Keys

[Mick]

Hi, 

There have been a few topics on obtaining various keys. I was looking at the Thomas N Miller's auction site who are based in Newcastle upon Tyne and this came up.

Here is the link https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/thomas-n-miller/catalogue-id-srthomasn10498/lot-0c6249f4-ed97-4c97-bd7e-b1c000fa342c 

Could be just what someone is looking for. Auction is 6th August 2024.

Regards Mick

[Eric Smith]

Hi Mick - A bit of history for anyone younger than 45

The 1950’s started to see car ownership grow from a trickle into a flood by the 60’s and 70’s, so if you lost or broke a key, you went to a car main dealer or a back street garage for a new key, as the number of accessory shops grew you would have seen key display boards like this behind the counter they were everywhere.

Main dealers would just stock their own keys, some back street garages and “Petrol Stations” kept popular makes, larger car accessory shops were the same, some times they even had popular “foreign” car keys as well.

You could also go to shoe repair shops who cut keys, they kept sets of banks for most cars, some enterprising high street shops cut or sold car keys - I want to say Woolworths did but I might be making that up??

As the need for car security grew, the size and shapes of keys changed and people fitted additional gadgets like steering wheel and handbrake locks, so the key count grew to a stage where keys literally started to wear holes in trouser pockets.

If you own an older classic you know why you have several keys - usually two plus duplicates - one for the drivers door and boot and one for the ignition, however if owner added a passenger door lock or changed a door locking barrel the key count went up to three, add a petrol locking cap and they went up to four - I remember cars when I first started working in a garage consisting of six or seven keys for the car and probably two or three house and work keys.

The key rings of the average persons car and house keys could be ridiculous, when I first left home I had two keys for my room, three work keys, two keys for my parents and four for my Mini and an RAC call box key - no wonder we olduns often have bad hips?

For some reason people never scrapped keys, car and bike ignition keys as well as car door keys would get so worn they had to be changed but never discarded, car and house keys got wrecked by opening tins of paint so they were then kept to avoid wrecking a new key and kids and drunks would damage keys trying to open locks the wrong way.

All in all keys are a part of our history, they made you feel important, feel grown up and special, nowadays keys are getting fewer, back in the day keys were easy to acquire, nowadays replacement keys are often a huge amount of hassle.

E

[Colin Lindsay]

I spoke to a builder a few years back who told me that huge plant machinery, diggers and the like, often only have SEVEN different keys across the range, hence so many of them get stolen. 

I was also talking to a man at a show and pointing out the very visible key number on the face of the lock, and his reply was: "Just stick a screwdriver in, saves buying a key." So much simpler than the electronic thingies we have these days which if they decide not to want to play and won't recognise the chip or code or whatever, leave you stranded. Many moderns will have a key that opens the doors but won't start the car, so you can sit inside out of the rain and cry.

[Dave the tram]

Came across this thread and thought I’d add to the anecdotes about keys. Regarding the number of keys required - when I drove buses in the 80s in Sheffield, they didn’t require any keys, NONE! So anyone who had watched a driver get in a bus and drive it, could do likewise and drive it away. They didn’t have fuel gauges either and, guess what was the commonest cause of breakdown. Strange.

I took a worn key for my GT6 into a local shoe repairer a few years ago and asked if he had a blank to match. He got his magnifying glass then quoted a type number from memory and said ‘Lotus Elan I reckon - not seen one of these for decades. I think I’ve got one in the back’. And he did.

Finally, since the GT6 rebuild, it started locking its doors every time I close them, so to ensure I never get stuck, I have a spare hidden in secret compartment under the bonnet, which of course doesn’t lock. Saves me having to dismantle the rear quarter light catch from outside then reach in with a broom handle!

Dave

[Chris A]

Keys!

When I went out in the Herald today I took the keys and the remote for the electric gates off the hook, got outside beeped the remote to open the gates, took the cover off the car, put the roof down got in and couldn't find the keys. Retraced my steps a couple of times, shook the cover no keys thought if I had dropped them on the gravel they would have made a noise. Thought I might have accidentally dropped them. In the folds of the hood. Got the spare set and went out. 

