My father disconnected the distributor (correct word?) and took a piece of it wi...

function_seven · on July 17, 2023

Mine removed the starter relay at night. (The car didn't have a distributor AFAIK, or if it did, it wasn't as accessible).

This wasn't to foil thieves, it was to frustrate the repo man.

jjav · on July 17, 2023

> My father disconnected the distributor (correct word?) and took a piece of it with him.

Yes, my dad was used to removing the rotor from the distributor (small piece, easy to pop off and unless the thief just happens to have the correct model handy, the car can't run) back in the 60s (maybe he did it earlier).

I'm pretty sure some form of this has been popular for just about as long cars have had an electrical system.

passer_byer · on July 17, 2023

My hack was to purchase a 2017 vehicle with a 5 speed manual transmission. I reckon 95% of would be thieves can’t easily drive it away!

sitzkrieg · on July 17, 2023

my trick too, esp in some areas. getting harder and harder to find outside of sports cars :-(

Tempest1981 · on July 17, 2023

Yep, removing the rotor from under the distributor cap (correct), which disabled the ignition system.

K0balt · on July 18, 2023

Yeah, but he did he get a 1.2 million dollar grant? Yeah, I didn’t think so. This guys kid is gonna have a better story.

(/s)