Stolen 1988 FJ62 in Seattle (1 Viewer)

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@JoeW Amazing! What a roller coaster the last 24 hours have been! Huge thank you to both @JoeW and @red66toy for the cross-post to Seattle cruiserheads! What a phenomenal community. She is back in the garage now where she belongs, no worse for wear. And one thief off the streets for a little while at least. Huge thank you and massive gratitude to everyone who helped, even the good thoughts and the encouraging posts helped me as I was feeling super depressed yesterday.


if this is exactly what you describe above a outright theft ?


NO F#CKING MERCY ! :mad:

press's charges

get a lawyer

and expose them openly in the BAD SELLERS FORUM


we as a community cannot and never tolerate SCUM like this !

bottom line !

i am very happy for you your truck has been located ......... :)





 
What a great ending to this story. For the record, that Home Depot is in Shoreline so it was found in the same county where it was stolen and Edmonds is not part of this crime. Any further north and it would’ve been a bit harder to find.
 
@JoeW Amazing! What a roller coaster the last 24 hours have been! Huge thank you to both @JoeW and @red66toy for the cross-post to Seattle cruiserheads! What a phenomenal community. She is back in the garage now where she belongs, no worse for wear. And one thief off the streets for a little while at least. Huge thank you and massive gratitude to everyone who helped, even the good thoughts and the encouraging posts helped me as I was feeling super depressed yesterday.
What a terrible feeling that must have been
:(

I’m glad everything was resolved quickly and that your truck is unharmed.
 
What are the odds of it being found this way???

And what a freeking idiot, why the fridge would you drive a stolen 60 series around like that. Unbelievable.
 
Thieves frequently park a stolen vehicle in a conspicuous location like that to see if anyone shows up using Lojack or various tracking systems. This crook doesn't seem that sophisticated, though. Wonder how they nabbed him?
 
Thieves frequently park a stolen vehicle in a conspicuous location like that to see if anyone shows up using Lojack or various tracking systems. This crook doesn't seem that sophisticated, though. Wonder how they nabbed him?
I think you're giving these kids A LOT more credit than they deserve. The tweakers up here just steal a car, drive it around for a while and then when it runs out of gas, they leave it and take another one.

As for how they got him, I told the cops what he looked like because I watched him walk away from the car, one cop went in and found the guy fitting his description, took a photo and sent it to the cop outside who asked if that was the guy, which it was. Pretty simple.
 
So glad this ended well!!

Did they use a ghost key to get in and start it? We have seen that a lot down here. Also have heard reports they use cruisers as tow rigs. Not the brightest group here.
 
This entire saga from first post till right this second is concrete proof

That we as the vintage Toyota Land Cruiser community when we band

together are a great people that can do a great many many things …..


The outcome is nothing less then bliss



I had over the holidays chaos of many many dozens of orders shipped tue same fellow owner operator duplicate orders Sizable to say the least

It happened 2 times from thanks giving to xmass


Yes I’m embarrassed and anxious telling This honest facts story right this. Metric second


But …

Both times I was simply unaware I had done such

Both customers were first time clients / first orders , and both unrelated to each others orders


And both times they hunted me down to simply say

I sent them 2 orders by mistake it seamed …


One was a mud member

Other not , he is a face book land cruiser 60 fellow only


Sure it’s hard to admit a mistake and say sorry ?


But , sorry was not the word


Simple human gratitude was the phrase of both days ..


The out right honestly of 99.9999 % of us simply put me in both wonder

and star struck thought at times ….


The way in witch all Whom posted in this thread and banded around the fellow member who was ripped off by TEq crack heads right here all day today is exactly why

I will always call MUD my home base …


Thanks for letting me share


Matt
 
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Hi Paco, I was wondering what a ghost key is. Something I need to watch out for?
Pretty much all of the ignitions in our 60 series are old and worn so it doesn't take much to get something to work. When @Paul DiNapoli got his cruiser back there was a key that was filed down. Possibly one for the doors and then anther for the ignition. A little wiggling and bam they are in and off with your rig. It might be the incorrect phrase but I have heard these filed down keys referred to as ghost keys.

Clubs are good visual deterrents, but a steering wheel can be cut pretty fast. A good kill switch, hidden or factory looking one in plain sight is a must on any cruiser nowadays. I am paranoid about mine and always make sure it is the second car in our driveway.
 
Can we get his photo from the arrest log and post it somewhere? Just for future reference. Just in case he needs help crossing the street or something...
Did you say a backhoe? or we could send him to Dr. Hannibal Lecter for some needed help.;)
 
Hide a tracking device (or 2-3 devices) in your vehicle. They are not perfect, but they are cheap and better than nothing…much better.
 
Pretty much all of the ignitions in our 60 series are old and worn so it doesn't take much to get something to work. When @Paul DiNapoli got his cruiser back there was a key that was filed down. Possibly one for the doors and then anther for the ignition. A little wiggling and bam they are in and off with your rig. It might be the incorrect phrase but I have heard these filed down keys referred to as ghost keys.

Clubs are good visual deterrents, but a steering wheel can be cut pretty fast. A good kill switch, hidden or factory looking one in plain sight is a must on any cruiser nowadays. I am paranoid about mine and always make sure it is the second car in our driveway.

I can run my BJ without a key. I just need to pry open the hood, turn on the injection pump by hand, and bump start and gone.
 
Just saw this thread this morning. What a great start to my day reading this. @JoeW I applaud you sir. Thanks for your efforts here. I don't know if I have ever seen one of these go this way. Just awesome.

Edit: OP, maybe have a romp through this thread for future issues in your area:

 
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Thanks all. The tracking devices, kill switches, and other suggestions are much appreciated. The ironic part of this story is knowing it would be trivial to steal I have parked my cruiser in the garage more or less every night in the 4 years I've owned it. I think the night it was stolen was only the 3rd time I'd left it on the street in 4 years. @JoeW is right, this guy didn't know that he had stolen something that would stand out - he was just looking for transportation. There is zero damage to the ignition or anything else, so either he used an old key or the cop said even a screwdriver or other thin, flat piece of metal would work. I'm not sure how he unlocked the doors though as my key barely works in either door cylinder. I wish I knew what trick he used because when my son locked my keys inside last year, had to wait an hour for locksmith to show up and then he did the inflatable balloon between the door and the door frame trick - which really made me cringe as I thought of all of the existing air leaks that would be getting worse. :rolleyes:
 

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