Please repost a follow up if & when the vehicle is recovered. Would be interested in knowing if the steering column was broken open.
My 1978 Oldsmobile Holiday 88 was stolen in 1986. ( 85,000 miles ) Parts missing when recovered.
- Radio.
- Super Stock III Wheels / Tires & Spare
- RR Brake drum.
- Center Woodgrain Dash Trim panel.
- Battery.
- Entire contents of trunk & glove box.
Damage done to Vehicle
- Trunk lock ripped out.
- Holes punch into L & R rocker panels from Hook style bumper jack .
- Doors dented operating jack handle
- Broken seal on Radiator Tank to hose connector. This happened by dropping battery on upper radiator hose. Found out about this problem 1 month after recovery when antifreeze was found on the street..
- Scrapping Noises in the front end, turned out to be 2 Broken Front Coil Springs.
- Permanently bent frame.
- Steering column broken open.
- The Transmission ( turbo 350 ) failed 6 months after recovery. Some gear with a splined shaft running through the center had spider web cracks all around the spline bore. Cause of cracks - Revving the car up & dropping it into gear. ( know as Neutral drops ).
I'd still love to know what they did to break both front springs. And did they bend the hell out of the 4 wheels they were stealing?
As you can see by this list a lot of problems can be caused from theft. Problems may arise 1, 3 or 6 months after the recovery of the vehicle.
This was the first car I ever had stolen, so we didn't know what to expect. The bruttha's only had the car for about 6 hours before it was found it sitting on the frame in a vacant lot in the " Elite " section of the city. Imagine what could of been done if they had it a week. They were never found - never are !
Total payout from Insurance company was $1400 for the car. It ended up costing close to $700 more than what the Ins Co paid due to having to replace the front springs, rebuilt the trans, repair the radiator & buy the chrome rocker mouldings to cover my painted rockers that were ripped open.
Insurance company said if you don't hear from the police in a week consider the car GONE and we will issue a check.
I only paid $1995 when I bought the car 3 months before it was stolen. It was in beautiful shape & ran great. The car sat one month & 3 days at an Olds dealer where a friend worked, they didn't want to touch it even though all the parts had come in within a week of ordering. I ended up getting the thing out of there , brought it home & I put it back together Myself . I had it till April of 1991. Sold it with 196,000 miles on it. I put 110,000 miles on it after it was stolen.
It had at least 2 more owners after me.
I actually found the car 13 years later in a junkyard in August of 2003. It had around 330,000 miles & a blown engine.
Good Luck
========= Harryface =========
1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE ~_~_~270,000 miles_~_~_