Wednesday, October 31, 2012

A Heart-sinking Moment...

Last night, I got home around 5:15 PM and noticed that the message light was blinking on the ol' land line.  I pushed play and heard words no one really wants to hear.  "Hey Dennis.  This is Ryan at Brownsburg Storage.  We had some units broken into and one of them was yours."   I didn't remember hearing much of what he said after that.   Something about the police were called and I needed to check my unit to see if anything was missing.  All I could think of is most of my Mustang parts were in that storage unit.  And then I was trying to remember everything I had out there...the entire suspension, fenders, doors, trunk lid, glass, fold-down back seat, interior fiberglass and plastic trim, and whatever else I forgot I took out there.   I was borderline sick at the thought that I would have to replace some of those irreplaceable parts.   I have to say, the first word that came to mind started with "S" and ended in "T".   You get my drift.

I immediately left the house and drove the 5 miles to the storage facility.  I punched in my code and the gate opened.  I drove faster than normal to the back and then around to where my unit was.  The first sign that things were not good was the missing lock.   I grabbed the handle and pulled the door up holding my breath.   This was the view was before my eyes...


 It looked like everything was there and nothing was disturbed.   I also decided that I needed to catalog what I had in the storage unit.  I've been taking parts out there as I got them off the car and boxed up.  So I took a few pictures to I.D. what I had...








I went out and bought one of the titanium locks that has a narrow throat that can't be cut with a bolt cutter.  I just better not loose the keys!    The kicker in this whole deal is that the thief broke into the unit next to me around the corner.  He took a $15,000 Harley that happened to have the key in the ignition.  Not very smart, but the bike belonged to an Indianapolis City police officer.   The extra hidden cameras snagged the guys face when he took his hood off, and when he cut the chain on the pedestrian gate to wheel the Harley out.   Then the icing on the cake was that he parked his car across the street, but in line with one of the hidden cameras.  Bingo!  They got a license number.   So hopefully the cop will get his ride back and the thief will go to jail for grand theft.

I did call Hagerty, who has the policy on the Mustang and they said I am covered even if the storage unit was cleared out  (Thank you Lauren @ Hagerty!).  Now I can sleep a little better knowing that my stuff is more secure. 

10 comments:

  1. Thank God Dennis, nothing was stolen! I'm happy for you, and it made you organize yourself a little better.

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    1. Yeah on the organization. Plus I've now got photo documentation of what was there. A lesson learned for sure.

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  2. Yay! A bad story with a (relatively) happy ending! I'm so happy you didn't lose your stuff. Even if Hagerty paid you for your parts, they wouldn't be YOUR parts or even original parts and it would be tough to replace some of them so you'd be out the time and peace of mind locating good replacements. Somebody is looking out for you! I hope they catch that scum-bag thief.

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    1. You're right on the parts. The hood hinges have never been reworked and still have the yellow paint stamps on them that I want to save. I would say I did have a huge dose of "divine intervention". I'm waiting to hear if they caught the thief and give an update.

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  3. And they left the Gold Mine untouched without knowing... Lucky you!

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    1. No kidding. After doing my inventory, the stash is closer to $3500. Thankfully after my call to Hagerty, they said, "You're covered" since I have the "under construction" policy.

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. That's interesting. I'll check it out in my profile. thanks for letting me know.

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  5. Whew - that was a close call Dennis :/ I'm guessing when the thief lifted the door - he had the same reaction as you - S#$%^T!!!

    What is one man's junk is another man's treasure :)

    Glad everything turned out OK. I'm sure someone is about to get an ugly knock at the door, quickly followed by 'excuse me sir, but is that your car right there?'

    rj

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    1. LOL on the reaction! Can't wait to find out if and when they catch this guy. Maybe he'll be on "America's Dumbest Criminals"

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