When I got back and put the roof up - no keys. Picked up the cover and there they were on the gravel . . .

[Eric Smith]

Hi Chris, I read your thread with interest, I think you have had a close encounter with Gremlins - a little known fact is RAF aircrew first encountered large numbers of Gremlins during WW2, the Hollywood variety are not real, but the Gremlins you encountered definitely are! 

Once you find you have Gremlins around there is no chance of getting rid of them, they are a very troublesome creature, for some reason they have a fascination with keys, wallets and small change - they also love hiding important paperwork and they even plant incriminating sweet and biscuit wrappers in your trouser or overall pockets.

GREMLINS 

Eric
 

[Colin Lindsay]

14 hours ago, Dave the tram said:

I took a worn key for my GT6 into a local shoe repairer a few years ago and asked if he had a blank to match. He got his magnifying glass then quoted a type number from memory and said ‘Lotus Elan I reckon - not seen one of these for decades. I think I’ve got one in the back’. And he did.

I did that for my GT6 keys, and the cutter told me they also fitted Nissan and Porsche, so the first made them very common and easy to find blanks for. 

[JohnD]

Whereas all.moderns are perfectly protected by a little button on the key fob - aren't they?

Neighbours were visited by family, driving a Rolls Cullinan SUV.   You'll think, hard to get into illegally.   That night someone did, stealing coats and money.

The police said this was done with a device that probes the vehicle's electronics remotely and reveals the door code!   And that it was on sale on Amazon!!!

Maybe keys are better!

John

 

[Chris A]

12 hours ago, Eric Smith said:

Hi Chris, I read your thread with interest, I think you have had a close encounter with Gremlins - a little known fact is RAF aircrew first encountered large numbers of Gremlins during WW2, the Hollywood variety are not real, but the Gremlins you encountered definitely are! 

Once you find you have Gremlins around there is no chance of getting rid of them, they are a very troublesome creature, for some reason they have a fascination with keys, wallets and small change - they also love hiding important paperwork and they even plant incriminating sweet and biscuit wrappers in your trouser or overall pockets.

GREMLINS 

Eric
 

We must have an infestation in the house in that case.

[Chris A]

1 hour ago, JohnD said:

The police said this was done with a device that probes the vehicle's electronics remotely and reveals the door code!   And that it was on sale on Amazon!!!

There are also quite a few car thefts where they use a sort of scanner that picks up the signal from the keys inside the house, it then relays it to the car and off they go . . . answer seems to be keep the keys well away from windows or keep then in a metal (aluminium?) tin to block the signal.

Better still don't drive expensive cars, just an old banger than nobody wants that wouldn't have anything of value in it. Oh, I do my 13/60 plus it is RHD in a land of LHDs

[dougbgt6]

3 hours ago, JohnD said:

The police said this was done with a device that probes the vehicle's electronics remotely and reveals the door code!   And that it was on sale on Amazon!!!

Have you a link? I can't find it. 

Doug

[Eric Smith]

Dave the Trams story just reminded me of a story I was told a long time ago, it’s not a story about Keys but gear sticks.

I knew a guy who had been a German POW, in a POW camp in Ely. He settled locally, and I met him when he was in his lat 60’s. The guy (Mr M) was great and as he got to know me he started to tell me stories about the German Army and his life - this is the abridged version of one story.

One day in France in early 1944, he was sent to do some errands in his truck, because the type of truck he used was easily stolen, the drivers got into the habit of taking the vehicles gear stick with them for the trucks security.

When Mr M got back to the place he had parked his truck, the truck was long gone, all he had left was the gear stick - Mr M’s bosses were livid, so they did some investigation and found out from the local French citizens, the SS had stolen it.

The following night Mr M and a mate, went into town, found an SS lorry of the same type and pinched it, they drove it back to their barracks and through the night into the early hours, the truck was repainted and during the next day it had all of their regiments marking applied.

When I asked Mr M how he stole the truck he just looked at me and smiled and then said “I just used me gear stick”

Eric

[rlubikey]

Here's the Car security you need - complete with subtitles.

There's no "Embed Youtube" button on this forum (there is on the TR Register) so I'll have to post a link.

