Over lunch hour today I stopped at the gas station down the street, and parked next to some guy in a Mustang convertible. He left the top down, left several duffel bags sitting in the back seat, got out of the car, and locked the doors before he went inside.
I suppose it was just a reflex thing to lock them, but it was kind of pointless.
In reply to stuart in mn:
Yeah... I used to do that in the MINI 'vert... it really is more of a habitul reflex than anything logical. I often caught myself saying, "why did I just bother doing that?" Granted, the car did have a factory alarm, so if someone were to reach in and unlock the door, the alarm would have gone off. When I parked the Spitfire with the top down, I never locked it.
It's also possible the Mustang has a proximity alarm so if someone were to reach in to grab the bags, the alarm would go off. Of course, whether or not that would actually stop anyone is debateable.
I leave my windows down and lock the door. Problem is, when I leave them up, I accidentally try to punch the window out trying to get to the inside handle.
I do it. Habitual reflex. I've caught myself doing it in my garage when I get home from work.
Years ago I had a 1961 Bonneville convertible. It was in decent shape but not a show car by any means, and I drove it a lot. The hydraulics for the top never worked very well so I pretty much put the top down in the spring and put it back up in the fall, and it never got locked either way - I figured if someone was going to break in, the easiest way would be to cut a hole in the top and I didn't want to deal with that.
Anyway, one time my girlfriend and I went to a movie, and I left the car out in the lot with the top down as usual. When we came back to the car after the movie there were two teenage girls sitting in it, and the one behind the wheel was making vroom vroom noises. It was actually kind of funny, there was no harm done and the girls were pretty embarrassed to get caught acting like idiots.
I never lock. I just make sure there is nothing valuable in the car.
Of course, the only way to lock the door is either with the key, or pushing the inside handle forward (64 Corvair) so that kind of helps in the decision.
I also like to just leave the top down and have the tanneau cover on. The top does make a good shade on hot days though.
I left my Honda S2000 unlocked ALL the time
All my other cars. I locked it except for da wife's Minivan which absolutely hate.
I never lock the Miata, after changing the top once by myself, you can be damn sure I'm never changing it again. I figure leaving the car unlock is a step in the right direction.
Like Ian said, factory alarm.... better than nothing. I put everything in the trunk to keep it safe.
I rarely locked my sportscars.. the top was worth more than anything in the car
I never locked my convertibles, as i'd rather have the car opened up than the top torn trying to get in. At any rate, one time I took my Daytona Spyder replica to a nice hotel in Vancouver BC and at some point overnight a security guard locked it and left a note that they did it because it was left unlocked. Silly thing was you could unlock it by unsnapping the top at the base and reaching in...
I don't lock my 'verts because of the 'cut the top' top thing. An acquaintance many years ago had an MGB with an 8 track under the dash (for you punk kids that was our vrsion of the MP3 player) and he'd lock the car. One night someone slashed the top and peeled the whole center back, stole his tape deck and to add insult to injury it rained like hell.
Curmudgeon wrote: I don't lock my 'verts because of the 'cut the top' top thing. An acquaintance many years ago had an MGB with an 8 track under the dash (for you punk kids that was our vrsion of the MP3 player) and he'd lock the car. One night someone slashed the top and peeled the whole center back, stole his tape deck and to add insult to injury it rained like hell.
I had a friend in high school that had an old Volvo wagon with an 8 track. He left the windows down and door slightly ajar in hopes that someone would steal said 8 track.
FYI, I graduated highschool in 2008.
Yeah, I NEVER lock the ragtops. I also don't leave anything - let alone anything of value - in them. Just too easy for them to cut their own door when they want to get in.
I hate locking my doors. My wife wants to keep my nice digital tire gauge in her car, and she always locks it. I have to walk all the way around the house, find wherever she hid her purse, dig through that thing for fifteen minutes and then walk all the way back around the house just to check my tire pressure. Drives me nuts.
Hell, I don't even lock the doors on my old truck. Nothing worth stealing in there (unless there's a black market for tarps, moving blankets, tiedowns and half-empty quarts of oil and transmission fluid), and I'd rather not deal with a broken window. They won't be going anywhere with it either, since I pull the fuel pump fuse whenever it's parked for any length of time out of sight.
nicksta43 wrote: I hate locking my doors. My wife wants to keep my nice digital tire gauge in her car, and she always locks it. I have to walk all the way around the house, find wherever she hid her purse, dig through that thing for fifteen minutes and then walk all the way back around the house just to check my tire pressure. Drives me nuts.
A tire gauge would make a nice anniversary gift for your wife.
stuart in mn wrote: Over lunch hour today I stopped at the gas station down the street, and parked next to some guy in a Mustang convertible. He left the top down, left several duffel bags sitting in the back seat, got out of the car, and locked the doors before he went inside. I suppose it was just a reflex thing to lock them, but it was kind of pointless.
Locking the doors sets the car alarm.
If you unlock the doors without using the key or the key fob (IE - if you unlock it with the inside door lock), the alarm will go off.
So, not as pointless as it appears at first glance.
Ever had something stolen out of your car? It'll change the way you feel about locking it up.
I catch myself locking the door on my miata with the top down fairly often.
Fairly often is a relative term though, as she doesnt get left sans hardtop for more than a few hours at a time, and never overnight unless she's indoors
(given the state of my garage, indoors hasn't happened recently)
Datsun1500 wrote: Some insurance companies will turn down a theft claim if the car is left unlocked, even convertibles.
In that case, the doors were totally locked. Don't know how they got in. Must be expert lockpickers or something.
I had a guy slash the roof on my 944 while it was parked outside the shop overnight; senseless since the doors were unlocked and the roof has a intermediate panel between the layers of fabric that you can't cut through. You can't see that the doors are unlocked and he must have not tried the door. I never did fix it but it pissed me off every time I saw it.
Knurled wrote:stuart in mn wrote: Over lunch hour today I stopped at the gas station down the street, and parked next to some guy in a Mustang convertible. He left the top down, left several duffel bags sitting in the back seat, got out of the car, and locked the doors before he went inside. I suppose it was just a reflex thing to lock them, but it was kind of pointless.Locking the doors sets the car alarm. If you unlock the doors without using the key or the key fob (IE - if you unlock it with the inside door lock), the alarm will go off. So, not as pointless as it appears at first glance.
Guess I'm not used to these new fangled cars with all their bells and whistles. 
Most thieves are thieves of opportunity. If I don't give them the opportunity they aren't going to go to the trouble of slashing the top.
If I get a top slasher he would also be a window breaker so it doesn't matter if the car is a vert or not.
I LOCK MY DOORS!
Hah, I never lock my doors.. two out of three windows I've had broken out have been with the door unlocked. The one cop I talked to explained that it was quicker for the thieves just to break the windows than to try the door handles and possibly set the car alarms off before they started "working"..
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