Castor that sucks. How much did they want for it?

5000 for a used grand am- that IS robbery

HAHA!!!!11

no seriously pontiac blows

CastorTroy:

You get a Florida tag.

The Quick Takes column in the Chicago Sun-Times has a recurring theme: "Modern Education + The Criminal Mind." The same principle's at work here...

CasterTroy:

I guess they forgot about the whole "serve" part of "protect and serve"

Bloody Savages

skinink

That was my original thought, too, but she IS in Montana. It sucks to get into a freezing cold car, and I'm sure letting the car warm up is typical practice around those parts.

Monday morning, Tiffany Johnson left her Pontiac Grand-Am running to warm it up.

Well there's the problem right there. Stupid human. The best way to 'warm up' a car is to drive it.

"but a passer-by found the papers in the street, and returned them to the Johnsons."

Sure, they returned 'em. For 5 bucks a page.

Some donkey in my hometown stole a ring from a pawnshop a few years back and tried to sell it back to them a few days later. He was only around 14 at the time but still dumb as dirt.

I'm so proud I live in Montana!

There is no such thing as an educated criminal. Unless they are a politician.

Skinink,

Police in the DC area have stated that they will issue tickets to people who leave their cars running and unattended on cold mornings.

You're right fitgeek, the best way for the car to warm up is to drive it, but when it's cold outside, it's too cold in the car to get in. You need to warm it up so you can comfortably drive it.
BTW, they do have those keyless remotes that start the car for you but you can't drive it without the key. Very nice for the frigid Midwest. (Thank goodness I don't live ther anymore!)

Maybe this guy should get Durst's attorneys to claim the he was "borrowing the car as a way to secure a $5k 'loan'". Just a thought.

In Cincinnati, it is illegal to leave a car unattended and running. It is also illegal to leave a car idle from more than 3 minutes unless it is under 32 degrees F outside. At that point, i think it becomes 15 minutes.

Anyway, every damn night there is a metro bus sitting on a street behind me, has the loudest rumbling idle engine EVER! Good lord it is annoying.

I heard the thief was throwing out golf clubs to a mail truck that was following it.


ahhh seinfeld, gotta love it.

LibertyVixen:

The only time it should be "too cold" to get into a car is when there's been an ice storm and the lock is jammed. Then if someone had a remote car starter that would be useful.

Otherwise, if it's really that cold outside (speaking as a Canadian) then the driver should have adequate clothing in case something happens, like sliding off the road. If you're dressed properly for the weather you can sure as heck sit in a car and drive it without having to warm it up. It's just burning money, bad for the engine, bad for the environment. Especially dumb is leaving it unattended!!!

The lady left her car on and walked away? Shes never gonna live that down...

Isn't it worst for your car to jump in it and drive on a freezing morning than to let it warm up and idle down? that being said she should have sat in the car while it was warming up.

I had this really inexpensive device for situations just like this - It's calls "AN EXTRA KEY".

Isn't it worst for your car to jump in it and drive on a freezing morning than to let it warm up and idle down?

No. Not unless your car was built in the 70's or earlier.

Wow. Carth gets the intelligence award today for being the first to point out that driving a car that's not properly warmed up is a bad idea. Though walking away from a car with the keys in it is an even dumber idea...

CastorTroy

Why didn't you just get a gun and take care of things yourself? Have a recording of the police call as proof that you sought legal recourse.

skinink

You can always tell if the girl is from Medford or Revere if she smells like Aqua-Net. :)

Car101184, with todays modern engines, you need no more than 30 seconds of idling on winter days before starting to drive.

A friend/neighbor of mine would leave his car running to warm up & I, of course, would move it about half a block or so and watch out the window. He would stand at his empty spot & kind of pace back and forth untill noticing it up the street. -I'd laugh out loud every time.

"You can always tell if the girl is from Medford or Revere if she smells like Aqua-Net."

For some reason I can't stop laughing at this.

A friend of mine had a cell phone stolen. He called the number from home and asked the thief to return it. The thief said the phone had a voicemail on it that was worth $3000, and that's what he wanted to return the phone. Guy was so stupid he did not realize you need a PIN number to retrieve the messages, or that you can retrieve it from any other phone if you have the PIN.

