Spate of Vintage Land Rover thefts in SE London

[lousmith]

I am just posting to alert owners of vintage Land Rover series models in the ED and surrounding postcodes that at least three have been stolen (mine included) in just over a week, the latest from Jerningham Road, mine from Barry Road. The perpetrators of the Barry Rd theft were both white males late twenties-mid thirties, one short, dark hair and the other lighter coloured hair, both quite tall, ( around 6ft) from my very grainy CCTV footage of the actual theft, but not clear enough to glean a real clear ID. Please be extra vigilant if you own one of these, or know somebody who does, in the hope that these guys may be deterred or caught and lead us back to wherever they have been taking them before their identities are forever lost. Please get in touch if you have seen these vehicles or any suspicious attention being paid to any parked Landies. Reward offered for mine. Thank you.

[vladi]

I really do feel for you as a decent Series 1 is a valuable vintage vehicle. But taking control over many of these old vehicles is ridiculously easy.

They would have know what they were doing and would have bypassed the lock on the hand brake lever by tackling the linkage from either above or below. One option is to take am angle grinder and cut the rod in the linage. Alternatively, simply remove one split pin holding the clevis pin in the linkage,

You appear to have had a front mounted towing ball on the front. This is quite a distinctive and unique feature and should give you a better than average chance of finding it. Have you got any other odd features?

[lousmith]

Hi. Thanks for the comment. The sandy Landy is somebody else's that was stolen on Thursday. Mine was the Series one, stolen the week before. It's kind of distinctive with the unpainted door tops, the oversize wheels, D rings on the front bumper, not to mention the bunny! etc.

They seemed to defeat the handbrake lock by simply revving the engine to near destruction and dropping the clutch. As long as the clutch has more traction than the no doubt oily handbrake shoes it seems that it can be driven, though not without drawing attention. I had never tested it in this way. They would have wanted to pull off the main road asap to sort that. I missed the theft by five minutes so the trail would have been very hot, but with waiting for the police to show and them painstakingly going through my details which I had obviously already given to their controller, valuable time was lost. It seems also that all the traffic based CCTV cameras in the whole of London fall under TFL jurisdiction and their operators are instructed to only record revenue generating infringements. It surprised me to learn that Southwark themselves have not a single CCTV camera in SE22.

[vladi]

The bunny will be long gone so it would help if you could post both the photos of your vehicle in a larger format then we can all look out for it on the internet. It's the detail that counts as they can change to colour overnight.

I understand about TFL but the police have access to all ANPR CCTV road cameras if they real;;y want to properly investigate a crime.

I would chase them relentlessly.

[Politically correct]

I am sorry sorry to hear about your land rover

I leant to drive in a very similar one (some years ago now!) and always admired your parked on Barry Road

Having had a much loved and rare motorbike stolen this year plus a small car the police need to do something in this area to stop these crimes

I hope you do find it

[lousmith]

Thank you. Yes, they really don't prioritise it at all. They did launch a half hearted blues and twos race around, but the theft was only five minutes prior to calling them and the handbrake lock would have been slowing them down, so the chances of catching up with them would have been as good as they could be. They pulled over a random car and phoned me. Is it a Land rover? er no. Well then it's not mine ... last I heard. I guess it survived Barry road for 23 years and Camberwell Grove for another eight. Blooming shame, and blooming shame for your rare bike.

[vladi]

The more unique features you can think of the better like did it have any odd replacement/accessory items under the bonnet. Like what was the brand of battery? Were there any small dings in the body work? Brand of tyres? Petrol or diesel?

The more distinctive features the better.

[lousmith]

It's a two litre petrol engine. The carburetter is non standard Solex, and as far as I know, very rare on one of these. ( It lacks the machanical fuel pump and associated linkage on the side) The voltage regulator housing contains a solid state circuit rather than the usual coils/ electromechanical set up. The rad was recently re-cored so looks newer than the rest of it. The heater is a hybrid, original Smiths fan and front cover mated with clayton coiled copper core matrix. Tyres are Insa Turbo 7.50x16. Exhaust is Stainless, though doesn't look shiny bright. Plug caps are original bakelite type. Distributer probably looks newer as well due to it being recently refurbed. Interior. Green matching seats in front with a rip in the centre seat cushion. Rear bench style seats with green cushions. There is a forged hexagonal brass grab handle on the passenger side dash bolted on. Extra three hole instrument panel below Dashboard instruments with Oil/Temp gauge mounted in left hand hole. Others empty. Paint work is wearing thin. Especially left wing which shows signs of bird splat damage to paint through to buffish looking etch primer underneath. Rear right upper body panel has distinctive scratch maybe looks like a J and L combined ...

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

I'm sorry to hear about the thefts. It must be a real pain and upset. I don't really understand who's stealing them. They're not going to be used with clone plates or sent out to West Africa like the newer stolen 4x4s would be, and surely breaking them or selling them to collectors would be too obvious given how small the target market would be...?

[CPR Dave]

They probably are being stolen to order and shipped out, as it goes.

Since they are no longer made they are a rare and dwindling commodity and money talks.

[lousmith]

I'm sorry to hear about the thefts. It must be a real pain and upset. I don't really understand who's stealing them. They're not going to be used with clone plates or sent out to West Africa like the newer stolen 4x4s would be, and surely breaking them or selling them to collectors would be too obvious given how small the target market would be...?

 

Thanks again. (just getting the hang of actually replying on the new (to me) layout.

The parts are very valuable these days. I had spent years gathering spare parts when they turned up at every auto-jumble at realistic prices in order to return any "improvements" to their original spec, including rebuilding an engine myself which was just nicely run in. Only the Engine and Gearbox have identifiable numbers, the VIN being just stamped onto a plate screwed to the bulkhead. I saw a bare engine block for £2k just recently. A full engine for rebuild will set you back £4 or 5k.

I purposely kept the exterior 'rough and ready' in order to not draw attention to it. A £2k spray job would have pushed it into the £20-£25k value bracket at current crazy prices. They can probably forge or obtain V5's to give it a new identity and sell it here or in the US. I've contacted a few dealers to keep an eye open for suspicious offers of vehicles.

It does seem like a concerted effort though, so I guess they have their reasons.

I don't own another vehicle, so the implications on my general standard of life are not yet even apparent because of the holidays.

Back in the nineties, they were plentiful and fun to own, before Richard Hammond announced them his favourite car!

Scene from Camberwell Grove from maybe '92/3 with my stolen Landy partly covered on the left.

 

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

Ahhh, I see. I'm sorry to hear that. What a drag.