What's Your Antitheft Device?

I have blogged many times before about my car.  16 years later and she's still taking me where I need to go every day.  We've been through a lot together.  I am going to be terribly sad when she finally dies and I have to start a new relationship with two tons of metal and plastic.

I have a great, inadvertent antitheft device in my car, which allows me to leave it unlocked all the time.  I could probably even leave the keys in it (which I actually did at work one time on accident ... and they were in the ignition too!) and not have to worry about it being stolen.

My secret weapon?  The lack of 3rd gear in my manual transmission.

You see, at least 7 years ago I noticed that 3rd gear was starting to grind a bit in my car.  Eventually it began to simply "pop out" of gear at random times, so you had to hold it in place.  Finally, it was over and you could not even engage the transmission into 3rd gear.  But this has become a blessing in disguise because pretty much no one can steal my car now.  Well, not steal it and get very far after doing so anyway.  The trick is that you must go from 2nd gear directly into 4th gear, otherwise the clutch will not engage properly.  Any attempt to go into 3rd gear will automatically "reset" the clutch.  It refuses to engage in any gear (except 1st gear) once this action occurs.

So I figure, any thief of my car is going to make the mistake of trying to use 3rd gear.  Then, when it will not engage, they will try to shift into 2nd or 4th gear, only to have those not work either.  If by some miracle, they coast to a stop and try to go through the gears again, it is almost guaranteed that they will try 3rd gear a second time.  After all, who would keep a car if 3rd gear didn't work, right?!

ME!  That's who!  And I will not even have to walk at a brisk pace to catch up with any thief driving my vehicle.   I figure 1-2 minutes down the road they will just decide it's time to give up. And when they exit the car, there I'll be standing there with a  "U mad bro?" look on my face.


Song Of The Day:
The song "Taylor" by Jack Johnson may not see an appropriate fit here, but ... there is a line in the song that goes like this: "Sometimes he thinks that he's on his way, but I can see ... that his brake lights are on."  Anyone who tries to steal my car will see me in the rear view mirror calmly walking to catch up with them.  Silly thief, you're not on your way.  My car is like Herbie.  She knows me!

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