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Bit of a long shot, but any members in the west midlands might look out for a stolen Mini or any suspicious parts on offer, 2 days ago a friend's restored 1963 Mini reg no. 600JOC was stolen from Stourport-on-Severn in Worcestershire. It's immaculate in tartan red with a black roof, 7"X13" Supalite (or similar) wheels, Gp5 arches, metal flip front, full roll cage & incredibly lowered fully adjustable suspension. Naturally the lad who owns it is heartbroken, not only because it's his pride & joy, but also his means of getting to work. Most of the stolen cars from here, end up in Birmingham or the 'black country'. Thanks.

Lord Croker wrote:Bit of a long shot, but any members in the west midlands might look out for a stolen Mini or any suspicious parts on offer, 2 days ago a friend's restored 1963 Mini reg no. 600JOC was stolen from Stourport-on-Severn in Worcestershire. It's immaculate in tartan red with a black roof, 7"X13" Supalite (or similar) wheels, Gp5 arches, metal flip front, full roll cage & incredibly lowered fully adjustable suspension. Naturally the lad who owns it is heartbroken, not only because it's his pride & joy, but also his means of getting to work. Most of the stolen cars from here, end up in Birmingham or the 'black country'. Thanks.

...bad news !!!..when u say minis seem to end up in the central midlands do u mean broken up for parts ??..surely not complete cars... the problem is fleebay amongst others and car boot sales also.. the parts on these cars can be readily sold so easily....i dont know what the answer is..but i sure have sympathy for the owners.. thieves are amongst the worse scum !!!..foxy52..

Will keep an eye out


Ian

They can end up anywhere !! , last year a customer brought in his recently purchased 00 Sportpack to us for a service and some work , during the work we spotted vin number missing on the scuttle panel and this along with a bent front subframe and NO visible body damage or repair we looked closer and found VIN number filled over , we called Owner who asked us to contact Police and have a check done , following a thorough inspection at Our workshop with the Inspector we found the original VIN and traced the shell to a Sportpack stolen several months before in London !!! . what We determined is a similar car was crashed here in Ireland and a shell 'acquired' in UK , hence damaged front subframe and no body damage , anyway result was My customer had to buy the 'title' of the car ( as the vin number is on the shell or Monocoque ) from the UK based insurers that had paid out on the claim and then regularise the transaction here by paying VRT tax on the New rebuilt car !!!!!! so it was an expensive and frustrating time for everyone from the original owner that lost his car to the theft to the guy here that bought a 2000 Sportpack in good faith . of course the thief still had interior , mechanical components etc etc to sell to unsuspecting genuine mini owners .
G

There do seem to be a hell of alot of Minis getting nicked in the Midlands at the moment. Pics would help in detection , especially of parts if it does end up getting stripped. Good luck.

agree with pete,,,pics always better for us to detect cars been sold on on other identities or broken up by these low life thieving scum..

if its a distinctive car ,,they usually turn up,,especially if fotos are plastered all over the internet

remember the grey austin seven stolen a few yrs ago...with help from the internet forums and us all being vigilant the car was found on a council estate fitted with a roll cage and 1987 number plates on it...

even the humble 850 is no longer safe

Classic & sports Car Mag News Report:

Mini Thefts ‘Go Ballistic’ In The Midlands
A criminal gang is targeting Minis in the West Midlands and West Mercia with the number of incidents going ‘ballistic’ in the past month, police have warned.
According to a spokesman, a “significant number” of thefts have occurred covering every variant of classic Mini from late and running cars to early restoration projects. Austins and Coopers are at particular risk.
Whether they are being broken for parts or sold overseas is unclear. What is apparent is that values have risen sharply in recent years, making the cars a desirable target for thieves.
PC Alan Colman, who owns a ’67 Cooper ‘S’, told C&SC: “If you own a Mini take time to ensure it’s secured with an alarm, steering lock or even a tracker.
“If you see anything suspicious report it to the police – nine out of 10 times it’s reports like these that lead to an arrest. Even if cars that have been stripped they are easily recognisable to owners.”
Security tips for motorists can be found on the Safer Motors website. West Midlands Police can be contacted by dialling the 101 non-emergency number, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
http://www.classicandsportscar.com/news ... tom_link_1

Stolen Mini Alerts on TMF
http://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/fo ... ni-alerts/

18 Years ago I drove my 325i Beemer to a friends place near Birmingham. It was only parked up 2 hours when I felt the need to go a check on it (it was in a public carpark) To my Horror the only thing there was a bit of smashed glass and half a steering column. I cried like a baby as it was my pride and joy. I lived in West Sussex so a long way from home. My dad had to come and pick me up the next day. A year later the Police called to say they had cracked a crime ring and found many parts of my car scattered across the West Midlands

I've never liked the area since! but I'm sure its a UK wide thing.

i'm a *cough* Wolves supporter so going to the games I was always very carefull where I parked after that!

