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Confound Thieves With A Camouflaged Car Stereo For Under $20!

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mytdawg
06/22/09

In reply to Confound Thieves With A Camouflaged Car Stereo For Under $20!
I had an electronics guy tell me once that car stereos were rated in ISBL watts - 400 watts If Struck By Lightning.
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MushyHeirloom
06/22/09

@mytdawg: This is very true, and earns this guy much in the way of kudos.
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Plecostomus [Tyrrell]
06/22/09

In reply to Confound Thieves With A Camouflaged Car Stereo For Under $20!
I'm shocked the freaking Hilux hasn't been stolen already.

I mean, it's a fucking Toyota Truck. That's like, GOLD in 3rd world countries.

On a related note, I had my 1989 Toyota Camry broken into three times, each time they'd steal my shit, but never bothered taking my crummy CD deck. They popped my trunk and stole my sub and amp, but left my CD deck.

weird.
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MushyHeirloom
06/22/09

@Plecostomus needs GALVANIZED SCREWS: Part of the reason I like my Volvo is that you can't open the trunk from inside. That shit's safe, unless it's something you can get reaching through the not-totally-obvious ski passthrough.
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Hello_Newman
06/21/09

In reply to Confound Thieves With A Camouflaged Car Stereo For Under $20!
It's clever, not much resale value in it, but wouldn't a removable faceplate stereo be a lot easier? With 3 stolen in 3 months you'd think the cops would just stake out a place like that, easy pickings to find they guy (probably was the same guy). He's got to carry all that other stuff around, just take the faceplate along instead...
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Murilee Martin
06/22/09

@Hello_Newman: One of the three stolen stereos was a removable-faceplate unit (without the faceplate) and it was stolen anyway. These are crackheads, remember, so they're not particularly rational about determining the value of the stuff they steal.

As for the cops staking out the parking lot: ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Oakland ha ha ha ha ha! They got 'em working in shifts!
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LandofMinos, cast thou evil bum dragger to thy scrapyard
06/21/09

In reply to Confound Thieves With A Camouflaged Car Stereo For Under $20!
Things must be third world in the States' if they're stealing crappy old cassette decks for money!

Old LS Lexus's (or is that Lexii?) are a great source for quality speakers. We got a set of four for $20AUD ($12USD) and they sound great with a $50AUD 4 x 25 Watt RMS amp.
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Buzzboy7
06/21/09

In reply to Confound Thieves With A Camouflaged Car Stereo For Under $20!
Or, as I've always done, put wire the head unit into the glove box. Pro-blem Solv-ed
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Murilee Martin
06/21/09

@Buzzboy7: I've had two stereos stolen from my glovebox. Not a good solution in the Land Of Crackhead Stereo Thieves.
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Ursus Maritimus
06/21/09

In reply to Confound Thieves With A Camouflaged Car Stereo For Under $20!
That's why I'm glad I live in the small town I do. I leave the keys in the ignition (they don't get lost that way) and the windows down when it's hot. The worst that's ever happened is a friend jumps in it and parks it around the corner as a prank.
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Bartoni
06/21/09

@Don't take anything aaron8301 says seriously: See, I never left my keys in, windows down, or doors unlocked, even in my small town, because I was in the automotive program in high school.

We used to break into each other's vehicles, hotwire them, and take them for little joyrides before parking them somewhere obvious (like blocking the front doors of our high school, etc.). My defense against these pranks? Driving a '72 Maverick that required you to turn the windshield wipers on low (and only low) while pumping the gas and turning the key to get it to start.
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MushyHeirloom
06/21/09

@Bartoni: I want that Mav. An acquaintance of the family just picked up a beater $300 Gutless Ciera that requires the directional to be on (I think it's to the left) before starting the car, or else an alarm will go off.

