...with electrical tape wrapped around one blade (the naked metal serving as the business end, the tape serving to insulate the bad guy's tender palm from harm as leverage was applied) was all it took to abscond with the SO's 1980 280Z at the end of 1999, after we'd been here about three months. The scissors were still stuck into the ignition when the car was recovered in nearby Richmond a few weeks later, having been abandoned and towed after the thieves blew the head gasket. She stashed the vehicle in a friend's garage for five years after that, and only returned it to functionality half a year ago when the friend decided she needed the garage for her own purposes. It now resides in her office parking lot near the waterfront, and is driven about fifteen miles a month. The arrangement does not make a great deal of sense to me, but the first time I raised this point persuaded me that little would be accomplished by raising it again. She does speak of having a cunningly-concealed kill switch installed, however.

cordially,