[FreddyN]

Damn and blast it. Very sad weekend for me.
My '88 TD42 5 spd shortie with 200,000km (almost certainly genuine) got stolen on friday. I posted about in "lost/stolen" forum at ORE. Still no news, I don't think I'll see it again.
I've owned it for 12 years, was part of our family, and leaves a gaping hole. Was insured, but I know I'm going to have hassles getting market value, and dammit even in NZ now, relatively stock low mileage 5spd are few and far between.
Coxsy and Twodiffs, thanks for your comments on ORE. Truth is that while I've got video of the theft, quality is not even close to good enough to ID the scoundrels. All I can see is that they make a beeline straight for it in a carpark with perhaps 200 other cars in it, the camera pans, and 30 seconds later catches them driving out the exit. Doubt I could be that quick even with the keys and a bad curry in my belly providing the urgent need to get to the nearest dunny. My post about having "ID" quality shots of them was bluff, in the hope they might read it, poo themselves and dump it undamaged. Hasn't happened yet.

Main use for the safari for me was towing our trailer yacht (pic below), >2250kg on trailer - it never missed a beat in 12 years. Also used for a bit of light 4WD - but not heavy stuff (I never got stuck - so can't have been trying very hard), the truck is pretty standard.

I'm in the crap for Easter, was planning to tow the boat to Abel Tasman for a couple of weeks cruising. I don't think I'm going to find a safari I'm happy with before then (it's going to be at least a couple of weeks before I can seriously start looking anyway - when the insurance co decides it's gone for good and hopefully pays out). I can't think of anything else on the market that's as capable as the Safari. I detest everything Mitsubishi has ever made, good Toyos are waaay expensive, large cars these days get stretched by towing boats this size (actually happened to a friend who towed a similar boat to Q'town with a newish v8 Commodore, didn't take things quite as easy as he should have done - the back doors wouldn't open when he got there, and it wasn't the kiddy locks) The old Safari was so damned reliable for so long, on these long towing trips I'd put my hand on the dashboard, gently patting it and telling her what a great machine she was. (yeah - I've been going soft in the head for years now - not likely to improve). Dammit - what am I going to do?

 

[Mic]

Theres a LWB with low KMs (would wanna be at the asking price) in brisbane for $27K...
In all seriousness, you'll be looking at 15-20K for a TD42 a/m turbo with approx 200 000kms on it.

Thieves suck. When i was a tacker , dad'd spent huge coin on restoring/doing up a G60 MWB ready for a trip to Fraser. The before our departure we woke up and she was gone. They found her months later, minus tools, stereo, seats... pretty much a shell in th bush nearby. that paved the way fro the MQ, then the GQ (with a Paj in there too - but just ignore that).

My condolances mate, and good luck in your search. Hope you find something nice.

 

[1TUFGQ]

12 years :shock:...A LOT of sentimental value right there mate.

Hard to say much that will reassure you, fingers crossed for the best though. But with what you said on here and ORE it sounds like it was purposely targeted.

There are some good trucks around still and maybe it's fortunate yours was relatively stock, There's a few on Trademe but due to them not being importable anymore...means they are going up in value.

Can you pm me the carpark location please FreddyN so I can be vigilant???
My 'hers indoors' house is VERY close to Ferry Road :angryfir:!!

 

[gec]

Please Excuse my ignorance but what is ORE, also sorry for your loss mate that really sucks and I hope you have good luck in getting it back without to much damage

 

[1TUFGQ]

ORE = Offroad Express. A NZ 4wd forum not solely dedicated to Nissans.

www.offroadexpress.co.nz

 

[FreddyN]

Can you pm me the carpark location please FreddyN so I can be vigilant???
My 'hers indoors' house is VERY close to Ferry Road :angryfir:!!

CPIT staff carpark.
My wife seldom takes the truck to work. Only reason she was using it was two days before, her car crapped out (dry solder joint in MAF unit PCB), I had some lousy head cold and was too crook for a couple of days to feel like doing much under car bonnets.
There are thieves other than car thieves, the above Nissan MAF sensor dry-solder problem is very very common, takes about 5 minutes to fix (bit hard to diagnose though), there's guys charging $250 for "recond" units. Nissan themselves rake in masses of dough selling replacement units for what was a design/mfg fault (or "planned obsolescence" - as they almost always fail when they're just out of warranty).
That's why I loved the Safari - it was an enigma, accidentally (or deliberately?) designed to last.

