The end of times: Russia to sell its National Diamond into foreign hands...
Vladimir Makarenko
o tempora o mores:
vello
> o tempora o mores:
>
> http://www.dni.ru/auto/2009/11/5/178644.html
Someway sad. I hate French cars but have a fantastic memories about my
first car, Lada 2103, then 2106 and 2107. They give me in times more
fun then any car I had lately.
Vladimir Makarenko
I stumbled over this site:
http://www.slon.ru/articles/162583
and was shocked that 2107 is still in production.
VM.
vello
And as you see from price graph - 2107 is doing well in compare with
newer Kalina & Priora.
Dmitry
Why do you hate French cars? I have fantastic memories of
Zaporozhec. It was a unique automobil with "air cooling system",
heating run on petrol and non functional handbreak. Zhiguli is as
boring as Moskvich. Peugeot and Citroen are fun. Here, if you buy
brand new C1 you have to wait 2 months for delivery because they are
so much in demand. 107 takes about 1 month to deliver.
Vladimir Makarenko
> On Nov 5, 11:38 pm, Vladimir Makarenko <vmak...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> vello wrote:
>>> On Nov 5, 8:14 pm, Vladimir Makarenko <vmak...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> o tempora o mores:
>>>> http://www.dni.ru/auto/2009/11/5/178644.html
>>> Someway sad. I hate French cars but have a fantastic memories about my
>>> first car, Lada 2103, then 2106 and 2107. They give me in times more
>>> fun then any car I had lately.
>> I stumbled over this site:
>>
>> http://www.slon.ru/articles/162583
>>
>> and was shocked that 2107 is still in production.
>>
>> VM.
>
> And as you see from price graph - 2107 is doing well in compare with
> newer Kalina & Priora.
I still do not understand why it lasts so long. Is it price of
maintenance? I guess their quality went up since 80-ties.
It is quite a life span for a production line.
VM.
Vladimir Makarenko
> On 5 Nov, 19:36, vello <vellok...@hot.ee> wrote:
>> On Nov 5, 8:14 pm, Vladimir Makarenko <vmak...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> o tempora o mores:
>>> http://www.dni.ru/auto/2009/11/5/178644.html
>> Someway sad. I hate French cars but have a fantastic memories about my
>> first car, Lada 2103, then 2106 and 2107. They give me in times more
>> fun then any car I had lately.
>
> Why do you hate French cars?
Because you always have to drive windows down.
> I have fantastic memories of
> Zaporozhec.
From Soviet times - only two kinds of shame can happen in a good family
- pregnancy of underaged daughter and ownership of Zaporozhec.
> It was a unique automobil with "air cooling system",
> heating run on petrol and non functional handbreak. Zhiguli is as
> boring as Moskvich.
Hm, as little as I know about cars in general and the Soviet
specifically but I think I heard that Lada was pretty much functional
and Moskvich was scaring cold sweat out of people so bad its quality was.
> Peugeot and Citroen are fun. Here, if you buy
> brand new C1 you have to wait 2 months for delivery because they are
> so much in demand. 107 takes about 1 month to deliver.
Classic socialist economy - waiting in lines. Are you allowed to buy
real, non Frenchy cars?
VM.
Anton
> On Nov 5, 8:14 pm, Vladimir Makarenko <vmak...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> o tempora o mores:
>> http://www.dni.ru/auto/2009/11/5/178644.html
> Someway sad.
Are they going to preserve the Lada brand and name?
> I hate French cars
Who wouldn't! :) I remember a departure from Stockholm harbor in January
with a colleague some years ago. It was -15 and biting winds blowing
from the sea. We were about to enter the ferry in his Citroen and opened
the drivers window to give tickets. There was a queue so our car was
outside, as we tried to close the window it went only half way and back
down again. This went on for 5-10 minutes while cold winds from the sea
blew straight at us. Another colleague who also drove company Citroen
told that once the rear hatch suddenly opened in the middle of the highway.
> but have a fantastic memories about my
> first car, Lada 2103, then 2106 and 2107. They give me in times more
> fun then any car I had lately.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=543803870860516760#
My father had a Niva once.
--
Anton
Anton
> On 5 Nov, 19:36, vello <vellok...@hot.ee> wrote:
>> Someway sad. I hate French cars but have a fantastic memories about my
>> first car, Lada 2103, then 2106 and 2107. They give me in times more
>> fun then any car I had lately.
