Stolen ford cosworth stories...

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Discussion

D1on

Original Poster:

805 posts

193 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
quotequote all
Everyone seems to know of one either back in the day or recently that's gone missing...
Must of been at one point the most stolen car?...
Post your stories! smile

SpeckledJim

31,608 posts

260 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
quotequote all
They knocked a man-sized hole through a brick wall to pinch my uncle's.

After he got it back he stored it 6 foot in the air on a 4 post lift with a scrapper underneath it, and a scrapper behind it. And even then he worried that if they got to it they'd drive it off the ramp just to spite him.

They were basically un-ownable at one point.

Edited by SpeckledJim on Sunday 26th January 20:12

Fleckers

2,870 posts

208 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
quotequote all
had one for 6 weeks before it was stolen

never recovered


MikeO996

2,008 posts

231 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
quotequote all
Stolen from the garage with my girlfriend's car in front on the drive. First night they only managed to get through the vent in the bonnet -stupidly I didn't inform the Police of the attempt thinking they wouldn't be bothered with surveillance. Next night they stole the car and kindly put the girlfriend's car back on the drive.

s m

23,510 posts

210 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
quotequote all
Fleckers said:
had one for 6 weeks before it was stolen

never recovered
It may take years chap, but trust me, time is a great healer - you'll be over it one day

MikeO996

2,008 posts

231 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
quotequote all
6 weeks me too

D1on

Original Poster:

805 posts

193 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
quotequote all
which cosworths were these?
3 door, sapphire, escort?...

SpeckledJim

31,608 posts

260 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
quotequote all
Sapphire.

fb2

160 posts

209 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
quotequote all
Fleckers said:
had one for 6 weeks before it was stolen

never recovered
My dad's 3 door Sierra lasted 13 days, as I recall

Edited by fb2 on Sunday 26th January 21:42

Fantuzzi

3,297 posts

153 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
quotequote all
Being to young to have first hand experience.

Why were they catnip for thieves? Was it just their awesomeness?

Tickle

5,263 posts

211 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
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This is going to be a long list!


iva cosworth

44,044 posts

170 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
quotequote all
Tickle said:
This is going to be a long list!
Nothing to see here.

Lost an RS2000 in 1991 though.

Sir Bagalot

6,619 posts

188 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
quotequote all
Wasn't there a competition run by an alarm company and magazine where they had developed a new alarm system. They claimed a car fitted with it would be un-nickable.

They fitted it to a Sapphire Cosworth and said that anyone who could break into it and drive it away would legally be allowed to keep the car. There was a time limit of something like 15 mins(?)

A queue was formed.... the first one to attempt it won the car.....

poing

8,743 posts

207 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
quotequote all
Fantuzzi said:
Being to young to have first hand experience.

Why were they catnip for thieves? Was it just their awesomeness?
They weren't that hard to steal relatively speaking and you could carry 4 people/any amount of stolen goods and the police couldn't catch you, especially if you stole a modified one with 300bhp+. The police had some fast cars with the Senator 24V etc but they couldn't corner like the Ford and if it was raining they had no hope.

V8RX7

27,661 posts

270 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
quotequote all
I have a rare storey...

I owned a 3 door and it WASN'T stolen

I did however alarm / immobilise it, pedalock & wheel clamp it and park it in with another alarmed car in front of it.

That's why I sold it - 20 minutes to get the damn thing out.

dacouch

1,172 posts

136 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
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I had a client who had a sapphire parked on his drive with an alarm and steering wheel lock.

This was late eighties when they were really cheap to buy as the Insurance cost £4k for a driver with maximum bonus and clean record

One morning he woke up to find someone had tried forcing the steering lock.

The next night he blocked it in on his drive with another car and awoke to find the blocking car moved and again damage to the steering wheel lock.

The next night he did the same but put the babies end of a wireless baby monitor in the car and went to bed with a baseball bat next to his bed and the monitor part of the baby monitor. He was awoken in the middle of the the night by noise from the baby monitor.

The thief was definately taught a lesson about stealing cars!

The client sold the car shortly after.

JimmyConwayNW

3,127 posts

132 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
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I had an uncle that worked for ford in Glasgow. I remember him having an escort cosworth which was just the most incredibly looking thing to a young schoolboy like me. Loved the whale tail rear spoiler.
He had 2/3 stolen that I can remember and one was definitely used in a ram raid.

blade7

11,311 posts

223 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
quotequote all
Sir Bagalot said:
Wasn't there a competition run by an alarm company and magazine where they had developed a new alarm system. They claimed a car fitted with it would be un-nickable.
If I remember the story right it had to be driven off a forecourt, some electronics wiz bypassed the security and found out there was no petrol in the car, I believe he used the starter motor to drive it away.

k-ink

9,070 posts

186 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
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I still think about the most perfect cosworth i have ever seen. It was a gloss black 500, lowered properly, ap racing callipers on huge discs, black five spokes, absolutely immaculate and stunning. A real weapon. Made the standard ones look at bit bland!

northwest monkey

6,370 posts

196 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
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About 20 odd years ago, I used to work for a builder & one of the jobs he was doing was extending a hotel. The chap who owned the hotel had 2 Sierra Cosworths - both were the whaletail ones, 1 white & 1 black. Anyway, one morning we turn up at the hotel & there are Police all over the place and a skip truck parked down the road. It turns out a gang had pinched the skip truck & used it to then lift the Cosworths (chains under the cars) out of the carpark & then down the road where they could be broken into & driven away. The gang had then done an armed robbery on a Securicor van & sped off. The police gave chase but lost them heading towards Manchester airport (where the Police helicopter couldn't go). The cars were eventually recovered, but only after becoming quite well known to the Police. The hotel bloke didn't have them back & bought a BMW 535i instead.

I guess they were popular because they were fast, reliable, tough & especially with the later Sapphire Cosworths - pretty discrete.

Probably similar to a modern S3 or R32 Golf.