Pluggers by Rick McKee for January 12, 2015

Not even by the quick blink of the headlights?

A real plugger thinks a key that needs a battery is ridiculous.

My wife INSISTS on using the remote to lock the vehicle even after I have locked the doors with the key. She says, ‘It is the only sure way I know the alarm is armed’.

My car’s locks make a nice, loud CLUNK sound when I lock them with the remote. Of course, I’m standing close enough to hear it because I’m watching to make sure the buttons go down.

I drive an old car with 300,000 miles on it and never lock it. Nobody gives it a second look. The best anti-theft is not having anything anybody wants.

I don’t use the remote to lock the car, especially in parking lots. Heard that there is a reader that can record and use the signal to unlock the doors.

Ah, this crazy, hi-tech world! I was thrilled with being able to lock all doors when exiting the driver’s door. Manually. That means “no remote” kids.

Very high tech for a plugger

My car is so paranoid, it will lock itself for no reason.

What remote and what lock? That broke years ago.

ditto “what remote start”…also, with a tempermental carburetor, i don’t think most people could drive it, anyway. nobody wants a 78 Regal unless they know it’s a “sleeper”, and the only external clue to this is the huge pipes beneath the chrome bumper. yes, chrome. not plastic. burn rubber!!!

It’s foolish to lock a soft-top convertible.Back when we were still driving British sports cars daily, if we parked in the city, the thing to do was take off the distributor cap, remove and pocket the rotor button and put the distributor cap back on.Occasionally, we would return to find a door open.Once, some enterprising thief try to push start it and we found it abandoned down hill from where we parked.

The alarm in my van never beeped. Nice and quiet. No one knew it was alarmed. As a matter of fact, I didn’t know it had an alarm when I bought it from the previous owners. They had neglected to tell us.. We were at a military cemetery to visit my father-in-law’s grave. Out of habit, I locked the doors with the remote but the side door windows were open. My daughter reached in and pulled up the lock and set off the alarm. It was really embarrassing as there was a funeral service not too far away from where we were and I’m sure they didn’t appreciate the unwelcome noise from my van. But there is also a “plug” I can pull under the dash board to keep anyone from trying to steal it, though I think a huge van is something thieves aren’t really interested in stealing.

Mine locks automatically when I walk away from it, and unlocks when I am standing next to it and pull the handle..That’s if I have the fob in my pocket…

My ‘63 Ford Galaxie Convert never gets stolen, for there’s too many people standing around admiring it. But its barn is always locked. Ya never know.

Or the horn honks.

“Beep means car is locked” that’s the point… I don’t get the humour.