California Police Recover at Least $400K in Stolen Catalytic Converters

[gwalchmai]

Dang.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/39744/california-police-recover-at-least-400k-in-stolen-catalytic-converters

[Dric902]

Why buy gold?
buy a saws all

[minervadoe]

I hope they give these nimrods some serious jail time.

Edited March 14, 2021 by minervadoe

[Dric902]

Who buys these things? I mean, a junkyard doesn’t think it’s weird a guy sells 20 Converters at once?

is there a black market for converters like for airbags?

[Al Czervik]

Starting in (I think 1975), every new automobile we bought, my dad would put it on the rack, remove the converter, remove the ballast, and reinstall it.  We had thousands of gallons of regular gas on hand  until it went the way of the dodo in the mid 90s.  Removing the cc allowed us to gas up anywhere on the ranch that had a gas tank, and more importantly, didn't start fires.

We had many fires over the years and hundreds of acres burned due to idiots parking on dry grass sparking fires from ccs.  Back then, lots of 200k+ mile/year cattle buyers would burn up a new truck every 9 months to a year that they "only drove to church on Sunday" with 1200 miles on it, and claim ignorance.   ?

Pops originally just cut the cc off and replaced it with pipe.  But, state troopers started looking underneath trucks with a wheeled mirror, so he would empty them and put them back.  But, they were wise to that and banged on them with mallets to check for ballast.  So, he cut off the top, where they couldn't see it and ran some welding beads down the bottom so it sounded solid, but didn't heat up like a normal cc.

[MO Fugga]

59 minutes ago, Al Czervik said:

Starting in (I think 1975), every new automobile we bought, my dad would put it on the rack, remove the converter, remove the ballast, and reinstall it.  We had thousands of gallons of regular gas on hand  until it went the way of the dodo in the mid 90s.  Removing the cc allowed us to gas up anywhere on the ranch that had a gas tank, and more importantly, didn't start fires.

We had many fires over the years and hundreds of acres burned due to idiots parking on dry grass sparking fires from ccs.  Back then, lots of 200k+ mile/year cattle buyers would burn up a new truck every 9 months to a year that they "only drove to church on Sunday" with 1200 miles on it, and claim ignorance.   ?

Pops originally just cut the cc off and replaced it with pipe.  But, state troopers started looking underneath trucks with a wheeled mirror, so he would empty them and put them back.  But, they were wise to that and banged on them with mallets to check for ballast.  So, he cut off the top, where they couldn't see it and ran some welding beads down the bottom so it sounded solid, but didn't heat up like a normal cc.

And you could roll the odo back too, back then.

[pipedreams]

11 hours ago, MO Fugga said:

And you could roll the odo back too, back then.

Yes,  and I would guess you can digitally do the same with the right equipment.

[Zonny]

Cat converter theft is running rampant here too. I’ll never understand why people fill their garages with crap they never use and then park in the driveway. 

[railfancwb]

Wonder how much platinum the average converter contains?

Most recent quote is about $1,200 an ounce for refined platinum. 

[Zonny]

21 hours ago, Dric902 said:

Why buy gold?
buy a saws all

Yup. One neighbor rolled up on his house mid-day to find two guys under one of his vehicles. The second vehicle in the driveway was already done. Takes about 60 seconds I’ve heard. Luckily neighbor’s cameras got a good pic of their vehicle and homeowner got a good description; one guy was about 6’5” and rail thin.  Arrest was made later that day. 

Edited March 14, 2021 by Zonny

[ASH]

reason is rhodium  ,  3 years ago ounce was 1,700    now  its  27,000 bucks an ounce .   yep you read it right . lol . big business  around here , 

[Dric902]

8 minutes ago, ASH said:

reason is rhodium  ,  3 years ago ounce was 1,700    now  its  27,000 bucks an ounce .   yep you read it right . lol . big business  around here , 

How much is there in a converter?

 

.

[ASH]

8 minutes ago, Dric902 said:

How much is there in a converter?

 

.

1 TO 3 GRAMS  ,which im thinking 28 grams make ounce . so around 10 converters  would get you that ounce .   

 

around here  for years you could call junk yards  to pick up cars you want to just get rid of ,  like give you 100 bucks if it had a motor etc ,   now they wont take a car as junk if converters are cut off .   it is a big practice .  actually last year  crooks hit a big ford dealer ship  and stole converters off atleast 80 new cars sitting in parking lot .  

Edited March 15, 2021 by ASH

[Dric902]

10 hours ago, ASH said:

1 TO 3 GRAMS  ,which im thinking 28 grams make ounce . so around 10 converters  would get you that ounce .   

 

around here  for years you could call junk yards  to pick up cars you want to just get rid of ,  like give you 100 bucks if it had a motor etc ,   now they wont take a car as junk if converters are cut off .   it is a big practice .  actually last year  crooks hit a big ford dealer ship  and stole converters off atleast 80 new cars sitting in parking lot .  

I guess I just don’t understand the criminal mind.

take a chance on getting shot for something I would have to do dozens of times for a couple days pay working.

 

.

[M&P15T]

On 3/13/2021 at 5:27 PM, gwalchmai said:

California Police Recover at Least $400K in Stolen Catalytic Converters

 Well, not quite $400K. Maybe 1/2 that. 

But still. 

[M&P15T]

On 3/15/2021 at 8:52 AM, Dric902 said:

I guess I just don’t understand the criminal mind.

take a chance on getting shot for something I would have to do dozens of times for a couple days pay working.

 

.

You make $27,000 every couple of days? 

[Dric902]

80 chances of getting shot or busted. And I’m sure they don’t do that every day.

actually it about two months pay for that major 80 converter operation....for one guy (doubtful)

 

I’ll work, thanks 

.

 

[gwalchmai]

Crime rarely pays as well as honest work in the long run. Too much overhead. 

[Dric902]

33 minutes ago, gwalchmai said:

Crime rarely pays as well as honest work in the long run. Too much overhead. 

Too much risk

[ASH]

when i was little fella  there was a guy who worked on the farm time to time  ,  my dad didnt know the dude had a barn full of hubcaps  . i mean he stole 1,000's    , those are now worth like gold .  

i dont think he ever did anything but sell hubcaps  .  and i know he had some today that would prolly bring a 1,000 a cap .  i reckon he died  i know he had a son 

[gwalchmai]

11 hours ago, ASH said:

when i was little fella  there was a guy who worked on the farm time to time  ,  my dad didnt know the dude had a barn full of hubcaps  . i mean he stole 1,000's    , those are now worth like gold .  

i dont think he ever did anything but sell hubcaps  .  and i know he had some today that would prolly bring a 1,000 a cap .  i reckon he died  i know he had a son 

Interesting. But "like gold"?

Consider how long it would take to steal 2,000 hubcaps. Then you'd have to dedicate a barn to store them for, let's say 35 years. Of course you also have the expense of maintaining the barn and safely packing the hubcaps so they won't weather. It'd also be a good idea to catalog them, since you're planning to sell them someday. When someday arrives, your market is going to be pretty limited, I think. Sure, there'll be some restorers who'll pay $1,000 per cap, but your collection may only have a couple of sets of each high-end type they're looking for. The majority of your caps will be more pedestrian, because when you're stealing them there's no sure way to tell which car will become a collectible.

OTOH, what kind of return can you get by investing 5% of your gross pay in a decent index fund for 35 years? Or for that matter, investing that 5% in gold for those 35 years.