Corvette Security

Steve Fontaine

Steve Fontaine

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89 C4 Corvette
just wondering what other people do for security besides the standard alarm that nobody pays attention to. my C4 just got payed off and came home yesterday. its covered and alarmed plus a steering wheel club. but the whole neighborhood knows i have a corvette now because it came home on a giant flat bed. common theifs im not worried about but im more worried about the uncommon theifs who drive up in a tow truck and are gone in 60 seconds. pun intended.

i have no option to keep it in a garage so its outside in the driveway and covered up. what do you guys do?
 
its automatic. i have no other vehicle to block it. i thought about that but they can just tow that aside and then run off with the vette. we do have a garage but its the house owners. he doesnt use it but it would require huge cleaning. might go that way if he lets me.
 
Well there are various fancy shmancy two way alarms with gps and so forth. They cost a fair bit. At the end of the day a pro will take your car if they really want to and no alarm will defeat them.

I don't recall a huge market for C4 parts so it's unlikely to be targeted by chop shops that would rather take your Honda. I wouldn't sweat it at all to be honest. If you can dissuade the joyrider kids I think you'll be fine.
 
Many years ago I was in Miami and read an article about how a fellow use to chain the front bumper of his sports car to a palm tree in his yard. One morning he came out of the house and his car was turned around and the rear bumper was chained to the tree with a note that said " When we want it we will take it".... Sounded a little far fetched at the time but does tend to make a point....

Insurance! Insurance, Insurance....Short of sleeping in your car with a 12 gauge (and I'm not even sure that would work), I'm not sure there's anything you can do to deter car theft... especially a professional thief. We had a Ford F350 diesel flatbed stolen right off our lot at work. The steering wheel club was laying on the pavement. The police said they all carry a cordless reciprocating saw now and just cut the steering wheel to remove the club and run the saw blade right into the ignition switch to start the vehicle... A battery disconnect switch might help.... but if they have a tow truck, that probably won't work either....

A no trespassing sign might work in your hometown Bill but it sure doesn't here... I have two 30 inch square custom signs displaying video surveillance on site and no trespassing. One at the beginning of my driveway near the road and one on my fence in the yard... Left for work a month ago and looky looky... someone stole the sign out by the road....lol....
 
Hi Mr Fontaine,
Here you loud and clear. I had the very same concern for my trailered Boat (and had to be respectful of the fancy aluminum wheels too). I have found peace-of-mind with a pain-in-the-a$$ solution for when I want to drive away. What I found is a reliable wheel chock and a rather strong visual deterrent. I am not sure where you are in Canada. I found a set of two (keyed same) in a Truck Accessory Shop in Calgary. I know Amazon sells them. They are adjustable and have a rubber sleeve to protect wheels. If you can obtain a set you can see if they will have clearance and fit for your Corvette. If they work for you, I would suggest one on the passenger front wheel (chock toward the front) and one on the driver back wheel (chock toward the back). This will make it easiest to access the lock. Someone would really have to want you car with these on. Oh yes you should also consider locking wheel nuts so the chocks are redundantly locked. Just a thought ... and yup nothing beats insurance this will just hopefully support not needing a claim???
trimax chock.jpg
 
I installed and use a digital component that involves entering a 6 digit numbered passcode on a dash mounted keypad. You are given 3 tries to enter the correct passcode and after that, you are locked out for several minutes. It self arms and has a flashing red indicator light. It also has its own "not too loud" but irritating alarm sound.
 
I posted it elsewhere, but I'll post it here too. Get a wireless infrared camera and mount it to the garage under the roof and point it at the driveway where the car is parked. The infrared will see with great detail even in pitch dark, and they can be easily configured to text your phone and send you an image to let you know what they see. You can log into the camera at any time to see in real time what the camera sees. The light glow of the infrared leds is also a fantastic deterrent. I have used cameras for more than 10 years, and have never had a problem. In fact, I have some great footage of people snooping around, then spotting the camera and pulling their hoodie or jacket up to cover their face and run away. Too late stupid. I already have you.

Another very cheap and fantastic device is a GPS tag. There are many products available. I use one called a Tile, which I bought at Staples for about $30. It is about the size of a postage stamp, and you can hide it anywhere in the car quite easily. If it goes missing, open the app, and it will find the device and give you directions on google maps to find it. The best thing to look for is a GPS tag device that allows you to set a "geo-fence", where if it gets more than a specified distance away from the driveway or your phone, you will get immediate notification to your phone. You could literally follow them with a beacon and catch them before they even get to where they are going with it.
 
For our '67 (now sold) I installed an "Immobilizer" (google it).
It is an electronic device which connects to the coil (old school technology).
Inside the car, you mount (hidden) a small "receiver".
You are given 2 "transmitters" (one for each set of 2 key sets you might have).
When you want to drive the car, you must place the transmitter close by the receiver...
it will beep twice. Then you have 30 seconds to start the car.
Once the car is running, the Immobilizer shuts off, and the car continues to run.
When you turn the car off, the Immobilizer is then activated.

This effectively stops anyone from starting the car and driving it.

There is also a small red lamp which you can optionally install somewhere inside the car,
which flashes every 3 seconds, and indicates there is an alarm system in place.

Of course, nothing can stop people from breaking into the car, putting it into neutral,
releasing the parking brake, and then pushing it onto a ramp/trailer....
other than an intrusion alarm, which the more modern cars have.
 
