for them. It worked pretty well, too. Around here, the parking enforcement is random and absolutely ruthless. The city KNOWS there isn't enough parking and take full advantage of it. They know people will get frustrated and say "screw it" and just park illegally. Then they dispatch the parking ***** at about 4:00am to score 40 bucks a car - they're raking in the cash off that one! If you get home after 6:00pm, you'll be driving around for at least 20 minutes waiting for a spot to open - I've done it more than a few times. If you get here after 11:00pm, you might as well not bother unless you want to park illegally and take your chances.

There are so many "red curb" areas that make absolutely no sense. The ones near fire hydrants or driveways I can see, but there are a lot of seemingly random ones there I swear just to provide a means of writing tickets. Half the streets are angled spaces (which are the most coveted), the other half are parallel-parking spaces. Factor in the fact that half the people around here have no ability to parallel-park (especially the damn SUVs) and it's a very poor utilization of available curb real-estate. The space that could be used to park four cars for example (right outside my building) is often chewed up by two behemoth SUVs and one badly-parked car. I don't know why they just couldn't stripe off "T"'s like some places do to give parallel-parkers a target - that way they could actually write more tickets too - bonus for the city!

The best way I've come up with to "buck the system" is to occupy an angle spot diagonally with the motorcycle, then move it whenever I get home or my wife gets home and needs it, then you pull the bike in behind the car. That's totally fine and legal, a few others do it now too. This is probably the single biggest reason I don't sell my bike - it's pretty much a guarantee of a parking space - albeit only one. That alone is worth the $100 a year to register it around here. The city is getting wise to that too though - they've made it illegal to park motorcycles in any "car sized" spaces in a couple of areas and made designated motorcycle spots. I think if they tried it here though there'd be a riot on the part of the residents that employ this trick (myself included), so it's probably safe for now.

Oh well, rant over.

tommo951

You need to put ya name down for NZ's Monkey GB. Get yourself a couple of big ones!!!
I had a car stolen from outside my local police station, so nowhere is safe!

azmi951

OK here is a justice and then no justice car theft story....

My dad bout an Impala SS (the LT1 rear drive) in 96. We had it 2 weeks when it was stolen from our garage with my entire family home. We live in a good neighbohood with large lots 2-3 acres and long driveways. We call the cops and they say they will send a cop out in a few hours. We decide that since it had been like 5 minutes we had a good chance of cutting them off by the only main road out of that area. sure enough it goes through an intersection not 2 miles from our house. we follow it and when they stop in an apartment complex my dad shoots a warning shot in the air and all 3 of the criminal 15 year olds get on the ground. when the cops finnaly get there on of them tells us "good work!" The kids were convicted of grand theft auto, burgulary and vandalisum (they broke into houses stole stuff then trashed the places) and spent 1.5 years in jail. what a load of S*.

Also everyone is rightfuly careful about parking at a movie theater. My buddys 300ZX TT was broken into and the sterio was stolen. After that he parked in the handicapped spot a few months later right in front of the box office where his car was stolen!!!!!
The ticket agent didnt see anything. a month later they found it with everything still on it burned to the ground just inside Mexico. some a holes were just looking for a joy ride.

Bill

Several years ago I was putting together a VW Beetle for our oldest daughter. This meant that the 944na was displaced into the driveway. Four nights in a row the alarm went off at 2am. Each time I got up, went outside and saw nothing. After the second night my wife says it must be a cat, just turn off the alarm so we can get some sleep. I decided not to turn off the alarm. Finally after the fourth night, the alarm never goes off again. I think to myself, the cat finally figured it out.

A month later I am trimming the bushes next to our driveway, and I find a black anodised piece of window trim. I think funny, where did this come from? Not the VW, as their trim is crome. Standing next to the 944 I notice black moulding. I look around the 944 and sure enough, the trim from the rear fixed glass on the passenger side is missing. And there are small chips/dents around the window. Some A-hole must have used a screw driver and tried to pop the rear glass! The scum came back four nights in a row, hoping that I turned off the alarm, so he could finish the job.

Boy was I glad I did not turn off the alarm. Showed the wife and she was speachless.

Cyrus951

Some ****face tried to steal my car a couple weeks ago, but my friend caught him and chased his *** down, never caught him though. He was jamming a screwdriver into my passenger side lock cylinder, trying to open the door. The key doesn't work in it anymore, and he chipped the tumbler, it's such an eyesoar from a couple feet away.

Btw- If anyone sees a short black guy with a Michael Vick jersey in the Pomona area, let me know