> Why do you hate French cars?
French cars, last time I came in contact with them, are Windows 95 on
wheels. Full of bugs.
--
Anton
Valtsu
When I was living in one of the foreigners slums on Kutuzovski Prospekt
in Moscow in the mid 70-s a colleague of mine bought a brand new
luxurious Citroen. It had a fine automatic system of changing the
clearance, lowering and lifting the chassis so that a drive on the
somewhat uneven street surfaces would be comfortable. Moscow was too
much for this system and the expensive limousine became useless in less
than a month. The car was replaced by the dealer and this time it took
two months for the system to break down.
A lady working at the Finnish-Soviet Chamber of Commerce had a Citroen
CV4 (the model with a canvas top). It worked fine as long as speed was
least to say modest. Otherwise one would have got seasick. Heating
in the car was a joke.
I had a Zhiguli and luckily it had not been made on a Monday. Very
little maintenance was needed and Vova the dvornik was able and willing
to get the parts and fix it when needed, so I didn't have to rely on
service stations nor sending it to Helsinki for service as all foreign
cars were dealt with at that time. Rides were a bit rough, but the
heating system was excellent. And reliability of the car was splendid.
The biggest kick out of my Zhiguli I got on chilly Moscow winter
mornings, when all the foreign diplomats, businessmen, correspondents,
etc. were getting nervous breakdowns trying to get their Mercedeses,
Alfa Romeos and even Volvos started under the eyes of sneering
militsioners guarding the compund. I merely turned the ignition key and
drove off in a comfortably warm car.
tv
Dmitry
> >> first car, Lada 2103, then 2106 and 2107. They give me in times more
> >> fun then any car I had lately.
>
> > Why do you hate French cars?
>
> Because you always have to drive windows down.
Why?
>
> > I have fantastic memories of
> > Zaporozhec.
>
> From Soviet times - only two kinds of shame can happen in a good family
> - pregnancy of underaged daughter and ownership of Zaporozhec.
That was the only vehicle I could afford -)
> > It was a unique automobil with "air cooling system",
> > heating run on petrol and non functional handbreak. Zhiguli is as
> > boring as Moskvich.
>
> Hm, as little as I know about cars in general and the Soviet
> specifically but I think I heard that Lada was pretty much functional
> and Moskvich was scaring cold sweat out of people so bad its quality was.
Some believed that Moskvich 412 was more reliable than Lada, but there
was nothing worse than Zap.
> > Peugeot and Citroen are fun. Here, if you buy
> > brand new C1 you have to wait 2 months for delivery because they are
> > so much in demand. 107 takes about 1 month to deliver.
>
> Classic socialist economy - waiting in lines. Are you allowed to buy
> real, non Frenchy cars?
Of course. It is just that some cars are more in demand than others.
Even within French range, if you want C5 you can have it delivered
within a couple of days.
>
> VM.
Dmitry
> vello kirjoitti:
>
> > On Nov 5, 8:14 pm, Vladimir Makarenko <vmak...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> o tempora o mores:
> >>http://www.dni.ru/auto/2009/11/5/178644.html
> > Someway sad.
>
> Are they going to preserve the Lada brand and name?
>
> > I hate French cars
>
> Who wouldn't! :) I remember a departure from Stockholm harbor in January
> with a colleague some years ago. It was -15 and biting winds blowing
> from the sea. We were about to enter the ferry in his Citroen and opened
> the drivers window to give tickets. There was a queue so our car was
> outside, as we tried to close the window it went only half way and back
> down again. This went on for 5-10 minutes while cold winds from the sea
> blew straight at us. Another colleague who also drove company Citroen
> told that once the rear hatch suddenly opened in the middle of the highway.
These things can happen with any make of cheap range. I drive
Citroens since 1998 and nothing of the kind happened to me.
Dmitry
So what would be Windows XP?
>
> --
> Anton
vello
How much I know from Russian car journalists, quality is down in
compare with 80ties :-) One point is price, other - cheap parte
everywhere available, third - uncle Vasya can repair it for you.
Russia is big country, Ladas are not for moscow and St. Pete
vello
Well Zappik was not a French car :-) French cars are built hard to
mainteance and they broke, at least in wet salty climate of Baltics.
One of my friends runs Herz Car rent company here and beautiful
Peugeot 206 sent them almost into bancrupsy!
vello
> > >> Someway sad. I hate French cars but have a fantastic memories about my
> > >> first car, Lada 2103, then 2106 and 2107. They give me in times more
> > >> fun then any car I had lately.