Insurance with a current appraisal and upgrades on file. Unless it is the car your Dad left you and has sentimental irreplaceable value you can move up to a Lt4! The car is for pleasure which is compromised if you are laying in bed worried. You can always rely on the VATS which prevents many "owners" from starting the car. LOL
 
Steve Fontaine said:
just wondering what other people do for security besides the standard alarm that nobody pays attention to. my C4 just got payed off and came home yesterday. its covered and alarmed plus a steering wheel club. but the whole neighborhood knows i have a corvette now because it came home on a giant flat bed. common theifs im not worried about but im more worried about the uncommon theifs who drive up in a tow truck and are gone in 60 seconds. pun intended.

i have no option to keep it in a garage so its outside in the driveway and covered up. what do you guys do?
Click to expand...
I had an immobilizer installed. A side benefit of this is cheaper insurance rates.
 
Steve Fontaine said:
just wondering what other people do for security besides the standard alarm that nobody pays attention to. my C4 just got payed off and came home yesterday. its covered and alarmed plus a steering wheel club. but the whole neighborhood knows i have a corvette now because it came home on a giant flat bed. common theifs im not worried about but im more worried about the uncommon theifs who drive up in a tow truck and are gone in 60 seconds. pun intended.

i have no option to keep it in a garage so its outside in the driveway and covered up. what do you guys do?
Click to expand...
I prefer to keep mine locked up in a garage with a car in the driveway! I got a new Kalesnikoff lead injection security system to protect it lol !
 
If you're worried about guys showing up with a flatbed, then they're gonna get it. You can do whatever you want to it, but a roll back can drag it up with all 4 wheels locked if they want. Hell, a roll back could drag it up on it's roof if they wanted to. It's not exactly stealthy, but they can take it away in any state with a roll back rig.

About all you can do is make it hard for them to get it. That means locking it in a garage somewhere and even then, if they want it they'll get it.

An immobilizer is a decent idea, but it pretty much is only going to stop "joyriders". Screaming horns and alarms isn't going to do squat, except maybe make the thief move on to the next car (ie: easier mark) if it takes them too long to do what they are intending to do.

I'm a fan of an immobilizer that uses a reed switch. It's a simple magnetic switch. You stick a magnet over it and it closes the circuit that you have interrupted that prevents the vehicle from starting. I like reed switches because you can hide it anywhere. Like behind a plastic panel, under a piece of carpet, in the armrest compartment, etc. There's no indication it's there. You jump in, pop your magnet on the panel where the reed switch is hidden and then you can drive away.

Best choice is to interrupt a circuit that will let you crank it, but won't let it start. that way, it makes lots of noise grinding away to start, but they can't drive it away. Most common thieves will give up after a few no start cranks. too much noise, too much attention and they're not going to hang around to figure out why
it won't start.

Things like the club and the boot just makes thieves laugh. They're pretty easily defeated if someone knows how.

A camera on it is not a bad idea, except that it doesn't stop a theft. Worst case scenario is you see them stealing it, you run outside to stop them and you don't make it back inside again. Either beat to crap or dead. Edmonton is a pretty rough city (lived there a while), if you see them stealing your car on a camera feed, let them take it. A car is not worth your life. Call the RCMP and tell them you're watching someone steal your car right now and they need to get there right now. Better to just watch the video and note any distinguishing features to tell the police. Again: if you see someone stealing the car, leave them alone. I've got 30 years in the military and have been trained to do some pretty bad things. Even with that, I wouldn't walk out to interrupt a vehicle robbery in progress. I would if someone was in danger as a result of the theft, but not to protect a "thing". I'm literally capable of killing someone (barehanded) before they even hit the ground, but you just don't want to go into a situ like that, even if you think you're the biggest bad-ass that ever lived and are holding all the cards. You never know who it is, what they can do, how many of them there is or what they are packing. It's just a car, you can always get another one. Dead is dead. No coming back from that.

So it's lock it up, block it in or find a place to park it where it's hard to get at it if you have no choice but to leave it out.

Me? I keep my 88 locked up in the garage. But if I was forced to leave it out, I'd at least chuck an immobilizer on it. That's not going to slow down someone who specializes in stealing cars though. Not much will. They're well versed in attempts to foil them and even more well versed in how to defeat them. Focus more on the guys who "smash and grab" or "joyride". Those are the ones you can do something about.

GPS tag is a good option, but that's more about getting the car back than keeping it from getting stolen. In my experience, cars that guys get back are usually so ratched that they woudl be better off not getting the car back at all and just claiming the insurance.

Get a fair market value appraisal because if it gets stolen, insurance is going to low ball you beyond belief. IE: Corvettes aren't very valuable, It's 26 years old, etc. They will completely gloss over the fact that it a limited production ZR1 in order to pay you the least amount they can. Find a guy who appraises collector cars. If you get "just" and appraisal, they usually don't fully understand the rarity or collector element of a ZR1.

C4 Corvettes aren't exactly hot in the used parts market, so I wouldn't worry too much about a "steal and strip" thing. Yours is a ZR1, so if a pro were to go through the trouble and effort to steal it, it's most likley going into a sea container when he drops it off and then headed to where it's hot and sandy........you can watch the GPS tag as it heads out to sea.

:(
 
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