Subiesport Magazine - February/March 2008 - (Page 18)

here is a special place in hell for thieves. Dante tells us that those who would steal from their fellow man are doomed to the eighth pit of hell, where they are cast into the viper den to be bitten over and over. Those bitten are then transformed into vipers themselves, and must bite a thief to regain their human form, only to be bitten and transformed again. It is a worthy fate; ask anyone who has stepped from their door to find their lovely mode of transportation violated, parts rent and scattered, or worse, replaced by an empty space. anger is the first thought, then hopelessness, followed by sorrow, and then, of course, comes the want for revenge. but how to exact revenge? Thieves come and go in the night, gone in a whisper. more than often the police, our protectors, are either too overwhelmed or not motivated enough to seek out those who would do us ill. but for two regular guys, all would be lost, as they took their revenge against the faceless scourge of car thieves. There is a massive shortage in this country. not of diamonds or caviar or even fuel, but of 2008 StIs. as of this writing, there are literally only a handful of these cars in the country, with most dealers only having one 18 MARCH 2008 SUBIE SLEUTHS T or two at hand. In Springfield, there is only one Subaru dealership, and they had only two 2008 StIs, one with the new bbS wheel treatment. The week the dealer was to receive the new car, they had a steady stream of inquiries from prospective buyers, but one in particular stuck out. The party only wanted to know which options and extras the car would have, and in particular, if it would have the bbS rims. This seemed odd as it read almost like a shopping list and not an actual inquiry from someone who would want to buy the car. but that was all, and nothing to be alarmed about. Several days later, the car arrived and was then stored in the dealer back lot. Within 24 hours of the car’s arrival, a group of thieves descended on the car in the dark of night, and relieved the new StI of its stylish wheels and tires. However, this was not enough, as they also beat in a few body panels and made sure the car would not be saleable. They also left behind fingerprints. Immediately after the theft, the local Subaru club and message board was notified that the break-in had taken place, that one of the StIs had been burglarized, and that even a service customer’s car had been hit as well. Even with the club on alert, no one really believed that much could have been done. “at first, I was upset to think that someone in the community had stolen them,” said club president nosmo. “We concluded that we wanted to help apprehend the thieves, but never thought they would actually be dumb enough to try to sell anything on our board.” Initially, neither the police nor the dealership had any solid leads, just the one cryptic e-mail, but then either through complete stupidity, desperation, or both, the thieves made a giant blunder. a few days after the theft, a thread popped up on the club message board advertising the sale of brand new StI wheels and tires for a rock-bottom price of $400. Since the alert had already been raised, nosmo and his cohorts instantly knew that these were the wheels that had been stolen just a few nights before. Showing a depth of intelligence absent from the apparent thieves, the members kept this obvious discovery to themselves and out of the thread. Instead, they egged the “seller” on, asking questions, haggling over price and seeming to compete with one another in a bidding war. Surprisingly, when nosmo contacted the police about their discovery, little seemed to hap-

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Subiesport Magazine - February/March 2008

Subiesport Magazine - February/March 2008 Contents Travis Geny Letters Readers' Rides Subaru News Subie Sleuths Hatched Plans United in Subarus East Meets West WRC Rally Catalunya WRC Rally France WRC Rally Japan WRC Rally Ireland WRC Wales Rally GB The Future of Subaru WRC Team Orange Where to Buy Subiesport 1993 Impreza "Dreadnought" Performance Radiator Install Special Kei Ad Directory Spotted!

Subiesport Magazine - February/March 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.