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MG MGF Technical - Warning! Theft of MGF hardtops

Warning! Theft of MGF hardtops
Hi Martin,
I was wondering if you might be able to put out on you're website something
to warn other MGF owners of the recent increase in the theft of hardtops.
I recently had mine stolen from my place of work in broad daylight, they
smashed the passenger window and knew exactly what they were doing as they
even unclipped the rear demister without damage.
It was only on visiting my local dealer that l was made aware that this is
happening all to often as l was the fourth person in the past month or so to
have been in getting estimates for replacement.
I have also spoken to the MGF centre in Wolverhampton, who tell me they have
had allot of enquires lately from people trying to replace stolen hardtops.
I would never have given it a thought that somebody would steal the roof off
my car, but on reflection to see how easy it is for them to be stolen as
their are no security fasteners.
What we need is somebody to come up with a way of securing these roofs and
also for people not to buy them on the cheap unless the person selling it
can prove where it came from.
Regards,
Paul K. { Tamworth, Staffs.}
Martin Woods

???
funny, is this Martin ? or Paul K. ? May be Paul got the reg key of Martin by coincedence ??

Anyway.
> a way of securing these roofs

Thought about that due to other abilities of steeling anything from the MGF from recent threads.

IMO, what ever gets common is no longer any secure protection against thieves.

Stealing anything is not a case of physical skills, but usually a case of mislead 'hugh skill intelligence', as well thieves don't like to 'think' when they are in action. High speed appear and disappear is what they like.

So whatever anyone does to protect from thieves is
Doing anything DIFFERENT to the standard setup which makes a difference to the standard and which costs the thieves TIME.

Regarding the HT I would say:
Install tie wraps anywhere or a lock, or things like that, but don't tell us what you did at the BBS ;)

Regards
Dieter


Dieter K.

all
Ok then I see here two issues

1. The market for " cheap no question asked" hard tops

2. How to make it difficult to remove

Unfortunately I can see no fast answer to (1) the MGF and mgtf is of an age where models are becoming available to owners who are prepared to buy this type of good and so want the accessory to match. The cost of a hardtop is such that it there is a margin that they can take. Marking the top with the registration no of the car or paint the name of the owner has been suggested but I doubt this will work.

The second approach is make it difficult to remove,
I believe that these thefts are planned; you need to have a hardtop, a means of transport and a market. The opportunist is not walking down the street looking to rip off your hardtop. As a victim you have been targeted, and the top stolen to order. A simple sticker saying that the top is not going to come off easily, might may them go to another car. You might take an hour to carefully fit your hardtop but the thief wants it off and into a van ASAP ( are you going to walk down a street carrying a hardtop?)

The means to remove the top from the vehicle needs to be slower, a couple of clips are a two second issue, but a threaded bolt or three (with different sizes or a none standard security nut similar to the alloy wheel nuts) from inside the vehicle, alarm via the heated rear window. The issue I am trying to put is time. The longer that a thief has to take to remove the top the less he (or she) is going to try and take it.


Sorry I dont believe that we can stop neither the market, nor the thief but make it slower.

T
Honest still got a smile on my face
j langford

... how about making the nicked hard top easier to trace if taken?

Perhaps by etching the back window in the same way the side windows can be done? Not much, but the extra cost or effort involved in removing the number might be enough to put someone of nicking it?

Just a thought. Also makes it more likely for any buyers to see it too. And Mr Policeman?

Bob G

You can buy personal attack / shed door alarms that consist of a small plastic alarm housing the size of a cigarette packet.

It's activated by removing a pin via a cord from the housing. If you were to attach the main unit to the hardtop and the cord to the body of the car if anyone were to remove the hardtop without first removing the cord from the pin the alarm (attached to the hardtop) would sound.

This would put any thief in the unenviable position where the item they are stealing would be wailing like a banshee drawing unwanted attention to them. The likely outcome would be for them to disguard the hardtop. Unless of course they can locate the alarm housing and remove it from the hardtop.

Praveen


Any people complain about the Elise hard top needing Allen keys!
Dan

I'm in the process of looking for a S/H hardtop and am concerned, i've found one that i think is ok and is for sale from a young girl after a trade in for an MX5.

As for prevention the thing i have done is to buy a fitted car cover which has pockets for the mirrors and eyelets on the bottom for a steel cable and padlock to go underneath the car.You can get it off but it's akward and obvious, also the cover keeps the car clean and protects it from nasty people with keys, down side is it cost me £210 but as i have not garage to keep it in i think it's worth it.

you can see them at www.covercraft.co.uk

Dominic Irving
Dominic Irving

Just had a word one of the workshop chaps here and it's easy to drill and tap the catches on the top rail and put a torx screw in. Unless the thieves have the correct torx fitting they would have little chance of nicking the top.

John.
JFK

... additional anything to the rear catches as mentioned to former messages.
If the rear can be released and not the front catches then the thieve may break off the whole part and destroy.
The same in reverse order.
All catches or nothing IMO.
Dieter K.

Just an idle thought at this time of night but there are other cars with optional hard tops, I will not embrass this by naming them...

do these models suffer theft of hard tops as well?
tony

This thread was discussed between 12/01/2003 and 15/01/2003

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