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 Post subject: Re: Proximity alarm
PostPosted: March 19, 2010, 10:24 am 
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...hide a boost mobile or other prepay phone, then its a one time fee and will stay good for years


Even if you don't use it, Boostmobile and TracFone will cost you ~$20 every 90 days to keep the phone active. That is over $80/year. It is not an expensive option, however it is not a one-time cost.

Certainly a Locost is no more easily stolen than, say, any motorcycle or a 50's-60's British made convertible. I know on my MGA, all a thief has to do is reposition a fuse and the car can be started and driven away. That is if they know how to start it and release the emergency brake. :wink: However, if the thief knows the repositioned fuse trick, then they probably already know how to start it and release the brake; I'm screwed.

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 Post subject: Re: Proximity alarm
PostPosted: March 19, 2010, 8:30 pm 
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This'll be my last post on the subject, we can do it to death. The type of insurance purchased on these vehicles allows you to insure it for whatever it appraises at or less, depending on what you want to spend. If the car is well put together, the appraiser will often ask what YOU think it should be worth, which you could insure it for, if you were prepared to spend the extra.

Of all the MCC7s and other 7esque cars, I've been involved in, I'm the only one I know that paid a little more than the basic $10k replacement coverage usually offered. Whether you want to add a nominal amount for your skills to the value of the car or not, it's still an investment in time, care and a little love too. Should you decide to sell it at some time, and it's a nice one, you will surely get more for it than the replacement insurance value if it's stolen, certainly I have, even the higher appraised value.

Correct that a 7 is no more easily stolen than any other target, but it's a way more attractive prize than most. My concern is that it's not something you're generally thinking about while building the car. The day it gets stolen, you weren't ready for it and you weren't paying attention to the possibilities, or it wouldn't have been stolen. $80 a year sounds like a steal to protect your investment.

As for taking the money and building another one? If you decided to build a 7 from scratch and could put say 15 hours a week into it, it'd take in the neighborhood of 3 years to finish it. You'll have spent over 2,000 hours and that time just got stolen along with your se7en. All you're getting is the cost of the parts. You (me too) built it as a hobby, but the thief is in the business of making money ...a professional. At that point I (not necessarily you) would want professional level money to build the next one.

If I wanted to start up a business building top class se7en replicars and needed a tech with the skills to build the entire car from scratch, I'd guess I'm looking at a $30.00 - $40.00 an hour technician. Even at $20.00 an hour, that 2,000+ hours is worth $40,000.00+ for me.

Maybe that's an interesting test of everyone's build skills. See what the appraiser thinks the replacement ceiling is on your car when it's finished, that is of course the price it would bring if it is sold normally and not paid for in an insurance payoff.

It's always amazing to me seeing how little some of these cars sell for. Some of the builds on this site are equal to or better than anything available from the big boys, REALLY nice ideas and execution. On the other hand....

Geoff


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 Post subject: Re: Proximity alarm
PostPosted: March 19, 2010, 11:14 pm 
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geofffinlay- let me know when you find the numbers on the stolen/recovered sevens... you will probably never find them as no one cares enough to invest their time. You may think your idea of "gone in 60 seconds" style of boosting cars is the way it goes but it isn't. The largest majority of cars that are stolen have high production numbers and blend into the everyday car category. Take a few minutes to do a search... Camry, Corolla, Ram, Neon, ect.

The only thing i can agree on is that the price that half these cars go for is too low. Well simply put you cant charge people for sentimental value and personal time spent. A car is only worth as much as someone else is willing to pay. We dont build the cars for the hope of selling them for high dollar so that someone else can enjoy them. We build them to enjoy ourselves.

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 Post subject: Re: Proximity alarm
PostPosted: March 20, 2010, 1:09 am 
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I didn't think the OP was worried about it being stolen, only keeping little kids, etc. out of it.

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 Post subject: Re: Proximity alarm
PostPosted: March 20, 2010, 10:05 am 
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I don't get it...who would steal a Seven? Especially a Locost? Would you take to a chop-shop and sell all the rod ends on ebay? Get $300 for the motor? Try to sell the intact car as legit to one of the hundred potential buyers in the country, for less than what a 6 year old Camry might fetch? Drive it around town yourself?

*shrug*

I know some thieves don't think that far ahead, and yeah...getting $500 for a $10,000 car you stole is $500 of crack you get to smoke...but still...

