Toptaff
Part of things
Close, but no cigar.
Posts: 43
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Dec 30, 2004 12:22:47 GMT
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Well well--so the most nickable & nicked car last year was the delightful Vauxhall Belmont. (According to our esteemed Home Office--it's the government~it MUST be true!) Apparently 99 out of every 1000 Belmonts registered got robbed last year!  There is allegedly a school of thought that they're being hoarded-especially pre '87 ones-by 'speculators' who think this is the next Big Thing as a classic car. There must be something I'm missing here.....some aesthetic beauty that's escaping me...or is it just that they're p*ss easy to nick? |
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Last Edit: Dec 30, 2004 12:23:53 GMT by Toptaff
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Dec 30, 2004 12:39:33 GMT
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Ha de ha de ha! I can just imagine some shed somewhere crammed full of horded stolen Belmont's!! I think you'll find it's the latter option. You can start em with a screwdriver, although quite what the attraction to thieves is I don't know.... Speed - nope. Handling - unlikely Style - don't bloody think so! Odd, cos our Volvo is usually left unlocked and could easily be started with a twig. Yet no-ones ever had a go at that! I had a MK2 Astra estate once. Very tidy it was. One saturday morning about 5 weeks after I'd bought it I opened the curtains to find it not parked outside. At first I thought maybe I'd got bladdered the night before and walked home. But no pounding head or nauseas feeling. There was another clue. Parked in th espace my car shold have been in was another much crustier Astra. With the door open and the engine still running! What a bunch of  ! Guess what. They found my car. Burned out. In a field. Next to the Gipsy site. Anyone caught or prosecuted? What do you think! There's little point in buying any sort of Vauxhall round here. It will be stolen. No two ways about it. It would seem most other stuff is safe though, as THIEVING traveller SCUM are too thick and lazy to learn how to chore anything else! (Apart from 4x4's which are used to rip phone boxes and letter boxes out of the ground!) |
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Dec 30, 2004 12:40:02 GMT
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Quite possible that you're right there, this isn't some huge underground operation who's going out to find older cars to steal and do something evil and underhand with, it's more than likely just a load of neds running round looking for an easy thing to go out and joyride around in, then burn at the end of the night!  Astras have always been nicked in huge numbers, why do you think they're so dear to insure for someone starting driving? I know someone who passed their test, so they got a mk 3 Astra 5 door, 1400cc, very tidy little car, dead standard, cost them less than £500, but costs them £1500 to insure! They might live in a rough area but for f*ck sake come on! Much of that is because Astras get nicked in huge numbers, mainly by neds having a bit of a laugh, not by some huge organised crime ring looking to sell them to us as classic cars! |
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"He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"
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Higgim
Part of things
Posts: 269
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Dec 30, 2004 14:37:36 GMT
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I doubt there are 1000 Belmonts in the UK to justify those stats!!
They should round them all up and paint them in a special colour. leaving them ticking over on motorway sliproads so you can just turn up and drive to your destination - much like the free bikes you get in Europe.
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Vorsprung Dub Technik
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Objects of desire?DarrenW
@darrenw
Club Retro Rides Member 74
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Dec 30, 2004 14:45:48 GMT
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Random observation: Belmonts almost always seem to be that metallic mid-blue colour! In my experience anyway...   ^^That colour!  |
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SkoCan
Posted a lot
Quando omni flunkus, mortati
Posts: 1,916
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Dec 30, 2004 14:53:38 GMT
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That's a Belmont?
We had those too. Can't remember what they were called (meaning they are REALLY insignifigant)
Pontiac or Buick something.
Built by Daewoo
Really not worth stealing, I agree
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Dec 30, 2004 15:07:26 GMT
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my mams friend has a1300 auto astra estate in hammerite "that colour".
i had to drive it on xmas day cos he'd had a bevvy or two.what a bag o sh*te. ;D
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Dec 30, 2004 15:09:22 GMT
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Daewoo bought the rights to several old Vauxhall (well, GM) cars when they were starting out... the Nubria was a facelifted mk2 Cavalier (the one they phased out in 1989, think it was a mk2), and the smaller car at the same time was a barely disguised Astra. It was so similar, Astra owners could go into Daewoo dealers to buy cheaper parts for their cars! We never got the Daewoo-badged Belmont replica but it sounds like they did the same thing. As for the Belmont nickability... how old is this report? Cos it seems the same cars crop up on it year after year, always mk1 astra (like you see loads of them these days!), belmont, mk2 cavalier yada yada. i had a loan car from a garage once when my beetle was in for an engine rebuild... mk2 cavalier in blue. had a screwdriver to start it, and he warned me not to lock the doors cos i'd have to pay for a new window glass after he'd unlocked them for me  |
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Never trust a man
Who names himself Trevor.
