Gm Dealer Equipment Presents Smart Lights: Fill & Download for Free

Not as long as there is a value.It is assumed that newer vehicles are extremely difficult to steal. The truth of the matter is all this high reach sophisticated ant theft systems actually leave the vehicle lss secure. You can take my answers to the bank because I have been a professional car thief since 1980 to present.My first round of experience was serving dealers as a mechanic since 1963. In 1984 I saw such a demand for theft repair that I along with my wife at the time Kathie and my best friend Mike Urving opened a business in 1972 exclusively repairing theft recovered and vandalized vehicles.I had bought a very well known theft different for GM saginaw sreering columns known as the Chicago Collar. It thwarted the Chicago style method of theft on the Saginaw steering column. The most common used steering column in the world. Used on all GMs from 1969–1994 on all gm cars, some Chryslers, AMC's, Winnabagos, Excalibers and very commonly used in rat rods, custom cars.Every weekday, one of us would go to the Mikwaykee police department to obtain the theft list from the night before. We would get the names addresses of theft victims.We would send letters the same day to them offering a free installed Chicago collar or hidden kill switch $150 installed value for both) free if they would let us repair the vehicle. This cost us for both about $5 for the collar and the switch and 15 minutes labor. We had a booming business. So much that people were having their vehicles pulled out of dealers and having the cars brought to us! In 1990 instead of two locations, we consolidated to a 6,000 square ft building which could hold 30 cars. We were a one stop shop.It could be just a broken column a stereo and dash replacement, or it could be a total strip, common for trans Ans, Camaris, Cultess, Monte Carlow SS, Grand Nationals. We put them all back in pre-theft condition. Custom vans were commonly stripped and pain in the butt to fix because the cyst in stuff was discontinued and we replaced with other custom stuff.We took great pride in our work and we worked 6–7 days a week 12–16 hours a day. We had other employees but they could not keep up with the three of us!We repaired any type of vehicle, but GMs by far wereee the most stolen.The reason- column design. One common method of theft was not hot wiring like you would see on tv. Sure you could get the engine running, but since 1969 except for stragglers like the trucks and vans, the steering wheel locked. So hotwiring could start the engine, the steering wheel was locked.To get past that, a dent puller was srewed into the center of the ignition lock, the lock would be ripped out of the column, a screwdriver took the place of the ignition and key, the steering wheel transmission shifter lock was breached and the screwdriver served as a key!That was a common method of theft from 1969-until 1977. The shift bowl ( the lower part of the steering column that moved when the shift lever was moved from park to low) was made of heavy steel and could not be broken. Some brilliant engineer decided to change the weight of the part and it was now made of brittle pot metal. Well, that was a game changer for steering column mechanical security. In 1978 the enginers corrected the ignition lock security by putting a grove on the outside of the ignition lock cylinder inside the steering column. The purpose for the groove was for a hardened screw to secure the ignition lock from being forcibly removed. They corrected one defect after 9 years and created a major security problem!With the shift bowl being brittle pot metal all one had to do is on the left side of the steering column completely opposite the ignition lock cylinder location on the column, a screwdriver could be inserted in the gap of the shift bowl a lightly pried! The shift bowl would shatter and fall to the floor. Why break the column there? Access to the locking mechanisms! A component known as a rack controlled the starting of the engine and the unlocking of the steering wheel. The transmission shift lever locking was defeated when the bol shattered. The lower looped portion was pried and the cheap don't metal it was broke. When it fell to the floor it resembled the large letter D. The cops gave it a name- the D ring of course! Now the two edges of the rack we're exposed. That portion of the rack was hit once upward with the palm of the hand with the screwdriver. Connectedinside the column to the rack was the teeth of the geared sector that was on the back side of the ignition lock. Groves for the sector feather we're on the other end of the ignition lick. Commonly, the sector spring attached to the steering wheel lock pun would pop off unlocking the steering wheel which was no longer locked.the only thing left was to pry on the exposed ignition rod on the tilt column and to push on a not tilt and the engine would start. Sounds complicated and time consuming doesn't it?? A teenager could accomplish this in 30 seconds and the car was his! In fact, to prove this point, on any given rainy day because the kids didn't want to walk in the 80s and 90s, the most common place to find abandoned stolen cars in Milwaukee was the school parking lots!When these kids be driving these cars, they figured the cops were stupid and coveted the broken column with a rag!The Chicago collar was stainless steel and went over a replaced shift bowl and was riveted on. This silver stainless was a visible different and made it very difficult to access the locking mechanisms.Then in 74–77 in certain vehicles like cutlass and grand and.another idiot engineer decide to start putting the bright light changer from the floor to the steering column. In 1978 they all had the bright light changer in the column and yet another great security idea. Let's make the upper bowl out of plastic instead of steel! GM should have fired all these engineers. Sure they were lowering cost and weight but at the expense if owners. Now there was another way to defeat the column! Just break away the plastic below the wiper lever and gull access to the locking mechanisms was there as well without having to break the shift bowl.What this amounted to is that we could tell you what part of the city the car was stolen from. The south side had a Hispanic population. To steal the car, they broke the upper bowl. On the north side, the blacks broke the lower shift bowl! 2 tales of a city I guess The upper bowl damage at night was a give away because the headlights we're commonly stuck to bright.In 1982 the engineers got even dymberon Canaris, fieros and others. The pit metal shift bowl was no more. It was now made of thin plastic that could be cut by scissors!In 1992 on the trucks and SUVs underneath the upper bowl was a steal sleeve that protected it from access, but never changed the cheap pot metal bowl. By 1995 for the most part the Saginaw round tilt column was phases out and GM went to a modular steering column.They toowere easy to defeat, just differently.We were different than dealers and repair shops. While many would just replace the column with junkyard. We rebuilt every one. The rate was 5.0. We could completely rebuild and paint to match in 30 minutes! Mike and I acetate 5 rebuilds a day each plus all our other work.In 1990, because of my experience with theft recoveries and far more knowledge than a locksmith, they hire me to examine vehicles to determine if the columns and ignition were truly circumventrd or if there appeared to be misrepresentation from the insured. This eventually brought me in to what I do now as serving the courts as an expert witness. In fact on a search for auto theft expert you would see us at number one. I have defeated transponder systems no one else could.Have trained the engineers for Chrysler in Auburn Hills MI. Went against Ford in a case in Los Angeles where Ford said the transponder system was virtually unstoppable. I defeated it with one site for a judge!Now the easier way to steal a modern vehicle is to make a jeyor program key fob. Some can be done unless tgsn30 seconds and the car would be mine.Some would say cost prohibitive because of the equipment needed. In 2011 inerded to demonstrate how to steal smart key BMWs. The equipment was $300 from China and I could steal as many BMWs as I wanted. $300 one time shot not bad. Year's ago this equipment was thousands of dollars. Not now!The factories see always going to install some sort of anti theft or insurance companies won't unsure this vehicles it protected. Electronic security us a joke though. Systems can be hacked as well!Thanks for reading! Appreciate upvotes. My memory really worked hard& lol