Hey I had my house stolen and I called the phone number and the guy gave me the house back because I threatened him...

That is an old Urban Legend about the stolen car and cellphone...

bah/

What a DUMBASS!!!!

Gaumond,

Your profile says you're from Tucson. If so, why do you have to warm your car up?

Leaving your car unattended to "warm up" is incredibly stupid.

If you car really needs to "warm up", it will come with an engine block warmer. Which is what mine has, so that the second I unlock the doors, it starts warming up the engine. By the time I've buckled in and turn on the ignition, I am good to go.

Also I recommend ass-warmers. My car comes with them in the front seats, and they warm up FAR faster than the engine/air does. I find I don't really care if my hands are cold if my ass is tosty warm.

You can't exactly jump into your car and peel away if there is ice or snow on it. Not to mention the fact that if the windshield isn't blasted with heat for a couple of minutes before you start driving, the wind against it will cause it to fog up VERY BADLY.

The woman was just doing what anyone else would do in sub-zero temperatures.

It's bad to let an engine warm up? Anybody have a reputable source for this information? I've always heard the opposite.

Nightjars:

Click and Clack Talk Cars: January 1996

Jailarity...that's funny.

Yep, with a modern car, there's no reason to let the car warm up at all. All cars made since 1987 have fuel injection instead of carburetors so if they're in good condition then they're unlikely to have driveability issues when the engine is cold, which was the main reason for letting older cars warm up. If it's below freezing drive gently until it's warmed up (i.e. when the heater blows hot air).

The defogger will still keep your windshield from fogging up on the inside even if it's blowing ice cold air.

The only reason to leave your car running with the keys in it) is to let someone steal it, or maybe let a neighborhood child climb in and run another kid over. Don't leave your keys unattended in the car ever! If you must "warm up" your car, have a remote starter or a lockout switch installed so that the car can't be driven when it's unattended.

I think if you need to let the car warm up for a few minutes in the morning, you just have to accept that you need to be with it, and its a job that needs to be done.

Take responsibility for your possesions.

Mostly_harmless:

Thats not true. I have a 1989 Hyundai Excel and it has a carburator.

Around here (Billings, MT) it is totally common for someone to leave the car running when they run into a grocery store, the bank, etc. I think it is stupid, but I have left my car running in my driveway or in my workplace parking lot on cold days. The particular time this was stolen, the lowest temp here was around 20 degrees F. Not exactly cold, but people are lazy anymore. It is nice to warm up a car for 5-10 minutes so that the windows dont fog up when you start to drive.

I few years back the same scenario came up here, only the lady's kids were in the back seat.. I think the theif parked the car down the street when he saw the kids and ran off..

I put a car starter in my wifes car so she can warm up the car at work without it disappearing. The car starter will run for 10 minutes and then shut down if she does not get in and put the ket in. If someone touches the brake pedal, the car will shut off. And the alarm stays armed while it is running, and hence the doors are locked.

I have heard that all a car needs for warming up is 30 seconds to a minute, but that does not help if the windows are frosted over.. around here, it is not uncommon to see some dumbass driving 45 mph on severe ice with a 3 inch clear spot on his otherwise frosted over windshield, hunched down trying to see the road. I enjoy it when I pass those vehicles wrapped around a tree a couple miles down the road.. 'so much for your 4 wheel drive, asshat! haha'

btw, this is my first submitted article /pats himself on back

The stolen car / cell phone thing isn't a complete urban legend.

A bond salesman I worked with several years ago had bought the first Mercedes 500 SL with the new body style in Memphis. He was cutting out early (about 3:00. This never would have happened if he had stayed until the market closed...) and was carjacked as he was getting into the car. He ran back into the building screaming like girl, (you gotta know this guy) and called the police. Of course he had bought the built in cell phone, so he called the guys that carjacked him and calmly told them (yes, they answered...) that there were only two of these in Memphis, the other one was a different colour and asked them how long did they thought they could drive it before being stopped. He told them to park it in a supermarket parking lot where he would pick it up later that evening to give them plenty of time to get away from it. Interestingly enough, they left it right where he told them to leave it and he drove it to work the next day.

Hmmm....oddly enough "hidalgo" is also known as the lowest form of nobility. The lowest wrung on the "Kingly" ladder.

Heathen!!