Robert: (et al):
I used to have a TR4 when I lived in Boston. Being a fairly poor college
student at the time, I rarely used garages and parked on the street most of
the time. I had a policy similar to Glenn's: if it isn't raining, leave the
top down & the doors unlocked. At the very least, leave the doors unlocked.
I rarely had anything in the car that was worth the price of the top. Boston
is the car theft capitol of the western world; I usually took anything I
really liked with me when I left the car, fully expecting the car to be gone
when I got back. Of course, it wasn't the prettiest example of a TR4 I've
ever seen, but it ran well ... and never got stolen, even in Back Bay and the
CZ, where I worked as a bartender.
It had a nice Blaupunkt stereo in it for a while, but that did get stolen;
the only problem I had was that the thief was too bloody stupid to see that
the car was unlocked, and slashed the top anyway. Or, maybe he just got a
kick out of knifing convertible tops. Who knows. I never bothered replacing
either the top or the stereo; I got a walkman and used some duct tape to
patch the top.
I guess I'd say don't worry too much about it. Get some comprehensive
insurance on your car, the kind that covers vandalism. Lock anything
important in the boot. Get a removable face stereo unit, and leave the car
unlocked. There are some neat battery cut-off devices out there for MG's, and
I don't think most car thieves are savvy enough to look for the battery under
the rear deck. Seems like a pretty good car-theft deterrent to me. We live
in a rough world. ::shrug:: Don't let it spoil your fun. If you never take
your car out and park it because you're afraid of what'll happen to it, the
bad guys win by default.
Corey
75 MGB 'Rags'
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