Laurie,
Always good when a car gets recovered, even better when the
bad guy gets nailed.
Humor - back in the 1970's Datsun 510s were just pretty fun cars.
A fellow rally friend had a decent 510 with lights & SU carbs,
trick suspension. Etc. Jim owned a shop in Sacramento, and on
a slow day they would "trick out" the 510 a little more.
He lived about 40 miles away up around El Dorado Hills in the
country. He was pretty bummed to discover his car stolen one
morning.
A month later a kid pulled into his shop, asking if the could
make his Datsun more of a low rider. Yep, it was Jim's car.
Mechanic told the kid to pull up over the lift, and stay in
the car while they looked at, and calmy went into the office
to tell Jim what he had on the lift and called the cops.
Jim brought out his shot gun and explained to the kid to
stay in the car... or he would just shoot him if he tried anything.
Thankfully no damage done, but he did have to replace the chain
link steering wheel. He told the cops the seats and stereo were
not original in the car, but the officier explained it was simplier
to leave them as is, to avoid impounding the car.
Still one of my favorite 'dumb crook' stories.
Cheers,
Tom
P.S. For the list: I run electric fuel pumps on the roadsters.
You can start and drive the car about a block or two before the
carb bowls run dry. Car stalls in the middle of the road not
far from home. Obviously the pump is wired seperately, with a
few tricks of relay circuit (not a simple on-off switch).
PPS - If you ever buy ANY PARTS for a car, ask the seller
for a bill of sale. Shouldn't be an issue at all. I had one
seller, who seemed a bit shady, REFUSE to give me a
bill of sale on wheels and tires. Yep, pretty good idea they
were stolen... no, I did not buy them.
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