>
> > > Why do you hate French cars?
>
> > Because you always have to drive windows down.
>
> Why?
>
>
>
> > > I have fantastic memories of
> > > Zaporozhec.
>
> > From Soviet times - only two kinds of shame can happen in a good family
> > - pregnancy of underaged daughter and ownership of Zaporozhec.
>
> That was the only vehicle I could afford -)
>
> > > It was a unique automobil with "air cooling system",
> > > heating run on petrol and non functional handbreak. Zhiguli is as
> > > boring as Moskvich.
>
> > Hm, as little as I know about cars in general and the Soviet
> > specifically but I think I heard that Lada was pretty much functional
> > and Moskvich was scaring cold sweat out of people so bad its quality was.
>
> Some believed that Moskvich 412 was more reliable than Lada, but there
> was nothing worse than Zap.
Moskvich was believed to be more robust, so some says if you repeir it
every day it will last more then Lada on Soviet roads. But basically
cars were incomparable. One was real Soviet monster, other was 85%
based on Fiat 124, once the Car of the Year of Europe.
vello
Opel Vectra I had after Ladas in mid 90ties starts perfectly on cold
mornings. In Ladas, you had to manually adjust fuel richness for cold
start and it was very tricky thing.
Andrius
> o tempora o mores:
>
> http://www.dni.ru/auto/2009/11/5/178644.html
Хохма. /Автор, разумеется/
Андрюс
Vladimir Makarenko
>>>> Someway sad. I hate French cars but have a fantastic memories about my
>>>> first car, Lada 2103, then 2106 and 2107. They give me in times more
>>>> fun then any car I had lately.
>>> Why do you hate French cars?
>> Because you always have to drive windows down.
>
> Why?
I cannot stand Chanel #5.
VM.
Valtsu
That's the point, actually. I still trust cars with manual choke more
than automatic in colder than -20 degrees C. The chilly Moscow morning
temperatures were -40 C.
Dmitry
> in Moscow in the mid 70-s a colleague of mine bought a brand new
> luxurious Citroen. It had a fine automatic system of changing the
> clearance, lowering and lifting the chassis so that a drive on the
> somewhat uneven street surfaces would be comfortable. Moscow was too
> much for this system and the expensive limousine became useless in less
> than a month. The car was replaced by the dealer and this time it took
> two months for the system to break down.
The dealer should have replaced it with a tractor.
> A lady working at the Finnish-Soviet Chamber of Commerce had a Citroen
> CV4 (the model with a canvas top). It worked fine as long as speed was
> least to say modest. Otherwise one would have got seasick. Heating
> in the car was a joke.
Do you mean 2CV? Many things in that car were a joke. But some of
them worked well for years when in hands of careful drivers.
>
> I had a Zhiguli and luckily it had not been made on a Monday. Very
> little maintenance was needed and Vova the dvornik was able and willing
> to get the parts and fix it when needed, so I didn't have to rely on
> service stations nor sending it to Helsinki for service as all foreign
> cars were dealt with at that time.
It is good to have "Vova the dvornik" around. Some of the parts in my
Zaporozhec were "custom made" by my friend in the factory where he
worked because the original parts were not available in the shop or
Zap garage. Back in Sovok people made lots of things themselves using
facilities at work.
> Rides were a bit rough, but the
> heating system was excellent. And reliability of the car was splendid.
What is so special in Zhiguli's heating system?
>
> The biggest kick out of my Zhiguli I got on chilly Moscow winter
> mornings, when all the foreign diplomats, businessmen, correspondents,
> etc. were getting nervous breakdowns trying to get their Mercedeses,
> Alfa Romeos and even Volvos started under the eyes of sneering
> militsioners guarding the compund. I merely turned the ignition key and
> drove off in a comfortably warm car.
To start up Zaporozhec in similar conditions I used to turn the engine
manually with the bar.
>
> tv
Seems to be so much support for Zhiguli...
