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Only on Nantucket: The Curious Case of the "Stolen" Mercedes

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Re: Only on Nantucket: The Curious Case of the "Stolen" Mercedes

#11

Post by cheese_van »

Happened to me in the '80's. '71 Buick Skylark. When we went to lunch, our receptionist asked us to drive her Buick as it "was making funny noises." We found it in the 5 storey carpark, took it out and it drove fine. However, we got back rather late, and the carpark was full so we had to park it on the highest level. When we returned, I asked our receptionist, "I thought it odd that you had a St Christopher statue on the dash, I thought you were Baptist?" "No, I don't have a St Christopher on the dash," she replied.

Apparently we took the wrong Buick. The owner, we conjectured, was going to report it stolen since it was sitting 4 floors up on the exposed level.

Not knowing what kind of liability to which we were exposed, we kept it to ourselves.

Re: Only on Nantucket: The Curious Case of the "Stolen" Mercedes

#12

Post by avalys »

greatgib wrote: post #2

Now the great question is how come the same key is working with a different car ignition! And there isn't a reply for that in the article!

The locks get pretty worn out after 30 years. Probably any key made from the same blank would turn the lock.

Re: Only on Nantucket: The Curious Case of the "Stolen" Mercedes

#13

Post by airstrike »

When I was a kid in the 90s, a teacher in the school shut their car door with their key inside. It was late into the afternoon and the school was a ways out, so with no expectation that they could get service any time soon, other teachers started trying their own keys.

To everyone's surprise, out a car key from a totally different make and model worked. The details of that one instance are obviously fuzzy at this point, but if I had to guess, it might have been made possible thanks to the AutoLatina JV

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AutoLatina

Re: Only on Nantucket: The Curious Case of the "Stolen" Mercedes

#14

Post by gambiting »

Ha, I've "stolen" a rental company BMW in a similar-ish way, basically we turned up to the rental company at an airport in Spain, they threw the keys my way and said the car is a BMW 2 series and it's outside their office. So I walk out and yep, there's a BMW Series 2 parked outside. Hopped in,pressed the start button, drove it to the hotel. Went for a quick swim in the hotel's pool, came back to about 30 unanswered calls from Hertz. They call me again and they go "oh sorry to bother you, just wanted to ask if you could check the number on the key for your BMW, we might have given you the wrong car". I told them the number, they said it's all good, sorry for bothering.

So I went for lunch, came back, another 30 missed calls from Hertz. They call again and ask we're really really really sorry but would you mind going to the car and checking the licence plate on the car. So I said ok, went to the carpark....and yep, it was different to the one on my key.

Turns out that the car right in front of their office was a car that was being prepared for cleaning and they left the key for it in the armrest, which is why it started when I jumped in. They must have pooped themselves when they noticed the car was gone lol. Fortunately they were really nice about it and someone from their office came to see us and brought us the right car. But I imagine the panic in their office when they realized the car is missing.

Re: Only on Nantucket: The Curious Case of the "Stolen" Mercedes

#15

Post by AnimalMuppet »

avalys wrote: post #12
greatgib wrote: post #2

Now the great question is how come the same key is working with a different car ignition! And there isn't a reply for that in the article!

The locks get pretty worn out after 30 years. Probably any key made from the same blank would turn the lock.

I had a friend in college. On his car, any key[1] would turn the driver's side door lock. Not the ignition, though. You could break into his car, but you couldn't drive it off.

[1] For the nitpickers: No, not a skeleton key. Some would probably be too fat to fit in the lock. And so on. But virtually any car key, and maybe even a house key. It was a Chevy, IIRC, but I opened it with a VW key.

Re: Only on Nantucket: The Curious Case of the "Stolen" Mercedes

#16

Post by fred_is_fred »

morkalork wrote: post #10
haunter wrote: post #4

In my next life I might feel bad about rich people. Not now though.

Nantucket Island is one of those funny precarious places at risk from climate change. All those rich CEOs and executives with their 2nd homes there, do they care? Do they connect the dots between the externalities of their companies and what they lobby the government for to the fate of that little island?

I think being a CEO means being intentionally blind to externalities.

Re: Only on Nantucket: The Curious Case of the "Stolen" Mercedes

#17

Post by bombcar »

kjellsbells wrote: post #5

Wait a minute. There were two G-wagens in the parking lot, one a 1985 model and one (based on the photo) much more recent. These are $100,000+ cars. The owner told the cops the keys were not left inside. Are we saying that a random ignition key from a 40 year old car can start a 21st century G-wagen? The kids who jack Kias for Tiktok views may just have found a new hobby.

A key is a blank (that has to fit) and then 5 or 6 "teeth" which usually have only 3 or 4 possible depths - that means you have only a few thousand actual possible combinations (some won't work because some locks can't handle two identical in a row, or a tall followed immediately by a short, etc.

Also as cars get older, the ignition and locks get looser until a screwdriver will start it.

Re: Only on Nantucket: The Curious Case of the "Stolen" Mercedes

#18

Post by brookst »

morkalork wrote: post #10
haunter wrote: post #4

In my next life I might feel bad about rich people. Not now though.

Nantucket Island is one of those funny precarious places at risk from climate change. All those rich CEOs and executives with their 2nd homes there, do they care? Do they connect the dots between the externalities of their companies and what they lobby the government for to the fate of that little island?

Why would they care? If it floods they’ll just buy another one.

Re: Only on Nantucket: The Curious Case of the "Stolen" Mercedes

#19

Post by gambiting »

wfleming wrote: post #7
kjellsbells wrote: post #5

Wait a minute. There were two G-wagens in the parking lot, one a 1985 model and one (based on the photo) much more recent. These are $100,000+ cars. The owner told the cops the keys were not left inside. Are we saying that a random ignition key from a 40 year old car can start a 21st century G-wagen? The kids who jack Kias for Tiktok views may just have found a new hobby.

The “stolen” one is a 1991 model according to the article, so not that new (just kept in immaculate condition as the photos show, I was surprised when I saw it was a ‘91), and only 6 years between the two vehicles involved. Given those ages, it’s not shocking Mercedes was using the same key patterns.

In fact other German cars are susceptible to this too. Famously VW uses so few combinations on their keys that it's actually not at all unlikely your key will work with another random VW of the same vintage.

Re: Only on Nantucket: The Curious Case of the "Stolen" Mercedes

#20

Post by xgkickt »

morkalork wrote: post #10
haunter wrote: post #4

In my next life I might feel bad about rich people. Not now though.

Nantucket Island is one of those funny precarious places at risk from climate change. All those rich CEOs and executives with their 2nd homes there, do they care? Do they connect the dots between the externalities of their companies and what they lobby the government for to the fate of that little island?

They’d rather spend an extraordinary amount increasing the island’s elevation.
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