You couldn't resist, huh Markos...
This being said all fingers crossed for a prompt recovery!
E9 STOLEN IN TORONTO
- Thread starter georgebriggs
- Start date
This being said all fingers crossed for a prompt recovery!
My gut feeling is that this car will be in a container and shipped off the Continent through either Montreal or Halifax. You'd never get away with driving a stolen Coupe in Canada. I hate to say it, but I'd keep away from BMW car shows for that reason. My Corrado was stolen by a person who frequented the Cdn Corrado forum. Thanks for posting the detailed photos Brett. (I'm a customer of yours BTW)
How'd they get in the garage?
Someone stalking it. Hope it was insured
Someone stalking it. Hope it was insured
Nicad - Unfortunately we all share the same gut feeling. When I heard what had happened I didn’t think the car would ever be sighted again. We were extremely surprised to have gotten the Hamilton/Stoney creek tip. Although it is possible it could be another car, recieving multiple hits from different people all around the same area seemed very promising. Again I know how unlikely it is, but these are extremely rare cars to see driving around as well.. so who knows? In terms of car shows I do not think the owner went to any this year that I’m aware of, but I don’t know that as a fact.
Teahead - I know a lot of people want to know specifics or details about what is thought to have happened. I do not mean to come across as being rude but as for now I do not believe it is my place to disclose any of that information. First of all I do not know all of that sort of stuff as for fact, it would mostly be speculation. And secondly I know the owner and his family must be going through a rough time with the car gone, I’d like to respect their privacy and allow them to decide what details to disclose or not
Teahead - I know a lot of people want to know specifics or details about what is thought to have happened. I do not mean to come across as being rude but as for now I do not believe it is my place to disclose any of that information. First of all I do not know all of that sort of stuff as for fact, it would mostly be speculation. And secondly I know the owner and his family must be going through a rough time with the car gone, I’d like to respect their privacy and allow them to decide what details to disclose or not
I do not mean to offend anybody, just speculating like an investigator would:
1) If it was a commissioned theft, why target Canada when there are some many more E9s in the US? The only reason would be if the plan is to part it and sell the parts in the US, to minimize chances that somebody would run into familiar parts. Run into an HBChris, SFDon, or OCCoupe that never forget a drivetrain they have seen before.
2) If the car did not go to car shows, there is random street exposure of the car, and the obvious other option is exposure at the shop where it was serviced. Was it serviced lately? Did it sit outside for a couple of days? The extreme case is inside jobs, Gabriel at UACC had a beautiful and rare late 60s Mercedes after it sat for a couple of years at another body shop and the shop itself was selling its parts on Ebay! A friend of the owner saw that and gave the owner a heads up.
3) If the car is going to a different market, then the usual suspects are Paraguay for a rebirth with new paperwork, some Gulf state, and personally I think it could be shielded by the Swiss or the Austrians who have a dismal record of holding on to stolen art. An E9 is art, easy to rationalize.
Again, not blaming anyone, just thinking out loud.
1) If it was a commissioned theft, why target Canada when there are some many more E9s in the US? The only reason would be if the plan is to part it and sell the parts in the US, to minimize chances that somebody would run into familiar parts. Run into an HBChris, SFDon, or OCCoupe that never forget a drivetrain they have seen before.
2) If the car did not go to car shows, there is random street exposure of the car, and the obvious other option is exposure at the shop where it was serviced. Was it serviced lately? Did it sit outside for a couple of days? The extreme case is inside jobs, Gabriel at UACC had a beautiful and rare late 60s Mercedes after it sat for a couple of years at another body shop and the shop itself was selling its parts on Ebay! A friend of the owner saw that and gave the owner a heads up.
3) If the car is going to a different market, then the usual suspects are Paraguay for a rebirth with new paperwork, some Gulf state, and personally I think it could be shielded by the Swiss or the Austrians who have a dismal record of holding on to stolen art. An E9 is art, easy to rationalize.
Again, not blaming anyone, just thinking out loud.
Have e9 values gotten to the point where they are worth stealing, putting into containers, shipping and smuggling them out and into another country for parts?
Exactly. I think that is a highly unlikely scenario. We're not talking about 50's Ferraris here...
Yes because there is a huge market for Honda and other parts. But e9?
I for one, sincerely hope it surfaces on some street somewhere. This network and others will surely spot it and start the reunification. Years ago a friend had his Austin Healey stolen right out of his garage. Gone. It turned up many provinces away, and through word of mouth, (and this was BEFORE social media) and some good detective work, car was tracked down and returned to its original owner. I really hope this car comes back. Have had nightmares thinking about this happening to my Coupe! Best of luck. Mike
Best of luck. Mike
Although we live in the woods with a long, steep, intimidating driveway and an unlocked gate(the rest is mesh to keep the deer out) the lock on my garage is easily jimmied, when remember to lock it. So now I will pull the coil or have my mechanic install a kill switch.I for one, sincerely hope it surfaces on some street somewhere. This network and others will surely spot it and start the reunification. Years ago a friend had his Austin Healey stolen right out of his garage. Gone. It turned up many provinces away, and through word of mouth, (and this was BEFORE social media) and some good detective work, car was tracked down and returned to its original owner. I really hope this car comes back. Have had nightmares thinking about this happening to my Coupe!
