Stolen XE

[pandaman]

This is why I hate Canberra. On Australia day some mates and I went to the lake to watch the fireworks. At around 10pm after most of the crowds had dissapeared I wandered back to where I had parked my car and then spent the better part of half an hour walking backwards and forwards across the carpark trying to figure out why I couldn't find it. Long story short, a bunch of motherИИИИing little turds stole it, flogged seven shades of ИИИИ out of it, stripped it and dumped it in Red Hill.

Only thing I've ever had flogged out here in the stix is a case of beer and some cd's I carelessly left outside in plain view of passing bogans. Yet in Canberra, my car has been broken into twice in twelve months, this latest one resulting in it being damaged beyond any thought of repair. The police seem completely uninterested in even trying to stop these freaks, yet should someone step 10km/h above the speed limit they will be dealt with to the full extent of the law. It just doesn't seem right.

That said, I'm honestly not too badly upset about it. The most irritating thing is that I'd only just got it ready for it's rego inspection, had they stolen it two weeks ago, it would have saved me a couple of days work and a few hundred bucks. But hey, since when have thieves ever been that considerate. :

There is a silver lining though, I've found a cheap and hopefully sound V8. Only problem is that it comes in a VN wagon, but hey, at least it's still a domestic, none of this japcrap stuff. I'm gonna take a close look at it tomorrow, with a very critical eye due to the blue tinted blood in my veins. Definitely the wrong place to be asking this, but does anyone have any suggestions as to what problems I should look out for? And yes I am aware of the underlying problem of the badge on the front. :nutsycuck So far I'm just thinking the usual, make sure it's not burning oil, no excessive lifter noise, no major leaks, no obvious rust inside and out, make sure it's still shifting ok etc.

Anyway, thats my rant. Thanks for reading (or not) whatever the case may be.

Neil.

[HOON69]

redhill that would be woden police station wouldnt it

canberra police are more worried about hiding in the bushes with their females partners then looking for criminals

redhill is like the dumping grounds for hald the cars taken in the area

it 5ucks but what can ya do?
best bet is to lock it up period no matter how close or far you are from it,make a kill switch and club lock the bugger its a falcon its like a butter knife or screw driver and your in n driving away.

[trick_xd]

the VNs till VSs had a crap gearbox
Make sure that it is in good nick = good pink oil
Trans cooler that sort of thing
Motor wise the 5ltr is good and can be fixed easy most times
Window regs have a nasty problem of braking
Paint on the first of them fades on bonett and roof - look for respray jobs.

[JC]

Damn. My old car has finally died.

Pandaman, I'm sorry to hear about the death of a car I put a lot of work into. It was a faithful workhorse for me and the missus, my borther, and my sister and her husband (actually, the only work it ever did was getting to the speed limit as quick as possible). And I think it served you well between the sticks and the big smoke! Thieves are such pr!cks.

Is the LPG system salvagable? If so, you should be able to use most components on the VN. Did you have comprehensive insurance on it at all, or 3rd part, fire and theft? I hope so, at least that way you will get some cash out of it, but still not as much as I sunk into it in the late 90s (about $8k, from memory).

I suppose the took the 17s? and the steering wheel, CD player etc? Do you still have the trophy from the FPV day 2 years ago?

You should post a pic of the car up here - a before and after would be good, just to see what they did to it.

[Redrum]

When Ford designed the XD/E/F range they designed a spare key built within the engine bay, a broken dipstick. Tis a sad storey.

[Captain Stubing]

Pandaman,
I guess you didn't take extra steps to stop the XE being taken? As Redrum says, they're easy to flog. You only have to look at one the wrong way and it unlocks!

The VN is just as easy to steal, so do yourself a favour, and invest in an imobilizer!

[JC]

Originally Posted by swanny

Pandaman,
I guess you didn't take extra steps to stop the XE being taken? As Redrum says, they're easy to flog. You only have to look at one the wrong way and it unlocks!

The VN is just as easy to steal, so do yourself a favour, and invest in an imobilizer!

The car had (at least when I had it), remote central locking, alarm and 2 point immobiliser - it was a 94 model alarm though, so probably only blocked ignition and fuel. When I converted it to straight gas in 96, it may have reverted only to single point (ignition), which I guess could be bypassed. I think it also had a club lock, so the theft is in no way pandaman's fault - it;s the low-life scum thieves.

[MRJUCY]

I've been through this with my beloved XD but so far not a scrap of it has shown up. It's an absolutely guttering feeling.

