So, we come home from dinner

[underpants]

and once again we realize that we forgot to get my car from where it is parked. On another such night we discovered a kid (about 4 years old) who had slipped out of a window and was running around-about 30 feet from a major thoroughfare, his mother was very relieved that we knocked on their door. Always an adventure.

This time as we pull up to my car I see a guy sitting by a car in the parking lot. I recognized him from our common ride to work-in the same area.

So after my wife and little girl drive off I get in my car and drive over to where he is.

I roll down the window and say, "Hey is everything all right? Need a ride or anything?"

"Nope" this matter of fact guy says

"What..."

"Someone stole my catalytic converter"

I posted this earlier today.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3390887&mesg_id=3390887

The odds? huh?


cut it right off. Takes about 60 seconds they say. Scrap yards don't apparently ask questions of people bringing catalytic converters in on a daily basis. :eyes:

Anyway he said of his car "It usually purrs like a kitten but when I started it up it sounded like a Harley"

He said he was just waiting on the cops to show up so I left.

[az chela]

1. Another thing you can blame on the repukes

This is really sad!!!!

[underpants]

3. My stepfather reminded me of the guy in WV a few years ago

who died when he and his son (bonding!) were out shooting at power lines (to steal them) when one swung down, made contact with him or near him, and the world lost a theif that night


ZZZZAPPPP!

[blue sky at night]

2. you know my grandparents lived through the great depression....

they never spoke of anything like this...morally this country is in a nosedive. Life is as cheap as a shotgun round and you can't park your car without loosing your cat! Right and Wrong?....never heard of it.

[underpants]

4. Worldwide-in February someone stole a 4 ton bridge in Czech Republic

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?in_article_id=100140&in_page_id=2

Police in the Czech republic are trying to find out who stole a 4 tonne railway bridge from the border town of Cheb.

The company which was responsible for looking after the bridge raised the alarm when, ever alert, they noticed that the bridge wasn't there any more.

The bridge was on a disused stretch of line just outside Cheb.

Martina Hruskova, a spokeswoman for the Czech police, commented to AFP: 'We are not sure if it was taken for personal use or for its scrap value.' Exactly what that 'personal use' might be was left unsaid.

[Mojorabbit]

12. My dad used to tell stories

of running moonshine when he was a kid but that was about it.

[galledgoblin]

17. anyone know if there's been a rise in the amount of pot growers recently? (n/t)

[gratuitous]

5. Welcome to Oregon

I've heard news reports of these thefts for months. Some body shops have taken to offering free spot-welds for catalytic converters to make life a little tougher for the tweakers turning them in for a few dollars.

[underpants]

6. Second Oregoner story

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3390887

see post #11

Oregoner???

[Ghost in the Machine]

10. It's more than just "a few dollars"...

SCRAP CATALYTIC CONVERTERS
at Friday, Jul 11, 2008 - 22:11 EST
GRADES INCLUDED
Click on the Grade name for more specific details.
LTL TL UNITS FUNDS
Mixed Catalytic Convertor Scrap 35.87 59.79 each USD
Scrap Convertors (Small GM) 49.73 82.83 each USD
Scrap Convertors (Large GM) 74.66 124.39 each USD
Scrap Convertors (Standard American) 35.87 59.79 each USD
Large Domestic - Honeycomb 45.79 76.27 each USD
Scrap Convertors (Large Chrysler) 60.96 101.50 each USD
Scrap Convertors (Small European/Asian) 62.71 104.56 each USD
Scrap Convertors (Large European/Asian) 99.75 166.25 each USD
Scrap Convertors (Exotic 2 Biscuit) 125.41 209.12 each USD
Scrap Convertors (Medium) 25.67 42.87 each USD
Scrap Convertors (Double Plug) 29.90 49.73 each USD
Scrap Convertors (Jumbo) 62.12 103.54 each USD
Scrap Convertors (Diesel Convertor) 17.94 29.90 each USD
Scrap Convertors (American Pre-Convertor) 13.71 22.90 each USD
Scrap Convertors (European Pre-Convertor) 28.73 47.83 each USD
Scrap Convertors (After Market) 5.98 9.92 each USD
Scrap Convertors (Foils/Wraps) 11.96 19.98 each USD

http://www.universalwrecking.com/Sections-read-38.html

[gratuitous]

11. Shows what I know

Fifty bucks can keep a tweaker going for days, and as long as high-riding vehicles are so easy to plunder, it's obvious why they're hit. Low risk, quick hit, fast cash. Another proposal being floated is the idea that scrap metal buyers make an effort to determine that what's being turned in is either truly scrap or is actually owned by the person bringing it in, and providing for stiff fines for dealers who don't keep good records.

[NYC_SKP]

7. Wonder if they're stolen for the platinum?

Very odd.

Lots of cases cited.

http://www.nowpublic.com/crime/catalytic-converter-theft-warning

http://www.sacbee.com/102/story/1077455.html

[Shine]

8. How weird that you would post that thread and then run into somebody who'd had that happen.

:eyes: kinda makes ya wonder........


In other news, there was a story on the cover of our local paper today about how a lot of service trucks are having their gas stolen, right out of the tanks. The thieves syphon it off in the middle of the night.

Gas prices have gotten so high out here on the west coast that THIS is what the world is coming to. :(

[phillysuse]

14. In 1973 we bought a lockable gas cap because so many

people were siphoning gas at night out of parked cars.

Plus ca change, plus c'est le meme chose.

[rainbow4321]

9. Catalytic converters were getting stolen from cars in my office's parking lot

In the middle of the day..open air parking lot (not a parking garage) that is right next to our building. People were getting in their cars and turning them on only to hear chitty-chitty-bang-bang sounds.
This at a county hospital that has it's own real police force supposedly patrolling the campus.
So the running joke a few weeks ago when the facility announced that it would be going to a "smoke-free campus" and that anyone seen by the hospital police smoking on campus would be ticketed and fined was "Ok, so they don't patrol enough to keep our catalytic converters from getting stolen, yet they are going to patrol for smokers??"

[lonestarnot]

13. Hell they are stealing the flower vases out of the graveyard where

Daddyboy is buried, so I'm not surprised.

[CrispyQ]

15. The repubs have made us less safe in more ways than one.

As the economy continues to nose dive, crime will rise. Frankly, I fear local criminals more than the terrorists on the other side of the globe.

[tularetom]

16. That guy is a typical whiny American

Sniveling because an entrepreneur came up with a new way to earn money and it inconvenienced him. If he had any ambition he'd be out there stealing catalytic converters himself instead of bitching about those with the moxie to do so.