In England, when they were still around, their life span was almost
twice as short as Peugeots and consequently the depreciation was
extremely high. In the mid 90's some made a good profit by buying
Ladas here in auctions and selling them back to ex-Soviet countries.
vello
Is there still left cars with manual one? Well, my problem with Ladas
may well be due soviet batteries - and that even those sh*t batteries
were almost impossible to obtain.
vello
Same happens in Estonia. In start of nineties Russia had import taxes
on imported used cars - but not for ones of Russian origin. So most of
our Lada-park went back to Russia
Dmitry
> On Nov 6, 3:38 am, Dmitry <dmitrijsfedot...@inbox.lv> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On 5 Nov, 19:36, vello <vellok...@hot.ee> wrote:
>
> > > On Nov 5, 8:14 pm, Vladimir Makarenko <vmak...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > > o tempora o mores:
>
> > > >http://www.dni.ru/auto/2009/11/5/178644.html
>
> > > Someway sad. I hate French cars but have a fantastic memories about my
> > > first car, Lada 2103, then 2106 and 2107. They give me in times more
> > > fun then any car I had lately.
>
> > Why do you hate French cars? I have fantastic memories of
> > Zaporozhec. It was a unique automobil with "air cooling system",
> > heating run on petrol and non functional handbreak. Zhiguli is as
> > boring as Moskvich. Peugeot and Citroen are fun. Here, if you buy
> > brand new C1 you have to wait 2 months for delivery because they are
> > so much in demand. 107 takes about 1 month to deliver.
>
> Well Zappik was not a French car :-)
Yes, it was Ukrainian -)) BTW French doesn't necessarily mean French
- C1 is made in Czezh Republic, for example, and many others are made
in various countries. Toyota cars are made about 20 miles away from
where I am.
> French cars are built hard to
> mainteance
True, at least about Citroen. It seems like they build them with the
purpose to make the owners to come to Citroen garages for repairs.
> and they broke, at least in wet salty climate of Baltics.
May be you are right. Climate here is very similar to Baltics. My
problem with my previous ZX and current Picasso is these "sensores".
They are certainly not built for the life span of the car. What is
more frustrating is that they can take years playing up until they
collapse. Perhaps they should give up on some of electronics. Apart
from that, for me, my Picasso is the most comfortable ride out of what
I've ever driven.
> One of my friends runs Herz Car rent company here and beautiful
> Peugeot 206 sent them almost into bancrupsy!
Why? Here 206 has a decent reliability record and its depriciation is
lower than Fiesta.
Maris
pleasure to drive, on the whole (when they are going well) but the
build quality generally leaves something to be desired. My favourite
was my Peugeot205 diesel, which used to go like a rocket and survived
8 months in Latvia in 1993, in spite of the windscreen being stolen at
one point. I was also the owner of a Peugeot 405 diesel estate for
some years. Peugeots seem to be better built than other French cars. I
also owned a Citroen CX diesel estate, which was superb to drive and
very economic considering its engine size but almost bankrupted me
when the engine blew up outside Eindhoven (and I had the engine
rebuilt back in England). On that occasion, I left the car and bought
a cheap Citroen BX off the garage that rescued the car. That was also
OK to drive but was not a great quality car. I currently own a Renault
Megane Scenic 4x4,which gave me a lot of problems when I first bought
it secondhand but seems to have settled down now and is great for
negotiating the sleeping policemen and other hazards of driving in
London. last week I sold my Renault Megane Scenic diesel (because I
had too many cars - I still have a Fiat panda 4x4 tucked away), which
was also a good car and was the choice of the Riga taxidrivers for
some time. Unintentionally, I seem to have been the owner of many
French cars (msot of which have been driven from London to Latvia at
some point therefore demonstrating their reliability)!
Maris
Dmitry
> Opel Vectra I had after Ladas in mid 90ties starts perfectly on cold
> mornings. In Ladas, you had to manually adjust fuel richness for cold
> start and it was very tricky thing.
Manual choke is a tricky thing. Pull it too far and carb is flooded,
pulling not far enough can turn your battery flat very quickly.
Dmitry
> than automatic in colder than -20 degrees C. The chilly Moscow morning
> temperatures were -40 C.
One of the techniques was to heat a metal plate on a gas cooker and
when it's red stick it to the bottom of the engine. The oil gets
warmer and parts can then be moved by the ignition (that is if you
have enough power in your battery).
And there is always a "push" option.
Dmitry
I used to maintain mine by constantly adding liquids and charging it.
Eventually I had to carry the battery up to the 6th floor for
recharging every time after I used the car.
Dmitry
That's probably was the main reason. It was still hard to understand
- why from England??? Changing the front from right to left is an
expensive job.