The only good part of that car is the power seat.
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Dave Bunting
06/21/09

In reply to Confound Thieves With A Camouflaged Car Stereo For Under $20!
What about those of us who'd prefer a decent-looking solution?
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Serious Mopar Jones- Incurable
06/21/09

@Dave Bunting: Acquire a piece of black (dark grey, or whatever) plastic, cut to size of stereo hole. Camoflage with dummy gauges (altimeter, pitch/yaw, turbo, etc.) and/or switches (light-up rocker switches labeled "eject" "armed" "smokescreen" or the like), hot-glue in place. Voila!
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Murilee Martin
06/21/09

@Dave Bunting: Skip the Lucas wires hanging from the hole in your dash.
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UmayMedusa
06/21/09

In reply to Confound Thieves With A Camouflaged Car Stereo For Under $20!
Somebody actually stole my FM converter in Detroit!
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Plecostomus [Tyrrell]
06/25/09

@UmayMedusa: I'm more surprised someone stole something as worthless as an FM converter.

Those things are the biggest pieces of crap.
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Rican5.0
06/21/09

In reply to Confound Thieves With A Camouflaged Car Stereo For Under $20!
DAWG! I heard you don't like gettin' jacked so...
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MushyHeirloom
06/21/09

@Rican5.0: ...we put a jack in the bed of your truck so you can do the jacking yourself!

/denied!
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Serious Mopar Jones- Incurable
06/21/09

@Taco Mudplushroomz: ..we put an input jack in yo Nitro so you can jack in while yo jackin- never mind.
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OM617952
06/21/09

In reply to Confound Thieves With A Camouflaged Car Stereo For Under $20!
This is a VERY good idea. Much better than spending $150 on an MP3-capable stereo when you already have a $250 iPod/iPhone!
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Murilee Martin
06/21/09

@OM617952: Definitely.
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Pigmaster
06/21/09

In reply to Confound Thieves With A Camouflaged Car Stereo For Under $20!
This is an excellent Jalop solution! It reminds me of project cars and Project Car Hell which I vaguely remember from a distant past.:-(

PCH is what drew me to Jalopnik; the nearly daily dose left me ROTFLMAO. It is so sad that PCH has become so uncommon as it was. Shedding a quiet tear.
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Murilee Martin
06/21/09

@Pigmaster: Check in for PCH later today.
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Tier 5 royal, the Manic King
06/21/09

In reply to Confound Thieves With A Camouflaged Car Stereo For Under $20!
I've been thinking that I can connect ipod directly to any normal car amplifier (i.e. those without volume & tone controls built-in)through RCA inputs, but haven't tried it.

Will it work? Or is there theoretical problems (voltage/impedance level mach)?

And amps have this on/off control connection, is this just +12V one could connect to somewhere where's power on when engine is running or to permanent source through switch?
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Murilee Martin
06/21/09

@Manic King of Corinthia: It should work. That's the rig we used for the PA in the Safety Bus at LeMons races... before it got D9'd.
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Ursus Maritimus
06/21/09

@Manic King of Corinthia: Yes, but yes, and yes (MCSE mobile audio installer here). You're spot on.
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Novaload
06/21/09

In reply to Confound Thieves With A Camouflaged Car Stereo For Under $20!
I can beat that. I got an $8 casette/MP3 converter. Because all I have for mobile tunes is a pretty old MP3 plus an 11 year old Camry radio/casette. The day someone steals that is the day I know the economy has reached ground zero.

Still, that is a devilishly clever solution, Ms. Martin.
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Murilee Martin
06/21/09

@Novaload Misses Murilee: You park your car at the Fruitvale BART station lot in Oakland and that deck will be stolen, which wouldn't really matter if not for the busted window and torn up dash. Same goes for most neighborhoods in San Francisco.
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MushyHeirloom
06/21/09

@Murilee Martin: So leave the window down and the head unit loosely mounted. And take the positive cable off the battery. Maybe loosen a spark plug.

They can have your $0.72 in change and your head unit, but they can't have your car.
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eggwich del fiero
06/21/09

@Novaload Misses Murilee: Yeah, at least in the Bay Area, it doesn't matter the quality of what's in your car; just the fact that there is stuff in your car is reason enough for the smash and grab. No stuff present? No smash. Stuff present, even if it's of terrible quality and/or is just a bunch of empty fast food bags? Smash. After all, those bags could be filled with diamonds!