 

[gec]

ORE = Offroad Express. A NZ 4wd forum not solely dedicated to Nissans.

www.offroadexpress.co.nz

Cheers mate

 

[Canuck]

Man that really sucks. Hope it is recovered in decent nick or you get a fair payout.

 

[Twinotter600]

OH man I really feel for you. 12 years, same rig.

I hope you have some luck on getting it back.

 

[1TUFGQ]

FreddyN - My first 4wd was a Terrano...it got stolen in 1997 from Islington.

The insurance people told me that on the same night - 100 cars were stolen WITHIN a 5km radius of ChCh central city - AND that that was AMI alone, not any other insurer.

AMI informed me that ChCh was the second highest area for vehicle thefts next to Auckland....and it was catching up on Auck FAST!

That was 14 years ago....i'd hate to know what the stats are now .

 

[FreddyN]

I got it back

Very surprised to get a call from police this morning to say it had been found within easy walking distance from where it had been stolen.
I knew the fuel tank was empty - it was on E when my wife drove to town on Thursday, drove home, then back to town again. I forgot to remind her to fill it up - she was damned lucky to make it as far as she did - probably didn't realise there's no fuel warning light.
Looks like they ran out of diesel. I expected this, so took a 10 litre can with me. Opened the bleeder, pumped away, and there was nothing, not a drop. Started instantly after a bleed.
It seems more-or-less okay, a few scratches inside, rear-view mirror is gone, heater knob missing - probably stuff done in anger when it sputtered and died on them. Annoying, but not the end of the world.

 

[istari]

It's nice to hear some (relatively) good news, mate.
Congratulations and hope the Easter trip is a beauty.

 

[fnqcairns]

Wonder if they thought it had one of those remote disabling devices and you activated it, dumb crooks could have anything going through their head when a car stops these days

 

[1TUFGQ]

Thats incredible, I think you got very lucky....what might have been if you said to fill it up OR if your wife decided to fill it for you without being asked.

Best you install some security devices now Freddy

 

[FreddyN]

Thanks guys. I think I'll just get a "club" type steering lock, and I'll hide a switch to the fuel cut solenoid somewhere sneaky.
Until this happened, I hadn't looked at used GQ TD42 5 spd shorties for sale. I'd assumed it was only worth perhaps NZ$3-5k. From what I've seen, very clearly it's worth more than that. So I might just splash out and invest some elbow juice to tidy it up a bit. It could do with coat of paint.
I hadn't thought that perhaps when it conked out, they might have thought it was a security device. If it hadn't run out of gas, I'm sure it would have been in parts by now.

 

[Twinotter600]

You incredibly lucky bastard!

Happy now?

 

[Canuck]

You are very luck... but I am glad for you.

BTW, those clubs are next to useless with any thief that has a clue. They just snip through the steering wheel. Although, I did see one guy fly past me on the highway some years ago with the club still attached to the wheel. He was gone too quickly for me to do anything. I did look for signs of him driving it off the road.

Best bet is a fuel/power cut off and maybe one or two of them. Given your experience, maybe getting the tank to read empty at the same time would also be good.

 

[boostdq]

Hey mate, good to hear you got it back, i wouldnt know what id do if mine dissapeared. I hate car theives, low life mongrels. Golden rule DONT F&(K with another mans car. Nice looking Safari ;-)

 

[Jacket_1985]

You incredibly lucky bastard!

He would want to be STOKED! Sooo lucky, not many get lucky like that. good on you bud.

 

[FreddyN]

Woohoo - this thread is still alive. My Safari's still going strong (apart from damned PS hose which I need to fix). Hasn't been stolen again. My house has been munted in earthquake on Feb 22 (a few days after my last post above), have been living as a refugee for 4 months. Hopefully home this week, still lots of broken windows boarded up, doors which don't open, most of our stuff wrecked, the usual stuff. Crap I'll get fixed or replace.
The safari came in handy on Feb 22, my wife and son came home in her pulsar with about 7 kids on board. No phones/cellphone coverage, roads with floods and liquefaction mud 2 feet deep. I used the safari to taxi these kids home. They all (parents and kids) cried when I dropped them off.
Heh heh - old chinese curse "may you live in interesting times". The past 10 months have been too interesting for me. I haven't felt an aftershock for two days now. Probably tempting fate, but I think it might be over.