Dmitry
> Have to agree broadly about French cars and I've had lots. They are a
> pleasure to drive, on the whole (when they are going well) but the
> build quality generally leaves something to be desired. My favourite
> was my Peugeot205 diesel, which used to go like a rocket and survived
> 8 months in Latvia in 1993, in spite of the windscreen being stolen at
> one point.
205 diesel served me and my family for many years in Latvia. And it
was very good. It took me as far as visiting Peteris in Daugavpils
-))
> I was also the owner of a Peugeot 405 diesel estate for
> some years. Peugeots seem to be better built than other French cars.
Yes, it has better reputation than Ranault and Citroen.
> I also owned a Citroen CX diesel estate, which was superb to drive and
> very economic considering its engine size but almost bankrupted me
> when the engine blew up outside Eindhoven (and I had the engine
> rebuilt back in England). On that occasion, I left the car and bought
> a cheap Citroen BX off the garage that rescued the car.
I remember them. Their suspension up&down feature seemed to be quite
weard and useless.
> That was also
> OK to drive but was not a great quality car. I currently own a Renault
> Megane Scenic 4x4,which gave me a lot of problems when I first bought
> it secondhand but seems to have settled down now and is great for
> negotiating the sleeping policemen and other hazards of driving in
> London. last week I sold my Renault Megane Scenic diesel (because I
> had too many cars - I still have a Fiat panda 4x4 tucked away),
Why do you need 4x4 in London? Most bumps can be crossed at 20mph
without any damage to your car's suspension.
> which
> was also a good car and was the choice of the Riga taxidrivers for
> some time. Unintentionally, I seem to have been the owner of many
> French cars (msot of which have been driven from London to Latvia at
> some point therefore demonstrating their reliability)!
> Maris
My worst experience with French brands was Renault 14. Connection of
gear lever to the gear box was the worst part.
Vladimir Makarenko
You make me feel nostalgic: -40C.
I now moan and regard -10C as clear and present danger: sic transit
gloria mundi.
As to cars - an Russian review I read a few years ago praised Volvo when
it is about deep freezing climate. I drove for a while 850 turbo - not
my car exactly - a bit stiff suspension and for my driving skills too
large turn radius but the car was a piece of engineering art and
professional skills. It is always such a child joy and awe to see such a
well done piece. When thinking about those who built it I remembered how
one wise person defined for me real professionals as those who just
cannot perform below particular level - Class in one word.
VM.
Vladimir Makarenko
Probably are. And there are a few I'd really like to drive like:
Maris
<dmitrijs...@inbox.lv> wrote:
>On 6 Nov, 19:58, Maris <lat...@london.com> wrote:
>> Have to agree broadly about French cars and I've had lots. They are a
>> pleasure to drive, on the whole (when they are going well) but the
>> build quality generally leaves something to be desired. My favourite
>> was my Peugeot205 diesel, which used to go like a rocket and survived
>> 8 months in Latvia in 1993, in spite of the windscreen being stolen at
>> one point.
>
>205 diesel served me and my family for many years in Latvia. And it
>was very good. It took me as far as visiting Peteris in Daugavpils
>-))
>
>> I was also the owner of a Peugeot 405 diesel estate for
>> some years. Peugeots seem to be better built than other French cars.
>
>Yes, it has better reputation than Ranault and Citroen.
>
>> I also owned a Citroen CX diesel estate, which was superb to drive and
>> very economic considering its engine size but almost bankrupted me
>> when the engine blew up outside Eindhoven (and I had the engine
>> rebuilt back in England). On that occasion, I left the car and bought
>> a cheap Citroen BX off the garage that rescued the car.
>
>I remember them. Their suspension up&down feature seemed to be quite
>weard and useless.
>
It certainly helped on one occasion inL atvia when I was able to raise
the car to such a height that I was able to negotiate an extremely
potholed road. other than that I don't really know what was the point
but I know that my suspension never let me down unlike other aspects
of the cars. Citroen has a reputation for producing radical and
exciting designs but were often let down by the exotic nature of these
features!
>> That was also
>> OK to drive but was not a great quality car. I currently own a Renault
>> Megane Scenic 4x4,which gave me a lot of problems when I first bought
>> it secondhand but seems to have settled down now and is great for
>> negotiating the sleeping policemen and other hazards of driving in
>> London. last week I sold my Renault Megane Scenic diesel (because I
>> had too many cars - I still have a Fiat panda 4x4 tucked away),
>
>Why do you need 4x4 in London? Most bumps can be crossed at 20mph
>without any damage to your car's suspension.