And the Smash and Grab and actual auto thief crowds are totally different. People go to prison for stealing cars. People go to county jail for about six hours for smash and grabs.
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Alfisted
06/21/09

@Novaload Misses Murilee: In South Central LA it doesn't matter what's in your car. They'll break a window first and then see what's what. I suppose it's the same in a lot of places.
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MushyHeirloom
06/21/09

@darth eggwich del fiero: How long do you spend if you lean out the window and shoot 'em in the (non life-threatening location) with, well, even a .22?
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Paul Y. don't drive too fast.
06/21/09

@Alfisted: Large parts of the city proper of Rochester, NY was like that-- people would smash windows just to look around. If you left your doors unlocked, your windows would STILL get smashed, just to teach you a lesson about being condescending to crackheads.
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Stranger than most
06/21/09

@Taco Mudplushroomz: 12 gauge with rock salt is more effective... hurts like hell but won't kill 'em
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MushyHeirloom
06/21/09

@Stranger than most: True, but it's the range that I'm worried about there.
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Novaload
06/21/09

@Novaload Misses Murilee: I am just shocked. I thought California was all laid back good vibes and respect. Not Oakland, of course, and other notorious areas.

There was a cartoon--sorry, "drawing"--in the New Yorker with a replaced "no radio" sign -- that said "Filled with Asbestos" -- but I guess that last word's too long for your average crack head.
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Nickyboy - cruising the Autobahn and listening to the Scorpions
06/21/09

In reply to Confound Thieves With A Camouflaged Car Stereo For Under $20!
Seems like a lot of work to me. Why not just kick it ol'school with a boom box? You'll totally kill two birds with one stone - truck stereo problem fixed and looking awesome on the train with a boom box on your shoulder.
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Murilee Martin
06/21/09

@nickyboy: Jesse was a well-known graffiti artist back in the day, so he probably suffers from chronic Boombox Shoulder Fatigue.
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Novaload
06/21/09

@Murilee Martin: Yeah, but he can he break dance?
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Murilee Martin
06/21/09

@Novaload Misses Murilee: I doubt it.
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Tankueray
06/21/09

@nickyboy: Oh gawd... after having many stereos stolen, one time I drove for months with a little portable in the passenger seat. It ate like 10 D batteries a week. And besides the radio, the only cassette I still owned was "Tiffany". Now I don't even bother with an aftermarket stereo after the last satellite one was stolen. FM modulators, FTW.
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Murilee Martin
06/22/09

@Tankueray: When I had a delivery job driving a radio-less Mitsubishi Fuso, I rigged up a 12-volt boombox with a power cord and a couple of alligator clips. I'd attach the positive clip to a hot terminal in the fusebox and the negative one to the ignition key. Worked great.
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MushyHeirloom
06/22/09

@Murilee Martin: Fish?
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mechimike
06/22/09

@Murilee Martin: Im my AM-radio-equipped Corvair convertible, I use a 1980's-style boom-box with a broken cassette player and a cigar lighter plug I soldered onto the battery terminals. It will work on any vehicle with a functioning cigar lighter. And despite having a broken belt, the boom box cassette player will work with the adaptors that let you plug in an MP3 player, CD player, or walkman (for extra redundancy)
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Tossed Accord taco salad over Malibu face
06/21/09

In reply to Confound Thieves With A Camouflaged Car Stereo For Under $20!
Hmmm Id just like to know
WHy isnt this called WANG Chung?! I think its got a certain ... ring about it.

Id was starting to think that the transformers had started working with you as a plot to keep "urban entrepreneurs who gather intoxicant-obtainment resources by harvesting car audio equipment from vehicles."

Also..
Isnt this Marty McFlys truck?
[media.photobucket.com]

SO when do ya start trademarking this stuff.. complete with the small baggie of fake plastic glass and wires out of the dash... to deter "urban entrepreneurs who gather intoxicant-obtainment resources by harvesting car audio equipment from vehicles."
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Serious Mopar Jones- Incurable
06/21/09

@Spilled Accordtaco salad over Malibu: As can be seen from the pic you yourself provided, McFly's ride was a Yota pickup of the next generation (1985, I believe).
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