[Paul MD]

It's a beautiful spring day here in Maryland so naturally I'm going topless...

In so doing I realised a little habit of mine that might be worth sharing for the benefit of all.

An Autolock!

Attached picture shows my Autolock in place today...

The purpose of this neat yellow gadget is to lock your handbrake and gear shift - on and in gear!

This is a good thing because there have been reports of low-life muppets leaning into convertibles that have been parked with the top down to knock them out of gear and let the handbrake off. While this might set you alarm off that doesn't help much if your car is already rolling down a hill toward the sea/a wall/another car!

So my top tip of the day is go get one of these inexpensive items and keep it in the trunk. I used it on my Elise all the time. It's not a great theft deterrant but it does stop the "lets see how far that cool sports car will roll" brigade and does help baffle joy-riders.

I'm not sure if these things are sold in the US - but I'm sure some enterprising soul will figure it out.

 

[Paul MD]

Picture...

 

[tidalwdave]

Never seen that before. Thanks for the tip.

I wish we had that problem here with cars rolling. Florida is so flat that if they wanted to do that stunt with my car, they have to push it. It won't roll anywhere on it's own. Man, I hate flat states.

 

[mikester]

Paul, I love that "baseball glove" effect leather and lacing ! IMO it wouldn't be at all suitable for an Elise, but it's very cool-looking in a TT.

Cheers, Mike

 

[Paul MD]

Thanks! It was my 'homage' to America when I moved here

 

[Modern Wedgie]

Off-Topic

I always liked those seats!

On-Topic

Good idea, but you can always curb your wheels (a good idea in any car), and the steering wheel locks without a key, so this little gadget wouldnt be necessary.

 

[Paul MD]

Don't car parks come with inclines anywhere in your neck of the woods?


Plus... my granny could break the steering lock...

 

[Modern Wedgie]

When I park in parking lots, I always pick an end spot, which is usually next to a curb

And I think any one trying to fidget with the steering wheel lock will set off the alarm

 

[Paul MD]

You're obviously genetically lucky...

 

[jml1952]

That device looks somewhat obscene to me!

In 14+ years I've left my Miata parked in many places. Never had anyone dump anything unwanted into the car or fiddle with it, as far as I could tell, while the top was down, except on one occasion when someone stole my ashtray full of change.

I have had someone slash the top trying to get in and steal the car, and someone broke the passenger window to get in and steal my wallet from the glove compartment (lucky me, the Elise has no glove compartment).

I think the shower cap will be a good solution to this potential problem, plus it keeps the sun off the interior. I may buy one from Sector 111 (if they ever get a price on there), but I'm considering using the cockpit cover that I have for the Miata (if it fits onto the Elise).

By the way, my wife's a doctor and she's never wrong, so I would assume that Paul doesn't make mistakes either. But I believe that Kermit and Miss Piggy are muppets, while I'm guessing that the low-lifes cited might be moppets.

 

[Paul MD]

... I married a muppet ...

Shower cap would do the job I'm sure... This is actually something that baffles me... you're all waiting for various US shops to open up - including Lotus. We do HAVE parcel service, mail service and even FedEx in the UK and Europe you know! It kinda stems from the days when we ruled the world

It's a world economy - you can order over there...!

I go back 3-4 times a year so any MD folks that want me to hand carry something I can probably manage it now and again!

... not a LSDiff though boys and girls...

One of my first purchases is gonna be a shower cap - I'll just bring it back with me or have my mum send it out!

 

[jml1952]

One of our members is running Sector 111, so although some items may be offered in the UK, I was waiting to see what he comes up with. He's supposed to be working on a deal with Elemental for the shower cap, designed to fit our version of the Elise (the previous cap seems to have looped over the radio antenna on the engine cover and thankfully our car won't have an external antenna). Plus shipping from the UK seems to be more expensive than shipping within the US.

 

[Randy Chase]

Supporting the forum sponsors is a Good Thing (tm).

I looked up the company that made the AutoLok. They show it as sold out.

 

[Paul MD]

Must be popular then!

Oh well... just trying to be helpful...

 

[Randy Chase]

Appreciated. That is why I researched who made it (note spelling with no c). I like the idea.

 

[huggy bear]

The purpose of this neat yellow gadget is to lock your handbrake and gear shift - on and in gear!

Can a malicious muppet lean in, unscrew the shift knob, pull back further on the handbrake to lift it off the shifter, throw it out of gear and then release the hand brake?

 

[zvezdah1]

Paul.
FYI, Shinoo (sector 111) is I think over in UK, finalizing plans with UK suppliers. I believe the car covers and shower capes are going to be manufactured here in US under license from Elemental who are very highly regarded by SELOC members
Chris

 

[Paul MD]

Certainly - so ya Locktite the bugger on and assume that he'll get fed up with the car alarm wailing its brains out!

 

[Paul MD]

Don't misconstrue my honourable intention here... I was just offering to help some local people out with UK sourced stuff until such time as Sector et al get their sh*t together - as they surely will - whereupon I shall be ordering more stuff from them too!!!

(strokes 'simplify' T-shirt fondly)

As for Autolok... well it can't hurt can it... if it puts jsut one Muppet off I'm happy

 

[huggy bear]

Are you sure lugging back an LSD is out of the question?