I get Error code: SSL_ERROR_UNSAFE_NEGOTIATION Qualys also detects that this is disabled. I would like to see the page as I like older cars.
A surprisingly apt error, really, given the article.
A few things to know before stealing my 914
31–40 of 428 posts
Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914
#32So, apparently there is no mandatory vehicle inspection in the US. Of course there isn't, it would violate the freedom to drive with an unroadworthy car.
It depends on the state. Most of the ones that do exist are concerned with things like “do you have seat belts? are there rear view mirrors? do the turn signals work? is the check engine light on?” Classic/antique vehicles are also often exempt.
There's no way that car would pass an emissions test.
Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914
#33Wow, I could write almost the same article about my '85 Westfalia Vanagon.
There's a sweet spot, around the 90s, where the cars are still running fine, and are not yet too complex to steal with a pocket knife.
Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914
#34Wow, I could write almost the same article about my '85 Westfalia Vanagon.
I was thinking exactly the same thing, except ① it was '83, not '85 (and thus air-cooled); ② it was an aftermarket camper van conversion with some slight design issues in the pop top, not a Westfalia; ③ after I rebuilt the engine a second time we sold it, so, blessedly, it's not mine anymore. My engine rebuild survived for a couple of years until the new owner drove it in second gear for an hour at highway speeds, ov…
re ③, on...purpose?
Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914
#35He could write pretty much the same article about owning an OG Chrysler minivan, which is arguably a more historically significant vehicle but built by a make that prompts sneers about reliability and credit scores from most here, and it would just be considered trashy or prompt pearl clutching by most of the readership. Amazing the breadth of preconceived notions that can be leveraged with a badge on a grill. Having…
You might be overanalyzing a bit. I think it really comes down to sports cars being cool & vans being…vans. All the “Porsche” part really does is get more clicks (because people know what it is).
I think most people here would be fawning over the article were it a Toyota Previa or some other car that does not bring to mind "transportation that a day laborer would have driven circa " which is what happens to a lot of successful vehicles.
Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914
#36As someone who drove a 1972 Westfalia for ~10 years this had me laughing to myself multiple times in agreement.
I was gonna say, I took a long road trip in a 1971 VW microbus and this was triggering some memories. Especially the description of finding the gears!
Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914
#37Speaking of security through obscurity, my car is a 96 Nissan and it's had a few attempts on it. It's easy enough to steal, but it's getting hard enough for me to find replacement parts that I'd be surprised if thieves have everything, so I take some bits of the car with me if it's sitting for a while.
I have a quick release wheel to deter the average opportunist from breaking my glass and ignition barrel, and with some wiring trickery and the bits I remove it's never going to start. It's aftermarket enough that stock parts won't help the thief, so unless they have a laptop, an aftermarket ECU, and a tuner handy, they probably won't get far.
Sucks to have to bother with all that, but alarms have never helped me, and you just can't fix woeful 90s physical security.
One attempt on my car was only foiled because when I park up at my girlfriends house, I remove some 90s era fuses you can't get anymore and take the box covers with me. A paperclip would work, but you've got to figure out that the specific fuses are missing first.
It's not about being perfect when it comes to car security, it's about being too much of a pain in the ass, so they'll give up and move on. Just like bicycle security.
Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914
#38My first car was a 68 Mustang, which was a gorgeous heap of junk. At one point, the clutch just completely gave up and wedged itself in the “engaged” position. To get the car moving, I had to kill the engine, put it in 1st gear, and turn the key to run the starter. This pulled the whole car into enough motion to get the engine going, then I could synchro shift all I wanted until it came time to stop again. For that cursed month, I got very good at finding routes that didn’t involve stop lights or long lines of slow moving traffic.
Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914
#39My first car was a 914. Love and miss it to this day. At some point the solenoid died (or some other electrical component). So to start it, you'd have to reach under the car with a screwdriver (or some other piece of metal, but I kept a screwdriver in the car for this purpose), and short out across two terminals. You then had 10-20 seconds to get out from under the car, into the driver's seat, and turn the key. As a…
Wow, what a blast from the past. My first car was a 1990 Mercury Grand Marquis, and it developed this same solenoid issue. My grandpa taught me that same trick of shorting past the solenoid so that the car can start. My friends were always very curious why there was a hammer underneath the passenger's seat, at least until I told them to hand it to me and crank the engine when I gave the shout.
Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
It depends on the state. Most of the ones that do exist are concerned with things like “do you have seat belts? are there rear view mirrors? do the turn signals work? is the check engine light on?” Classic/antique vehicles are also often exempt.
There's no way that car would pass an emissions test.
Not all states test emissions, either.