Or one day you might find
He's not a real drug dealer.
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GrumpyOldMan
Part of things
Addicted to unreliable cars ?!
Posts: 182
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Dec 30, 2004 15:19:20 GMT
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They call these Kadett Sedans around here... Very reliable cars, but not exactly interesting to drive...
Maybe the people that steal them are members of an international conspiracy, aiming to take every single boring car off the road... In that case, they have a LOT of work to do...
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Dec 30, 2004 16:13:22 GMT
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The biggest surprise is I once saw one in dark red, but you're right the rest are THAT COLOUR! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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"He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"
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Dec 30, 2004 16:22:37 GMT
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Not seen one in about 10 years :/ Wouldn't the shell be stiffer than a mkII Astra one on account of the boot? Certainly be interesting to have one in *that* colour running steelies and an LET engine  *n |
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Top grammar tips!
Bought = purchased. Brought = relocated
Lose = misplace/opposite of win. Loose = your mum
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Dec 30, 2004 20:07:30 GMT
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When it comes to joyriding plod say that the Maestro is really popular. Apparently this is because they are really good at bumping over kerbs and general street furniture to get away from plod. And of course they are very very easy to nick.
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racer86
Posted a lot
'76 Toyota KP30 / '73 BMW 2002 / '93 Mini
Posts: 2,183
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Dec 30, 2004 20:12:41 GMT
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a few weeks ago i maestro came burning down my street into a couple of cars up the curb and accross the foot ball field being chased by the plod!!! the ultimate urban assault vehicle mabe?!!
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Dec 30, 2004 22:27:55 GMT
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Its true, Belmonts are one of the cars of choice when it comes to car thieves, I know this as I unfortuantly go to college with a number of little TWOC'ers and the MK2 Astra/Belmont is one of there favoured cars along with Cavaliers (preforably SRi's) and Sierra's.
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Objects of desire?DarrenW
@darrenw
Club Retro Rides Member 74
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Dec 30, 2004 22:33:09 GMT
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When it comes to joyriding plod say that the Maestro is really popular. Apparently this is because they are really good at bumping over kerbs and general street furniture to get away from plod. And of course they are very very easy to nick. They used to show a clip on the telly of a red MG Maestro doing a handbrake turn in the middle of a street whenever the news mentioned stolen cars/joyriders/krooozers etc etc |
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Dec 30, 2004 22:46:11 GMT
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They used to show a clip on the telly of a red MG Maestro doing a handbrake turn in the middle of a street whenever the news mentioned stolen cars/joyriders/krooozers etc etc Yeah and when they want to depict a drug pusher they show a young-ish bloke standing next to a pimped e30. I keep some odd hours working engineering shifts on the railway.... ...Maybe THAT'S why some of the neighbours don't speak to me and usher their kids indoors when I'm about... |
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Dec 30, 2004 22:48:12 GMT
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Yeah and when they want to depict a drug pusher they show a young-ish bloke standing next to a pimped pink e30. I keep some odd hours working engineering shifts on the railway.... ...Maybe THAT'S why some of the neighbours don't speak to me and usher their kids indoors when I'm about... |
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2001 HONDA CT110 (NOT RCV)
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Dec 30, 2004 22:49:38 GMT
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arf arf. gaylordSold that heap of rust yet? |
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richy
Posted a lot
Flatheads forever....
Posts: 1,764
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Dec 30, 2004 23:58:43 GMT
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Let's hope all those luvverrlee Belmonts and Orions are locked up tonight!
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SkoCan
Posted a lot
Quando omni flunkus, mortati
Posts: 1,916
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Yeah and when they want to depict a drug pusher they show a young-ish bloke standing next to a pimped e30. I keep some odd hours working engineering shifts on the railway.... ...Maybe THAT'S why some of the neighbours don't speak to me and usher their kids indoors when I'm about... Well, there is that too......... |
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Astras have always been nicked in huge numbers, why do you think they're so dear to insure for someone starting driving? I know someone who passed their test, so they got a mk 3 Astra 5 door, 1400cc, very tidy little car, dead standard, cost them less than £500, but costs them £1500 to insure! 