Alas Smith & Jones - Porsche Security

Cheers, Richard

 

[JohnD]

6 hours ago, dougbgt6 said:

Have you a link? I can't find it. 

Doug

Oh come on!  No offence but I'm not posting that here or anywhere in tbw net!

[dougbgt6]

Just joking John, the clue is the emoji in a balaclava.

Doug

[JohnD]

Is that what that means?  I thought it was a yoof in a hoodie!

[dougbgt6]

10 hours ago, JohnD said:

Is that what that means?  I thought it was a yoof in a hoodie!

Well yes, yoof in a hoodie - car bandit, same thing, init.

Doug

[Chris A]

47 minutes ago, dougbgt6 said:

Well yes, yoof in a hoodie - car bandit, same thing, init.

Doug

Someone looking through a letterbox?

[dougbgt6]

7 hours ago, Chris A said:

Someone looking through a letterbox?

Yep, looking fot thr car keys on the hall side table. Car Bandit!

A lot of that round here.

Doug

 

[Dave the tram]

And all that reminds me of another, even better key anecdote. A mate had a Mini Cooper, 1275 S, way back in the late ‘60s - moved to Norway with it. They were eminently stealable back in the day, and steering locks were not yet standard. Got fed up messing about with Krooklocks so fitted his own aftermarket steering column lock - with its own key. Have you guessed it yet?

One winter morning set off to work having bump started it due to flat battery and stopped on route to buy some fags. Left the engine running of course, but locked the steering to stop it being nicked. NOW YOU’VE GUESSED IT! Came out drove off quite happily until he took the first bend at about 70 - it was a Cooper S after all. Then heard that fateful click as the steering found the lock position. What an ‘oh shit’ moment that must have been just before he left the road, perhaps fumbling for keys as the car rolled. Luckily he escaped serious injury but the car was a write-off. Risk assessment clearly not his strong point.

[Colin Lindsay]

Modern cars are of course little better, especially those that don't require a physical key in a physical lock to start. We get into our Freelander, engine starts, we park at the shops, 'Er Indoors gets out on some mission or other and guess what: Key in her pocket, "Smart Key not Detected" but still engine runs on. (There was a case of some journalist or other leaving hers at a mainland train station and taking the train to London while her car continued to run in the car park, however I digress!) 

I don't know if it will still drive until the engine is turned off, but worse: she has a habit of locking the car with the remote key as she walks off, leaving me a prisoner. doors are locked, windows won't go down, and the car cannot be unlocked from the inside. Worse still the alarm goes off after a time and I'm sitting there like an idiot until she realises the vibratory thing is her phone and comes back to let me out. That has happened half a dozen times now. 

[dougbgt6]

I got one of theres for Christmas, a car glass hammer, keep one in the car, that'd teach her! 

Doug

 

Edited August 31 by dougbgt6

[Peter Truman]

1 hour ago, Colin Lindsay said:

 

I don't know if it will still drive until the engine is turned off, but worse: she has a habit of locking the car with the remote key as she walks off, leaving me a prisoner. doors are locked, windows won't go down, and the car cannot be unlocked from the inside. Worse still the alarm goes off after a time and I'm sitting there like an idiot until she realises the vibratory thing is her phone and comes back to let me out. That has happened half a dozen times now. 

Haven't you got the message yet! Just jossing

A close friend a senior police officer here had to attend a major shopping center here for an incident and saw his wifes choc T2000 saloon in the car park so being a real rat bag he shifted it to an adjacent car park then rang the local station and told them to give his wife a hard time eg did you leave it unlocked or maybe keys in the ignition, well she followed all the prompts, officers arrived and continued belittling the little woman. She finally woke up after Syd fronted up & tried to convince her she had got lost and parked in another car park. Syd had a very quiet life for a couple of weeks, even his 2 teenage daughters sent him to Coventry, if anyone mentions it to this day Chris's face definately says "Don't go there".Syd got us ALL at one time or another!

If we had a club exec meeting at our place he'd leave his unmarked police car at home and come in a paddy wagon in full uniform all the equipment gun baton etc, which he normally only wore on special events just to get our neighbors tongues wagging!

Edited August 31 by Peter Truman