Remember the guy commuting from Westchester County to NYC and stealing pre-selected high end Porsches? Could this be something like that? Nah!
This also makes getting the registry up and running again that much more important.
Cars are stolen to order in Toronto (mostly Large SUVs) but if a low life in a lawless country always wanted a nice two tone E9, maybe an order could be put out. Perhaps there is an app for your phone?...maybe a bit like Priceline. I am paranoid after having two of my three Corrados swiped. (Wrecked the third)
I've never had an electric garage door opener and my garage door locks from the inside. It's also rare that I leave it anywhere that's "unsafe", but this kind of thing makes you think a little bit.
Oh yeah, I forgot about the cameras that I have around my house. That's probably the biggest deterrent.
Oh yeah, I forgot about the cameras that I have around my house. That's probably the biggest deterrent.
cameras, big noisy dogs, ADT security, tall gate, chains, sensor lights, suspicion, and paranoia, all working as a team!
Add Guard Geese. More intimidating than attack dogs when they come at you at ground level, five or ten, all honking and flapping and pecking at your eyes.cameras, big noisy dogs, ADT security, tall gate, chains, sensor lights, suspicion, and paranoia, all working as a team!
Some more recognizeable features about the interior of car would be that the seats were rather unusual. They were recaro ‘c’ (or c-classic) seats in a strange blue velvet/cloth upholstery. The steering wheel was a wood 4-spoke (raid style). And the shift knob was a very worn wooden shift knob. The wooden dashboard (and doorcard) trim was peeling and lifting. Not something easily replaceable as we looked into this for the owner. Seems like the best option was to have it refinished by a woodworker. Will attach photos of the style of seat and steering wheel, the finish is different on the seat obviously.
Arde - I appreciate the investigative work but unfortunately things are not quite as straightforward as you make it seem. Toronto is a massive city with many people living in it (some scumbags appearently). The car is driven around by the owner in the summer months whenever it’s not raining pretty much. The only e9 ive ever seen driving around Toronto was the owner in his car, once. So it could’ve been spotted by a thief anywhere.. I do not know exactly where the owner takes his car, and it’s not my business either. He was driving it the night it was stolen too. It was stolen not long after it was parked.
In terms of car theft there are two main catigories in my perspective. A professional job that is targeted, generally the type where the car is staked out for a period of time and once it’s gone, there’s already a plan for what’s going to happen with it. Unfortunately those cars are almost never seen again. This happened to my parents as well, they were targeted for their SUV about a decade ago, police even told them that these are very popular cars to be sent overseas right now. As Nicad mentioned. They told them ‘if it’s not found within a few hours it’s gone’, and it was. Other option is a questionable individual making a spur of the moment decision and deciding to steal a car. The latter option is the more unlikely of the two, and as stated previously I highly doubted that from the beginning. I had some hope when we heard of a similar car being spotted in Hamilton. If they were the professionals from option 1, they would not be dumb enough to drive the car around a city only 1 hour away. The similar looking car was also spotted on consecutive days after the disappearance. That is what gave me the hope that they are not as professional as originally believed.
In terms of the inside job theory, no offence taken, but find it a little bizarre of an idea. Wouldn’t it be slightly contradictory to steal a car and then spread the word as much as possible to help try and find it?
Arde - I appreciate the investigative work but unfortunately things are not quite as straightforward as you make it seem. Toronto is a massive city with many people living in it (some scumbags appearently). The car is driven around by the owner in the summer months whenever it’s not raining pretty much. The only e9 ive ever seen driving around Toronto was the owner in his car, once. So it could’ve been spotted by a thief anywhere.. I do not know exactly where the owner takes his car, and it’s not my business either. He was driving it the night it was stolen too. It was stolen not long after it was parked.
In terms of car theft there are two main catigories in my perspective. A professional job that is targeted, generally the type where the car is staked out for a period of time and once it’s gone, there’s already a plan for what’s going to happen with it. Unfortunately those cars are almost never seen again. This happened to my parents as well, they were targeted for their SUV about a decade ago, police even told them that these are very popular cars to be sent overseas right now. As Nicad mentioned. They told them ‘if it’s not found within a few hours it’s gone’, and it was. Other option is a questionable individual making a spur of the moment decision and deciding to steal a car. The latter option is the more unlikely of the two, and as stated previously I highly doubted that from the beginning. I had some hope when we heard of a similar car being spotted in Hamilton. If they were the professionals from option 1, they would not be dumb enough to drive the car around a city only 1 hour away. The similar looking car was also spotted on consecutive days after the disappearance. That is what gave me the hope that they are not as professional as originally believed.
In terms of the inside job theory, no offence taken, but find it a little bizarre of an idea. Wouldn’t it be slightly contradictory to steal a car and then spread the word as much as possible to help try and find it?
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How about a pound of C4 under the drivers seat with a remote switch. If I can't have it, nobody will
Thats a good 2-for-1, take out the dirtbag who stole it as well
*edit* or install a steering wheel airbag underneath the foam of the seat. Same idea just slightly less distructive. Have seen some of those YouTube prank videos, and people get some good height from those things. May have some body work to do on the roof after but better than a burnt car
*edit* or install a steering wheel airbag underneath the foam of the seat. Same idea just slightly less distructive. Have seen some of those YouTube prank videos, and people get some good height from those things. May have some body work to do on the roof after but better than a burnt car