[JC]

MrJucy - I followed the thread on your car for a while - and in fact there's some info (in the letters section) in the current issue of Street Machine. This XE was nothing like your XD, but still worth something to the owner (and even previous owner - me!). Yes, I imagine it would gut you - it is an invasion of your personal property, no matter how good it is, or how little it's worth. Lopping limbs may need to be introduced for thieves - don't see too many one armed car thieves getting around, do you!

[AUIII XR8 MAN]

Originally Posted by Redrum

When Ford designed the XD/E/F range they designed a spare key built within the engine bay, a broken dipstick. Tis a sad storey.

Some one try to steal my old XF by starting it with the dip stick, but couldn't get it to work so they took off with my dip stick instead.

Sorry to hear about your lost pandaman.

[loxxr6]

The VN is just as easy to steal, so do yourself a favour, and invest in an imobilizer!

Definately a good point. The VN series of commodore is still one of the most commonly stolen models.

[Tiapan]

sorry to hear mate, i will be buyin another alarm after hearing your story

[XB_fairmont]

That's pretty scary. I've always had old cars and use a steering lock.
But i guess if they are looking for something specific they can use a steering wheel puller and put another wheel on.

I've caught a POS in belconnen trying to take my KB laser of all things.
Someone had put a scew driver in the passenger side of my XB, belconnen again. If i lost the XB i'd be devistated, it was my grand fathers since new.

Before i met my GF, she had her car (pink hyundai) stolen, with keys, mobile etc. she tried to track them down with phone records , but the police where no help. The teen thieves also threated to rape her when she called them.

Something needs to be done about these undisciplined punks :jab:

[Cespenar]

Your loss is common, and the car manufacturers say it can be fixed, but wont do it, as every car stolen is usually a new one sold.
Police have been told to keep their time on high income returns as spending a day at a house break-in returns no income. A wellington (NSW) policeman has stated to friends in Dubbo that they wait an hour for some crimes before answering as to reduce their paperwork to almost zero.
Police have also stated in the past that lie-detectors don't work. They admit they DO work, but they wouldn't make many bookings stick if they had to tell the truth. Make of it what you will.
When we had operation viking in Dubbo the first time, we had an extra 180 police in town (actually out on the roads) and we had our first shooting in remembered history. And Ralph Naden seems to have done the dirty while we had extra police around.

[GRNKPR]

my mates Big Block Powered XD got stolen from the summernats about 6 years ago and he had no insurance .The Police went to a house in Canberra to serve a warrant on this guy and he wasnt home as they left the house the looked over the fence to see a yellow XD falcon and thought this was too good to be here .so they called back later and served the warrant and impounded the car .when they impounded it all id was removed harnessess and rollcage was gone.sothe police had a car they didnt know what state or where it belonged .this is where my mate damo was lucky he put an ad in UNIQUE CARS saying it had been stolen and any info would be great .nothing for a couple of weeks till a guy rang and said his car was sitting in the backyard of the police station ,it turns out the guy walked up to the newsagent to get the mag and on the way back he was flicking through it and saw the ad looked across to the police station and there it was (how lucky) he got his car back minus a couple things but a success story ,so always explore every avenue and dont give up

[buickman]

In the 15 years of been going to the summernats in Canberra in my mates old original XD s/w it has never been touched from natex, motel or eating places like the hellic club in Woden maybe more luck as it has never been fitted with a sucurity device.

No offfece to people that live there I find Canberra a sterile unusual type of city were you go into a lot of bushland from one suburb to another.
The war memorial & the nats is only thing I find intresting in the city

[pandaman]

Originally Posted by JC

Damn. My old car has finally died.

Pandaman, I'm sorry to hear about the death of a car I put a lot of work into. It was a faithful workhorse for me and the missus, my borther, and my sister and her husband (actually, the only work it ever did was getting to the speed limit as quick as possible). And I think it served you well between the sticks and the big smoke! Thieves are such pr!cks.

Is the LPG system salvagable? If so, you should be able to use most components on the VN. Did you have comprehensive insurance on it at all, or 3rd part, fire and theft? I hope so, at least that way you will get some cash out of it, but still not as much as I sunk into it in the late 90s (about $8k, from memory).

I suppose the took the 17s? and the steering wheel, CD player etc? Do you still have the trophy from the FPV day 2 years ago?

You should post a pic of the car up here - a before and after would be good, just to see what they did to it.

