Morris Minor Owners Club

It may just be me being paranoid, but if I'm going to a classic car show as a spectator I take my daily driver.
My theory is that if you leave a nice classic on a public car-park (field) full of classic "enthusiasts" then you're likely to come back and find anything that can be removed has been removed!
My daughter wants to attend a couple of events at the end of the season in her Minor 1000, but just as a spectator and thinks I'm being over cautious!
Am I paranoid?
Does this happen?
Eddie

I have fitted a hidden switch( accessible from outside !) that connects the door switches to the horn.!!
Should give any intruders a surprise they weren't expecting.

fosterfamily - don't worry use the car

catswiskers - I like that - do you have a wiring diagram?

thanks

Pete

catswhisker wrote:I have fitted a hidden switch( accessible from outside !) that connects the door switches to the horn.!!
Should give any intruders a surprise they weren't expecting.

Good idea, but it's the stuff on the outside I worry about - hub caps, rear lights, over-riders!!

if your parking in a field where people are coming and going it will be fine if your still unsure then you could do what most people do and fit a dash cam or more and leave it on record. so if anything does happen you have the proof and the thief on cam.

they would pinch the dash cam first

irmscher wrote: they would pinch the dash cam first

That was my first thoughts!
My question isn't really about physical security - as that's more than well catered for elsewhere, it's just to ascertain if this is a big problem.
For all I know it may be rife and no sane person leaves his car unattended on the car park at one of these events, or on the other hand it happened once, 8 years ago when someone lost a valve cap

A friend of mine took his old knacker "classic car " to a show and it was vandalised

They did £300 worth of improvements

Apart from fitting the obvious, disklok etc.
I would park it under cameras if on site and pick a spot near pedestrian walkways.
If you tuck the car away theres more chance of damage, leave it in the open where people will see it, believe it or not this will improve the chances of it still being whole when you return.
Im taking mine to a show a week Saturday, it will be prominently displayed in a public car park next to a walkway in full view.
You can always remove the hub caps and put them away somewhere.

Hi Pete, it's dead easy as the courtesy light and the horn are both switched in the earth circuit,
without giving too much away all you need is a single pole switch ( 2 terminals), run one wire
to either door switch and the other to the earth side of the horn. Job done. CW .

It's a risk you take!

I've never had any problems at shows, or even when parked on the street at night. My biggest worries being the things that don't even need tools for - late front sidelight/indicator lenses that just twist off, and the non-locking fuel cap. Amazed I never had any urchin piddle in my petrol. Locking cap now fitted by the way!

But the very vast majority of classic car enthusiasts are not going to steal bits off your car. They wouldn't like it done to them, so won't do it to you. Ok, there are exceptions, namely stuff being pinched off car-boot and traders stalls at rallies. But that's pretty rare.

Hubcaps aren't the easiest things to get off. Unless someone has the right tool to do it. They're not likely to get them off with their fingernails! Most lenses are ok as you'd need a screwdriver at least to remove them - and opportunists don't tend to carry the right tools about with them! I say, the only worry is the twist off late front lenses. But even then, you could modify them to take a pinch screw to make them a bit less easy-pickings.

Frankly, with no offence intended, I think you're just being paranoid.

Ive been using my minor daily and going to shows for over 20 years and never had had anything taken off it, once had it ran into in a carpark and the back wing pushed in, but that could happen with any car. Also just recalled watching a volvo reversing towards the car as I was walking back to it and thinking, they are going to stop arent they........ Luckily the ball hitch of the volvo towbar hit the hubcap and only wrecked it, could have been so much worse