----------------------------------------------------------- This message sent by: "Paul Carreiro, N6EV" ----------------------------------------------------------- Well it's time to tell my tale of woe.. and adulation. My 86SS has been stolen twice since I special ordered it back in 86. The first theft has gone down in the history book of my insurance company. I hope you enjoy this scary, funny and unbelievable story. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- It was Christmas 1989. I decided to take vacation time and fly to my parents to celebrate the holidays. My SS was parked at my apartment car port for the duration. I returned after 2 weeks away to find broken glass on the ground, and my car cover in a pile along with a few items from the trunk. No SS. My heart sank. I found a message on my answering machine from the apartment management: "Your car has been reported vandalized. The door is open and the rear window is broken. Please take care of it." Well, apparently someone else decided to take care of it.. found the car after it was burglarized (probably for the stereo) with the door wide open and decided to do one better... they took the car. (I gave the apartment management a ration of sh*t about not reporting it to the police). Standard call to the police and insurance was made. After another 2 agonizing weeks the insurance agent called to say they were going to settle the loss of the car and that they needed to get together with me to fill out the necessary paperwork. The agent showed up at my apartment and asked me a bunch of incriminating questions.. to see if I ditched the car for the money (wash your mouth out!). After all the paperwork was filled out.. he indicated I should have my settlement check in a few days and he left. About 45 minutes later, the phone rings. It's the agent: "Paul, how long have I been gone?" asked the agent. "Oh, about 45 minutes" I replied. "Well, it's been an exciting 45 minutes" the agent quipped. As the agent left my apartment complex to head out onto the street, my beautiful 86SS drove right past him.. broken window and all.. and pulled into the supermarket next door! It still had my personalized license plates on it.. so he knew he had the right car. He followed them into the supermarket parking lot and watched the two thiefs go in. My agent went to an adjacent business and called 911. (it gets better) The police told him to indicate when the car hit the street, so they could legally pull them over. Immediately upon the car hitting the street, they were confronted with 3 POS cruisers rolling code 3. The two thiefs took off and the chase was on.... with MY SS! This is the kinda stuff you would see on "America's Wildest Police Videos"... or "COPS". They made a run for and got on the freeway.. by this time, they had a Ford GT pursuit vehicle, 4 POS cruisers and a police van behind them... followed by my insurance agent in his little economy car (don't ask me how he kept up). (it gets even better) Well the thiefs sideswiped a few cars (whimper) during the pursuit. The police decided to do a traffic break to keep other cars out of the way... all the while my agent is keeping up with them.. taking photos! After a few miles, the bonehead thiefs decide to pull off the freeway. Unfortunately for them, they picked a military base off ramp. (As this point.. picture yourself as a Marine sentry guarding the entrance to a Navy Base.. your M16 in hand.. you hear sirens.. then all of a sudden a Silver Bullet 86 Monte Carlo SS comes shooting straight at you and the gate you are guarding with half a dozen police cars (and my insurance agent) in pursuit... get the picture?) Well, you guessed it.. but no, they didn't shoot. The Marines drew a bead on MY SS with their M16s. (now picture yourself as a thief behind the wheel of a cool 86SS... but you're looking down the barrel of a few M16s... what would you do?) Kiss asphalt right? Well, that's what they got to do... all the while my Agent was taking pictures. There's nothing like seeing a photo of your SS with 3 M16s, 3 shotguns and a gaggle of side arms pointed at it. The best part was seeing the two boneheads kissing asphalt. I arrive on scene just in time to see the car being lifted on a tow truck. I ask to look in the trunk, because I had a lot of expensive radio gear inside. The trunk is opened... no radio gear.. but there's plenty of TVs, VCRs, a vacuum cleaner, and various other stuff. Turned out they had used the car in a few residential burglaries, and a few armed store robberies (they know a good getaway car when they see one). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now it's 1993.. a few years later.. the car is stolen again. This time it's recovered a few days later.. with little fan fare. The car is towed to my local dealership in reasonable shape..all they took was the stereo. I have the insurance rendezvous at the dealership.. you guessed it.. same agent. He did not recognize me.. but as soon as he saw the car, he stopped dead in his tracks and turned white. The apprentice agent he had with him said "What?". The agent turned to the apprentice and said "remember I told you about that Monte Carlo SS chase?... This is that car!" The apprentice was in aww. It was like he was in the presence of a celebrity. I guess the story of the chase made it through the company news nationwide. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Moral of the story.. protect your SSs as much as you can. There are people out there who want them bad.. either for parts, or stereos, or get- away cars. I've taken extraordinary efforts to ensure it won't happen again, believe me. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I hope you have enjoyed the story. It turned out for the best.. good guys 2, bad guys 0. As always.. this story may be reproduced with proper credit and prior permission. Crop when replying to the list yadda yadda yadda... Regards... Paul Original Owner, 86 MC SS Custom Ordered with all options (minus the AeroSport, d'oh!)