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The car will never be left in a place where a casual "looker" can have any time alone with it.


Wow. Now you've stolen the car from yourself. Aren't you going to go in the restaurant or spend the night when you get there?

-dave

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 Post subject: Re: Proximity alarm
PostPosted: March 20, 2010, 10:11 pm 
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dhempy wrote:
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The car will never be left in a place where a casual "looker" can have any time alone with it.


Wow. Now you've stolen the car from yourself. Aren't you going to go in the restaurant or spend the night when you get there?


I couldn't agree more. Garage queens are not my type.

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 Post subject: Re: Proximity alarm
PostPosted: March 20, 2010, 11:08 pm 
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I happened to see a GPS tracker called www.ZoomBak.com at Target today. You clip it to your car/dog/grandmother, and then you go hit their web site and it will tell you where Precious is. You can also give it safe zones (home, child's school, work...) and it will text you every time it enters or leaves the zone.

It was $69 (on sale from $99), and the service is $13/month if you pay annually ($155/yr). Doesn't seem quite worth it for me, but maybe interesting to some of you. Of course, if my car ever DOES get stolen, I'll be kicking myself. It uses T-Mobile for the data service, so I suppose their coverage area is relevant.

-dave

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 Post subject: Re: Proximity alarm
PostPosted: March 22, 2010, 7:48 pm 
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blue devil - I didn't suggest that I would waste my time looking for information on stolen/recovered se7ens. Why would I? I'm not involved in those statistics. If I was to do a search on high-volume stolen cars - Your suggestions - Camry, Corolla, Ram, Neon, etc. wouldn't be too high on that list. Here's the top 10 stolen cars in 2008.

1. 2000 Honda Civic SiR 2-door
2. 1999 Honda Civic SiR 2-door
3. 2004 Subaru Impreza WRX/WRX STi 4-door AWD
4. 1995 Dodge/Plymouth Grand Caravan/Voyager
5. 1995 Dodge/Plymouth Caravan/Voyager
6. 2002 Acura RSX Type S 2-door
7. 2001 Audi TT Quattro Roadster
8. 1995 Acura Integra 2-door
9. 1996 Dodge/Plymouth Neon 2-door
10. 1996 Dodge/Plymouth Neon 4-door

Geoff


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 Post subject: Re: Proximity alarm
PostPosted: March 23, 2010, 9:11 am 
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I had Lo-Jack on my first motorcycle since it was a highly stolen model GSXR-600 and the peace of mind was well worth the money and they have a 24-hour recovery guarantee thats backed up by Cash. While the initial cost is higher there are no subscription fees to pay after purchase and the newer systems (for bikes at least) can be set to a "zone" that if the unit senses motion and the fob is not in range the system will alert you via text or email. If you really want something to track your car because your that concerned about it just bight the bullet and go with a proven system like lo-jack.

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 Post subject: Re: Proximity alarm
PostPosted: March 23, 2010, 9:53 am 
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I don't think anyone steals a Locost for the body panels, lol, which leaves joy-rides and grabbing it for the drivetrain. Unfortunately I've got a drivetrain from that top-10 list, but as long as the hood's closed it should be okay. What seems much more likely is having the dash ripped out, especially if it contains a flat-dash unit sitting out for all to see...

On Kimini, the "agreed-upon value" was set high enough so if it ever got stolen, the check would go a long way toward easing the pain.

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 Post subject: Re: Proximity alarm
PostPosted: June 15, 2010, 11:11 am 
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I'd have to agree, the problem would most likely be joy-rides, in that case they (the joy riders) probably wouldn't plan out the theft, rather jump in the car and attempt to take off...set up some switches and a slightly more complex starting sequence and I'm sure it would get pretty frustrating and possibly deter them from "borrowing" the ride.

But yes, overall theft? I'd say the seats (if nice Corbeau, Sparco, or Recaro's, etc.) would be the first thing that would get taken, then the shift knob, gauges possibly and the steering wheel, easily removed things that can grow legs and leave you driving home with a tiller instead of a wheel.

The biggest deterrent however IS it's uniqueness. If you're the only one with a seven in a 30-90 mile radius, it'll be pretty easy to spot when you call it in.


