First time victim of a car break-in.

It's ironic that just yesterday I posted a video in which I expressed my passion for cars. This morning, I get a call from a neighbor "Hey Ed, I think the hood of your car is slightly open, you may wanna go check it out." A quick peek outside proved that it did in fact appear my car had been tampered with. I headed outside to assess the damages.

I honestly expected to find a few parts, or perhaps the battery, missing as I opened the hood. I was pleasantly surprised to find nothing appeared to be missing. I quickly checked the inside, not realizing that the door was unlocked already as I opened it. I keep the inside cleaned out, and aside from some extra coolant and some cassette tapes from the 80's and 90's, there is nothing to take. Nothing inside was tampered with either. As I closed the door, I discovered the only damage, as they had attempted to punch the lock and punched a hole in the metal just below the lock. I also found I was unable to lock my door, with the rods inside the door seemingly tweaked.

I pulled the car around to the garage, took a closer look at the damage, got a screw driver, and effectively turned the lock cylinder into place, and my lock now worked perfectly! I can only assume that they have seen my car around, and likely figured I had some "go fast" parts under the hood, or maybe assumed it was carburated and were in the market for a free carb. Or maybe they needed a battery, though if that were they case, why wasn't it gone? Maybe, just maybe, they were caught in the act and didn't get what they came for.

I was upset, but not as pissed off as I thought I would be upon discovering somebody had tampered with my car. That said, just let me catch them mother fuckers if they come back for a second attempt! This reinforces my plan I had already had, a car lift with this year's tax return so my car, be it my current Formula, or likely by next summer,something newer, can once again reside in the garage.

I've lived in Detroit for about a decade, over 7 years as a home owner. I've parked my car on the street the better part of 3 years since I've had my house, and not once have I had a problem. While I still view my car as simply a daily driver, it's age (23 yrs) has been on my mind. Parts are getting harder to come by, people are starting to restore them, and just like a new car, perhaps there is slowly becoming a market for the parts once again. Whatever their reason, I hope they didn't find what they were looking for and are on their way to somebody else's ride and leave mine alone.