>
I don't think that I can agree with you there Dmitry. There are those
who claim that the best way of dealing with speed bumps is to drive
over them quickly but I'm not convinced. I regularly hear the backs of
cars scraping as they negotiate the speed bumps on my street here in
London. The advantage of the 4x4 is that suspension is more robust
than on standard cars.
>> which
>> was also a good car and was the choice of the Riga taxidrivers for
>> some time. Unintentionally, I seem to have been the owner of many
>> French cars (msot of which have been driven from London to Latvia at
>> some point therefore demonstrating their reliability)! � �
>> Maris
>
>My worst experience with French brands was Renault 14. Connection of
>gear lever to the gear box was the worst part.
I haven't owned one of these!
Maris
J. Anderson
"Maris" <lat...@london.com> wrote in message
news:t58jf5l7elmepf666...@4ax.com...
Interesting discussion. My worst experience with a French car was decades
ago when we were going to drive from Stockholm to Prague in my friend's
Renault Dauphine. It took us as far as Motala in central Sweden. Luckily our
insurance covered taxi + train + ship back to Finland. As for me, I've owned
only German cars all my life. They, however, tend to get stolen...
Dmitry
My ZX ended up at the age of 12 on the scrap yard because the rear
chassis has collapsed, but I did overload it from time to time.
Sensors are the main problem. I had it with both, ZX and Picasso.
Yes, Design of Picasso suits me perfect, but sensors are playing up
for 6 months now.
> >> That was also
> >> OK to drive but was not a great quality car. I currently own a Renault
> >> Megane Scenic 4x4,which gave me a lot of problems when I first bought
> >> it secondhand but seems to have settled down now and is great for
> >> negotiating the sleeping policemen and other hazards of driving in
> >> London. last week I sold my Renault Megane Scenic diesel (because I
> >> had too many cars - I still have a Fiat panda 4x4 tucked away),
>
> >Why do you need 4x4 in London? Most bumps can be crossed at 20mph
> >without any damage to your car's suspension.
>
> I don't think that I can agree with you there Dmitry. There are those
> who claim that the best way of dealing with speed bumps is to drive
> over them quickly but I'm not convinced. I regularly hear the backs of
> cars scraping as they negotiate the speed bumps on my street here in
> London.
It depends on the bumps. Some of them can be crossed at 20mph and for
some I have to slow down to 5. Still - you don't really need 4x4 in
the city -))
> The advantage of the 4x4 is that suspension is more robust
> than on standard cars.
Certainly. They are designed for off-roading.
> >My worst experience with French brands was Renault 14. Connection of
> >gear lever to the gear box was the worst part.
>
> I haven't owned one of these!
You haven't missed much, except the trouble. No garage would take it
for repairs, except Renault dealers who charge a fortune as any other
dealer. But it was better than Morris Marina that I almost rebuilt
with body filler.
Dmitry
Even in Kaltene...such a bad luck. I had my Vauxhall Astra stolen
twice, because it is so easy to break into. Since then I use a big
steering lock, which people from the continent are often laugh at.
J. Anderson
"Dmitry" <dmitrijs...@inbox.lv> wrote in message
news:a4e960c8-092c-44e8...@g23g2000yqh.googlegroups.com...
> Even in Kaltene...such a bad luck. I had my
> Vauxhall Astra stolen twice, because it is so
> easy to break into. Since then I use a big
> steering lock, which people from the continent
> are often laugh at.
I had such an additional lock in the car on both occasions when my car was
stolen in the Baltics, but of course it was not in use, because we left the
car only for a few minutes and didn't go further away than 100-150 metres.
In both cases I think we had been followed for a while by thieves who only
waited for the right moment. Both the cars were Audis, and both were opened
and started with skeleton keys.
Dmitry
> "Dmitry" <dmitrijsfedot...@inbox.lv> wrote in message
This is what my lock looks like http://www.elitesecuritysupplies.com/pictures/steering_wheel_locks.jpg
It takes 15 minutes for a professional thief with tools to break it
and I put it on every time when parking my car, except when it is in a
very secure location. In England the cars are stolen mainly by
joyriders. What are skeleton keys? Here they use less sophisticated
methods to break in and start up the car. Both times the car was
found within approximately one hour by police after I reported the
theft.