Yeah, It aint a great feeling, sorry to have lost a vehicle that we've both put a lotta time into. They took the 17's, headlights, cd player etc, munted the locks on both sides and did something godawful to the motor (wont turn over). The gas system is still there, dunno if i'll bother with it though, finding a suitable throttle body for the vn would be the problem I think. I'll think about it though, might just leave it on the more expensive gogo juice for a while.

Insurance, I had third party property. Comprehensive insurance for a P plater driving a "modified" vehicle? HAH! They wanted to charge me almost the exact same amount I paid for it! decided I was better off keeping that dough in reserve in case it got nicked/skippy got the better of it. So thats what I'm doing now. Crazy thing is that third party property on the V8 commo is actually slightly CHEAPER than for the six cylinder XE, go figure, my insurance company is crazy.

Took the VN for a quick test drive today, I'm not exactly in love, but by god that thing hauls ИИИИ. Trick_XD, good call on the TH700, I aint wild about it either, but it shifts solidly, and yes the fluid is good, it's had a full service fairly recently. Also good calls on the power windows and paint, neither of them are brilliant, but they are OK. Security, it has an alarm and immobiliser, not sure of brand, but it seems to work pretty well. Even if it didn't that was going to be my first order of business. A club lock is also on the agenda.

Even if I do end up driving this monstrosity, I'll still be lurking around here coz LS1 just aint my scene ya know? And of course Ford still does it better :nutsycuck Thanks for the support and advice I have recieved whenver I have asked. And once again JC, sorry for losing your car. :

Neil.

[pandaman]

Originally Posted by buickman

In the 15 years of been going to the summernats in Canberra in my mates old original XD s/w it has never been touched from natex, motel or eating places like the hellic club in Woden maybe more luck as it has never been fitted with a sucurity device.

No offfece to people that live there I find Canberra a sterile unusual type of city were you go into a lot of bushland from one suburb to another.
The war memorial & the nats is only thing I find intresting in the city

yeah I'm not real keen on the atmosphere in Canberra either, much prefer Bungendore. It might seem like a bit of an generalisation, but people out there are less closed off, more likely to talk to you, whether it's just to say gday, or to tell you to be a little more quiet when leaving for work at five in the morning :newangel: But yeah it is a generalisation and there are some very good people in Canberra, just a matter of finding them :-) Hah I've just taken my own thread OT, marvellous!

[JC]

Originally Posted by pandaman

JC, sorry for losing your car. :

Nah - it was your car. Oh well, it had 22 years serving the British High Commission, me (and my family), and you. A three owner XE - has to be uncommon!

So we should be on the lookout for an XF running 17" TSW Hockenheims (BBS copies) and a twin headlight conversion. If I see one, I will be taking the rego and reporting the car to the cops as a potential receiver of stolen goods.

With the VN - the 5.0 Holden motors are pretty good. Around 150kw at the flywheel from memory in that model (maybe even 160?). Make sure you invest in a full metal jacket for the ignition - makes them harder to steal. Nothing wrong with the opposition product in V8 form - hey any V8 is a good V8!

Down in the leaf catcher under the windscreen check there for rust as all most all owners leave the leafs in there and the moister from the leafs start rust and it is a expensiv pert to repair

[pandaman]

Heres a classic threadmining moment! It's been a few month's since I bought the VN, just thought I'd make a couple of comments about how I've found it to be in comparison to the old XE.

Turns out that when I was testdriving it, the front sway bar wasn't actually attached, hence it had bodyroll pretty much like dad's AU wagon. Wasn't exactly thrilled with that, but the straight line speed kinda made up for it. :-) Well anyway, once the owner got round to telling me that he'd taken the left hand sway-bar link out (rubbers were gone and he got sick of it clunking) I decided my first stop after purchasing the vehicle would be repco, to grab some basic service gear and a sway bar link kit. When I was replacing the links I took a closer look at the sway bar, and realised why it was painted orange, K-Mac swaybars front and rear! It has a coupla other bits and pieces as well that are basically worth what I paid for the whole vehicle. Sweeeet! Once I had the new links in, this thing has damn near zero bodyroll, freaked dad out when he took it for a drive. :-)

Unfortunately it's still riding on 205/65R15's so grip aint marvellous, that's gonna change soon hopefully. It handles pretty well, not quite so well as the XE but we'll see how that changes once it's got wider tyres. Stopping isn't bad, but the XE felt like it pulled up better, although that might have had a bit to do with the low profile tyres transmitting feedback from the road more, the XE had much better pads on it as well.