As for keeping the greasy-fingered young'ns away...sit in the car or stand by it and keep them away...have a sign that asks them not to touch or sit in it, and if they do then yell at them...nothing better than showing up to a car show, asking politely to not touch and people touch anyways...doesn't look good on said patrons. Otherwise I think touching is just a necessary demon...build something unique and special...people want to touch it.

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 Post subject: Re: Proximity alarm
PostPosted: June 15, 2010, 4:23 pm 
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Location: St.Thomas Ontario
I would wonder if there is some way that you can mount up a digital camera so that it'll also take a picture of the drivers face when a certain switch is flipped. Have a fake switch in the dash labeled 'start' or just whenever the car is started it fires an email/picture text of the driver.

My wife used to work in a teen detention center and 90% of the car heists in the area were the result of about a dozen teens that would just rotate between being in custody and stealing cars. Tacking a picture of the driver along with the police report could go along way to helping find the correct person.

OR when a certain button is pushed on the dash electrocute the drivers seat with 10k volts. Do be aware that this might get your windshield cracked after they let go of the button... haha


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 Post subject: Re: Proximity alarm
PostPosted: June 15, 2010, 10:29 pm 
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Location: North Van., BC
After 2 months of driving the car it's still amazing to see the attention it generates. Things like people walking up and posing for a photo by it. It gets far more attention from non gearhead people than I ever expected. Most smile and seem to enjoy looking at it.

If I park in a shopping center lot I don't feel confident enough to leave it unattended for a long time. However the proximity alarm is doing its' job very well. Most viewers don't touch or attempt to touch the car. For those few that do the beep of the warning buzzer does make them stop and step back. So I think it was well worth the time and effort to make and install it.

Ron

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 Post subject: Re: Proximity alarm
PostPosted: June 16, 2010, 12:50 am 
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sevenesqueron wrote:
After 2 months of driving the car it's still amazing to see the attention it generates. Things like people walking up and posing for a photo by it. It gets far more attention from non gearhead people than I ever expected. Most smile and seem to enjoy looking at it.

If I park in a shopping center lot I don't feel confident enough to leave it unattended for a long time. However the proximity alarm is doing its' job very well. Most viewers don't touch or attempt to touch the car. For those few that do the beep of the warning buzzer does make them stop and step back. So I think it was well worth the time and effort to make and install it.

Ron
AWESOME!!! Great to hear it's working for ya! I'm sure we'll find ways to refine it further without going through the "extras" being mentioned... KIS!!

If a thief wants it... they'll get it, no matter what it's got on it! As a former car alarm installer I know, short of chaining it to a post, it only takes a good one about 30 seconds to get your car and if they are that good, they know where to look for certain tattle tails as to what the car has and it's done from there.

Did anyone notice on that list that Audi owns #7? That's a supposedly theft proof system, with a RFI Keyfob (ECU won't start car without one of the two keys) and a square cut double sided roller tumbler un-pickable key (99% of all locksmiths cannot cut these!!). All that and it still makes #7 on the list. A 7 wouldn't even make them think hard!

Don't put to much faith in a system and you'll never be disappointed. You guys remember the Club? That heavy metal monster? A salesman was trying to get me to sell them in my store. Bet me I couldn't get it off his car in under a minute without seriously damaging it. I took the bet!! I had him go install it on his car while I prepared. I walked over to his car.. sat in the drivers seat.. "Now you can't damage my display model", he says. "Won't even leave a scratch on it", I say. He's very puzzled now.. So I look.. he starts timing.. I reach into my bag.. pull out a cordless jigsaw with a diamond blade.. "Can't damage it", he reminds me. 45 Seconds left... So without giving him time to figure it out.. I slice his steering wheel open and pull the Club out in about 10 seconds. I hand it to him... while he sat there looking like a fish out of water... I gather my tools and as I start to leave I say... "See.. told you they weren't very effective!" Yeah..that was mean.... but he was better for it.. saw him a year or so later at SEMA selling real alarms. We chuckled about it.

Assume it'll be gone when you come back and you'll be happy when you see it and never disappointed when it's gone!

KS

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PostPosted: June 18, 2010, 6:12 pm 
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http://www.GlobalFox.net

Anybody know anything about these? Specs look enticing, initial cost is reasonable, can't find any details about support costs.

Very little showing up in Google searches, and the site just seems a little scammy. Doesn't help that I first heard about them in a spam.

Anyone?
-dave

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Visit my [Locost 7 build log]


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