Route 66

I would leave my windows down. I don't worry about these small things in life. What kills me is when someone runs into a drycleaner to pick up clothes, or a coffee shop to grab coffee to go and they lock the doors on the car. That confuses me. Maybe it's out of habit for them. They can watch the car from inside if need be for the two minutes theyr'e away. Why lock it in this situation. I saw a Viper with it's top down in a parking lot once with the keys sitting on the passanger seat. Now I wouldn't go that far, but we do have insurance. I guess I live in a part of town where I trust the people around me.

Jewls05GT

I did it today at the post office and at Kinko's, but only for me to run in and out, not for a long period of time, and there is nothing in my car anyway.

yur1279

just saw an 06 GT vert by Stop & Shop here the other night with the top and windows down, it was dark and it was still there when I came out. My town is known for kids who spend their entire nights going around vandelizign cars. The owner hopefully was lucky nooen messed w/ theirs.

blackhat

We could all rest easy if we had this perfectly legal flame thrower like they do in South Africa..

FalconDude

I leave them down sometimes, but I still feel uneasy. I try and figure out why I do, then think about the reasons other people lock their car to go grab a cup of coffee 10 yards away. I came up with only the following:
1.) Concerned about someone stealing the car?
2.) Worried about someone stealing something left in the car?
3.) Worried about someone vandalizing the interior?
4.) Worried about a swarm of bees taking up residence?

Well #1 won't happen without a key. And #2 can be prevented. #4 seems unlikely. I guess for me, it's concern about #3, which is also why I'm worried about getting keyed. Maybe this concern will go away when people are no longer jealous of our cool rides...

GottaHaveIt

# 1 if they want it bad enough they'll get it !
# 2 don't leave things in plain view that could be desirable to others,even if they wanna make a buck. out of site out of mind !
# 3 again there is always a risk , less if they know what you'd do to them if caught ! he,he
# 4 Only if your car is Yellow and they think its the Queen of all Bee's

ponyboy66

The number 1 reason why most people, not all, but most is because it's a status thing. Most vehicles make a chirp or some audible indication that the "System" is armed. It makes people feel cool. I know this because I observe exactly what you are talking about all of the time. Back in the 70's when alarms were first coming out you didn't want anyone to know that you had an alarm. Now it's just the opposite. Seems counter productive to me.

I had to build my own out of a house thermostat mercury switch mounted inside the fender well in such a way that the switch would make when the car was tilted. Tied to the horn relay. Armed it with a toggle switch under the dash.

My ex boss would arm his every day when we went to lunch. Couldn't figure out why for a while and then I would observe him arming the system as we were about 50 feet from the vehicle. I asked him why he didn't arm it right away. He said so he could observe people watching him. We would go to places that Mother Theresa would call home.

Budders

I leave the top down in my '73 if i can see the car, like at 7-11 or Taco Bell but other than that i put it up, and its a pretty big pain if i'm the only one in the car!

Stang281

This would work too... http://www.trunkmonkeyad.com/

Boltzman

insurance is cool but when you make claims your rates go up and that sucks.So why take a chance?I have learned that crime is EVERYWHERE and nobody is immune to it.

rfbandit

If I'm running into a 7-11 in a bad part of town. I take my car's security a step further. Crack the windows about an inch, and crank up the police scanner. Keeps people away from the car pretty nicely.

Hollywood_North GT

So lemmie see if I got this straight: The guy arrogantly parks across two spaces presumably cause he doesn't want his Porsche to get dinged...but he leaves it wide open to the world for some mother with her kid to dump an ice cream cone or slurpee inside - or worse yet, for a bird to crap all over the interior.

Smart.

Kahdir

West Chester... but after livin' in Darby for so long, it's hard to break habits out here

Juice

Depends where you live. I grew up in Jersey City, NJ. (Exit 14C) My 72 Gran Torino Fastback was stolen out of Hudson Mall parking lot. I've lost two stereos and a CB from locked up cars. The Torino was recovered the next day in Saddlebrook. They broke the left rear window and yanked the lock out of the column. If they want it they can get it.
Since then we have lived all over the eastern half of the country.
Some places, we would never lock a door, and I wouldn't hesitate to leave my car open while I was in the store. That doesn't mean I would leave it open while my wife does a marathon trip through the mall, but if I was running into the store to grab a box of nails and come right out, I might leave it open
Funny hting about convertibles though. When I lived in virginia Beach, I neve locked my Miata. I figured there wasn't anything in it worth taking and they would slash the top to get in anyway.

blackhat

Juice,

Where in JC? I'm in JC all the time down by Virigina and West Side. My friends GS-R was stolen (towed out of their driveway), my '92 Legend Coupe LS was hit by a drunk driver playing pinball off the cars going down the block and then it was stolen and totalled out. :bang:

I always left my Wrangler open, just had a bikini top on it and no doors. Also always left my Mustang and Miata tops down too, like you said, nothing in it to steal and if they wanted in, all they have to do is slash the top.

GhostTX

I roll them up because people tend to be jerks.

I've seen Cokes and trash...and that other guys account of the cigarettes. 5 seconds of inconvience to roll them up versus $100+ to fix a seat or whatever.

GottaHaveIt

Lets face it were damned if we do & damnd if we don't , if we do not leave objects in view and out of site and door not locked less damage to occur, then if something happens was the door locked when you are asked of course it was, saves lock or window being takin out ?

Juice

Grew up Downtown and went to Ferris High. I haven't lived there since 1977. Do go back and vist as my Mother in Law still lives there.

OBleedingMe

Of course, because there are people out there that simply don't have respect for a beautiful piece of automotive artwork like that.

I don't see a problem with parking like that as long as it's not in the front row of the parking lot. As long as the car is out of the way in the back, who are you to tell the guy how to park his 440k car? He's not bothering you.

Besides, if someone wants to key that car, they're going ot key it. It doens't matter how many spaces he takes up - a car like that is GIANT attention magnet. A car like that would never, EVER leave my sight. heck, my Mustang GT hardly ever leaves my sight, lol.

S197 GT

I'm sorry guys, but why would you leave your windows down? It doesn't make sense to me. But then again, I have global windows ACTIVATED and I roll them down everytime I unlock the car.

It can't be out of laziness, because all we have to do is hit the switches once and they'll go all the way up on their own.

Do not leave your windows down! You are just inviting trouble. Yeah we've got insurance,and we are close enough to confront anyone that poses a threat. But to me, it's not worth the pain-in-the-hiney that it can become.