Straight line speed, there is no comparison. First gear in the VN anihilates ANYTHING. I've got some fond memories of the old falcon flying off the line in first with a bit of stall on board, watching my mate's celica fall back in the rear view mirror (He caught up once I hit second but it was still a rush, :-P hehehe). The VN wouldn't let him catch up, haven't actually had a chance to give him a run yet, what with the lack of racing facilities around here. ;-) But, yeah, dang, all that torque and a reasonably low first gear means great fun. Actually gave the celica bloke a lift home a while back and he seemed impressed by the torquiness of the engine.

The department where the commodore really falls behind is sound and perhaps more importantly, what I like to call "soul". The old falcon had extractors and a 2.5 inch exhaust with one muffler, it was kinda loud. Not only was it loud, but it had that unmistakable straight six howl. Some motoring journalists have described it as being, "supernatural", "spooky", "spinetingling" and all sorts of other words beginning with S. I just call it ing awesome. That distinctive roar, whether it be leaving for work running late at 5.30AM or cruising home through the cutting next to ADFA, that noise as it ran up through the rev range was unique, beyond spinetingling, sexy etc. it just ruled. Old people woke up and started paying attention to what was going on around them, ricers turned up their stereos in an attempt to drown out the warning that a certain blue XE was coming up behind them. That was one of that car's best features IMHO. By comparison the 5 litre commo sounds like a fart in a muddy bathtub, indistinct and overmuffled, but strangely satisfying. It will never have the sheer presence of the 4.1 litre six, but thats kinda the point, while it sounds like a V6 with a bad exhaust leak it aint too likely to be targeted by thieves. As for soul, kinda difficult to define, but the XE had LOTS, it had attitude, the VN not so much so, more bland. I'm guessing you enthusiasts out there will get it, hell some of you might even be able to explain it.

I'm pretty much convinced that the XE was stolen because the thieves thought it was something that it wasn't. It sounded fast, it looked tough and for what it was (fairly stock 6 cylinder wags) it went really well. I can only imagine their dissapointment when they realised that it was a six cylinder that wouldn't even pull a line locker, and that the only parts on it of any monetary value were the wheels and headlights. :-) Hence the VN is gonna stay looking/sounding stock and has a decent alarm/immobiliser, and will very soon become almost impossible to start for any thief who doesn't have a couple of hours on their hands to work out what i've done to it. I've also changed my parking habits with thievery in mind, I think that may be the biggest contribution to keeping the new baby safe.

In short, The VN is a harsher ride than most equivalent falcons, rips out of em at the lights due to the short first gear and is basically the same sort of car put together with a different ideology. Basically describes the relationship between most commos and falcons. In relation to my old car it has some very different strengths and weaknesses, especially as they seem to have been modified with very different aims in mind (XE tough, VN stealth). All in all, it aint bad, I reckon I'll have some serious fun with this one, but the next car will probably be a Ford again. ;-)

Cheers,
Neil

PS, sorry about the long post, but I am drunk and bored. Not very often that I have this amount of spare time on my hands.

Oh, and JC, you asked ages ago if I still have the trophy from the Canberra show and shine, as it happens, I've still got it, along with a bunch of piccies I took when I got the car, being the sentimental fool that I am.

[BPXR6T]

Dude that sucks. You've got zero hope of ACT policing doing anything about it.

Nothing wrong with a VN. A couple of years ago I took a break from Fords and bought a Merc, then switched to a VP with 355 stroker. Story I got was the previous owners Dad worked for HSV. It was a white exec with HSV everything including a 355 stroker that went like stink. One of the tougher cars I've had and a definate eye opener after getting out of the Merc.

You might have been lucky enough to see me flogging the guts out of it around Canberra about 2 years ago. Very tough with the sweetest V8 exhaust note you'd ever hear. I have two 351 clevelands and a Boss motor out in the driveway but still say the 308 is the best sounding V8 bah none!

The only significant problem I had was when first gear decided it wanted to part company with the car out the back of belconnen remand center. But I had a very bad habit of locking it back to 1st and stamping on it.

If its auto then check it well and think about having it checked out professionally. I was quoted $4000 for a rebuild on the Turbo 700!!! Only other problem I had was the steering rack. They have sh1thouse brakes too. I had cross drilled and slotted rotors with some good quality pads and it still didn't want to stop.

[PureFord92]

sorry to hear what happened, stupid bogans! out:

[BPXR6T]

Originally Posted by PureFord92

sorry to hear what happened, stupid bogans! out:

Hey, who you callin stupid... :sm_headba