I live in New Zealand now where the last time a car was stolen was 1976 (yea right )


Back to the topic.. Hopefully the car is found soon but very doubtfull.. scum of the earth these people!!! they are probably on the dole getting pay outs each week also!

Sorry to see yet another Mini stolen, shame he didnt see the warning MAB01UK posted.
This has been on most Mini forums in UK for quit some time.


Why dont some of you Mini people get together, and park a "Blinged up" Mini in the middle of the street ( move it around in the area )
and then sit in a van nearby, with a few baseball bats - knuckle irons - etc

thats what I feel like doing when I hear stories like this.

I had my previous Moke stolen. Its hard to describe the extreme emotions that I experienced. I really feel for the owner.

Tim

SteveG wrote:18 Years ago I drove my 325i Beemer to a friends place near Birmingham. It was only parked up 2 hours when I felt the need to go a check on it (it was in a public carpark) To my Horror the only thing there was a bit of smashed glass and half a steering column. I cried like a baby as it was my pride and joy. I lived in West Sussex so a long way from home. My dad had to come and pick me up the next day. A year later the Police called to say they had cracked a crime ring and found many parts of my car scattered across the West Midlands

I've never liked the area since! but I'm sure its a UK wide thing.

i'm a *cough* Wolves supporter so going to the games I was always very carefull where I parked after that!

I live in New Zealand now where the last time a car was stolen was 1976 (yea right )


Back to the topic.. Hopefully the car is found soon but very doubtfull.. scum of the earth these people!!! they are probably on the dole getting pay outs each week also!

...interesting !! jus goes to show .... if u lived in west sussex then do u remember the brown bear adjacent to worthing town hall ?? i parked my golf gti next to my mates audi 2.2 one night around x/mas 1984,.. he got pissed ,i didnt,.we both came out of a freinds place about 1 am in the morning ,i was gonna give him a lift home , just as well !!! the audi vanished and was never traced !! any of it ... tis a sobering thought !!! foxy52

Thanks for all your replies, to address a couple of the points made, these kind of cars are usually taken to the Birmingham area & broken down to sell as parts, the Mini in question had a very good immobiliser, but an eye witness saw it being towed away, & just assumed it was a broken down vehicle being recovered. It's difficult to protect your car these days, we even had a spate of cars being lifted from the side of the road with a hydraulic grab truck, they just put the claws of the grab through the windows & lifted the cars by the roof. Done in seconds & no anti theft device can combat that. A sad reflection on some elements of society. It's a dreadful feeling to discover your pride & joy has been stolen, it happened 3 times with my rally car, but fortunately they were opportunists rather than professionals because on each occasion it was found very close to home because they failed to figure out the fuel system!

Seems there is no end to this

Quote

" In the Midlands region alone, since September 2012,
in excess of 70 classic Minis have been stolen without having been recovered "


read more here =




http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/new ... tt1=&att2=




Jens Christian

JC T ONE wrote:Seems there is no end to this

Quote

" In the Midlands region alone, since September 2012,
in excess of 70 classic Minis have been stolen without having been recovered "


read more here =




http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/new ... tt1=&att2=




Jens Christian

and yet people thing its perfectly acceptable to offer v5c's for sale..........

JC T ONE wrote: " In the Midlands region alone, since September 2012,
in excess of 70 classic Minis have been stolen without having been recovered "

I wonder why there's such a problem specifically in the Midlands ? Surely that's got to be a racket and I do wonder why after what could be a third of a million pounds worth of cars have gone missing that nobody's been lifted for it ? Maybe insurance fraud has some part to play but it can't be that rife surely ?

By coincidence I saw the lad who had the Mini stolen that started this thread, just today. He & a posse of his workmates have found the culprits, but not the Mini, apparently it has been broken down, but I have a good idea where the shell is, just need to get a proper look at it while there's no one around.
Maybe so many Minis are stolen in the midlands as a follow-on to the old days when anything Mini could be filched from Longbridge!

A nice story here -> http://www.classicandsportscar.com/blog ... -its-owner

shame they had time to strip off his door hinges. I supose, as it was an early car the weight in the brass would make them an obvious thing to remove.....

Pandora wrote:shame they had time to strip off his door hinges. I supose, as it was an early car the weight in the brass would make them an obvious thing to remove.....

Yes, it has quite a "modern look" about it for a 1961 Mini doesn't it. All part of that "restoration" I suppose .

Just to let you all know crime watch roadshow are doing a live show tomorrow in Birmingham about all the minis going missing in the west midlands .