Stolen FJ60 in Los Angeles (1 Viewer)

[lostbaby]

Please forgive me for posting across multiple forums. I'm new here working off the advice of experienced users; I hope it's OK.

My 1987 FJ60 was stolen sometime on the night of June 17 from the street in front of my house in Echo Park. The Mini next to it was worth 4 times as much, but I guess they knew what they wanted.

It's brown with sun damage to the paint on the hood and roof. The rear windows have dark tint on them. It's lifted a few inches on a Specter heavy duty suspension. It has around 190,000 miles on it, a 5 speed manual transmission, and a bunch of other quirks as we all know and love.

Yesterday it was wearing California plates 3XFN905. Today, who knows? The VIN is JT3FJ60G4H1136570. Please keep an eye out.

thanks,

mark

 

[gon2srf]

That blows, hope you recover it.

 

[fj80toyman]

Sorry to hear about that. Sounds like joy-riders took it just because they could. Mini's are harder to steal.

I'd look at off-highway places around here where they might dump it when they got tired of driving it.


Good luck, really hope its found.

 

[bpenn1980]

I'm over on the westside, but I'll keep my eye out. Sucks man.

 

[lostbaby]

Happy ending / Call off the dogs

This afternoon the Pasadena Police Department called to say they'd found my truck in a Food 4 Less parking lot about 12 miles from where it was stolen. The officer waited the half hour it took me to get there so I could avoid the expense of towing and impound. No one was particularly interested in dusting anything for prints, least of all me.

The radio and battery were missing, along with a bunch of tools and things (jumper cables, tow strap, etc.) but otherwise it's fine. No dents, dings, broken glass, or forced locks. No mud on it. I bought a new battery (all the parts of the battery tie-down were kindly left where they would be easy to find) and drove it home.

The truck was stolen sometime Friday night / Saturday morning, and first noticed in the parking lot when the security guard showed up at 10AM on Sunday. For bureaucratic reasons that did not impress the Police officer the security guard waited a couple days before he called it in.

Had it been dumped one aisle over it would have been on camera. The security guard credits this to the sophistication of the thieves, but it seems more like luck to me.

So I guess they stole it for the battery and radio, and so they could rifle through my glove compartment at their leisure, and then they dumped it where they knew it would be found.

Now it's time to work on that kill switch.

Thanks all.

 

[1FZj80]

Glad to hear you got it back without much damage. I have pulled the EFI fuse a few times when I was out of town and left my 80 on the street, but it would be nice to have a good simple and easy to use kill switch. Post what you come up with.

 

[fj80toyman]

Good news. You should buy a lottery ticket soon, maybe your luck will hold out!

 

[S.CarolinaFZJ80]

Glad that you found it!

 

[gon2srf]

Very cool, happy ending.

 

[Brentbba]

x2 on the lottery ticket!!! Glad you found it mostly intact as opposed to a frame from a chop shop.

 

[bpenn1980]

No one was particularly interested in dusting anything for prints, least of all me.

Glad you got it back mostly intact.

I dont think the police do very much detective work, or only do it for violent crime and VIPs. Stolen cars, stolen personal property, burglary, etc doesnt really get very much attention. In the last two months I filed a "hit and run" on the cruiser and a stolen bicycle. Both times the police officer said its basically for insurance purposes because they dont do anything with the info. My neighbor who was burglarized said it was the same except that they actually came to the house. Kind of a bummer.

 

[Michael Hanson]

And good luck with the insurance co! We need to have a ihmud in. co. MIke

 

[NLXTACY]

Lostbaby, we are part of an elite club. Both our trucks were stolen and found days later and close to home. Congrats!!

 

[ScottyDog]

Man that sucks it was stolen in the first place..., but is good to hear you recovered it slightly molested at the same time.

Did they hotwire it or break the ignition?

A few years back thieves tried to steal my Heep XJ, the broke the steering wheel locking mechanism and slide hammered the ignition... if it wasn't for a bad starter they would have gotten away with it.