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My first car, a total banger, was once stolen and then abandoned a few streets away. The thieves broke the ignition and steering lock, which I couldn't afford t

My first car, a total banger, was once stolen and then abandoned a few streets away. The thieves broke the ignition and steering lock, which I couldn't afford to get fixed. So for the next year or so, until the thing finally died, I had to hotwire it every time to start. It never stopped being fun, as I would pretend I was in some kind of 'Gone in 60 seconds' situation, even though the car in question was a rusted-through Metro. And the looks I got from passers-by, especially in car parks, were priceless. EDIT: And as they also broke the door lock, I could totally unlock it with a screwdriver.

darklajid 10y ago
Did something similar: I had a (couple, actually..) Citroën 2 CV with a broken lock. My "No money to fix it" solution was to have the wires somewhat exposed and use a screwdriver (obviously anything metal would've been ok) to short it when I had to start the car. My door lock worked fine, although I noticed that it was so ~crap~ that I could actually unlock it with the key of other cars of the same type. A couple field tests confirmed that I could unlock _other_ 2 CVs with my key as well, on a regular basis.
- ajford 10y ago
  My uncle had an old construction truck that was so jerry-rigged it was hilarious. It was a diesel truck, but the glow plug igniter (or heater, whatever you call it) had gone out, so it was wired to a couple of toggle switches, so you had to flip one switch, wait like a minute or two, then flip a second switch, wait some more, then flip them off, then start up. They were in some kind of pull out tray (probably an old ash tray or the like) from the dash, and the original preheater would still turn on the light on the dash, but not actually heat the plugs, so it was a built in theft deterrent, since you couldn't actually start that way. Then at some point, someone either ran over his keys or dropped them in a cement pour (I don't remember anymore), but he had to move the truck for some reason, so he busted the ignition cylinder, so he used a stubby screw driver he kept in the cup holder to start it. The tailgate was kept up by two chunks of rebar slid through holes in the side of the truck into the tailgate. The bed of the truck was rebuilt out of recycled lumber and plywood from demolition work. Grill was rebuilt out of metal mesh that broke off one of his backhoes I think. That truck was a hell of a sight. Wish I had a picture of it.

darklajid 10y ago

Did something similar: I had a (couple, actually..) Citroën 2 CV with a broken lock. My "No money to fix it" solution was to have the wires somewhat exposed and use a screwdriver (obviously anything metal would've been ok) to short it when I had to start the car. My door lock worked fine, although I noticed that it was so ~crap~ that I could actually unlock it with the key of other cars of the same type. A couple field tests confirmed that I could unlock _other_ 2 CVs with my key as well, on a regular basis.

ajford 10y ago
My uncle had an old construction truck that was so jerry-rigged it was hilarious. It was a diesel truck, but the glow plug igniter (or heater, whatever you call it) had gone out, so it was wired to a couple of toggle switches, so you had to flip one switch, wait like a minute or two, then flip a second switch, wait some more, then flip them off, then start up. They were in some kind of pull out tray (probably an old ash tray or the like) from the dash, and the original preheater would still turn on the light on the dash, but not actually heat the plugs, so it was a built in theft deterrent, since you couldn't actually start that way. Then at some point, someone either ran over his keys or dropped them in a cement pour (I don't remember anymore), but he had to move the truck for some reason, so he busted the ignition cylinder, so he used a stubby screw driver he kept in the cup holder to start it. The tailgate was kept up by two chunks of rebar slid through holes in the side of the truck into the tailgate. The bed of the truck was rebuilt out of recycled lumber and plywood from demolition work. Grill was rebuilt out of metal mesh that broke off one of his backhoes I think. That truck was a hell of a sight. Wish I had a picture of it.