Thieves drilling into gas tanks to steal 'liquid gold'
Dale Fortin is getting a new kind of customer at his Detroit auto repair shop, customers who have not just been in a fender-bender or had a windshield smashed by a rock.
The soaring price of crude oil has turned gas tanks into a cache of valuable booty, and Fortin has replaced several tanks punctured or drilled by thieves thirsting for the nearly $4-a-gallon fuel inside.
It's too bad we can't have boobytrapped cars. I remember an "alarm" that was in use in Africa that actually spat flames out of the bottom of the car if someone tried to break in.
I knew that and it's pretty stupid as the drill and gas exchange could blow up!
There is that chance but as the article said Plastic tanks are typically the target, he said, since there is less chance of a catastrophic spark, and they are easier to drill. I'd think that since it is below the gas line it would be safer it's generally the fumes that ignite not the gas itself but it is to me not worth the chance either way.
I knew an auto mechanic who made a good portion of his living by welding gas tanks with bad seams. The seams typically run horizontally about half way up. He'd fill the leaky tank with gas and then weld the seam as the burning gasoline dripped to the ground. He said that only the fumes would explode and he had done this for a long time when I had met him in complete safely too.
Personally, I don't think I would ever choose to do it however.
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Mister P-Mosh
It's too bad we can't have boobytrapped cars. I remember an "alarm" that was in use in Africa that actually spat flames out of the bottom of the car if someone tried to break in.
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cheranne
I knew that and it's pretty stupid as the drill and gas exchange could blow up!
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WhiteDove
There is that chance but as the article said Plastic tanks are typically the target, he said, since there is less chance of a catastrophic spark, and they are easier to drill. I'd think that since it is below the gas line it would be safer it's generally the fumes that ignite not the gas itself but it is to me not worth the chance either way.
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JeffSjo
I knew an auto mechanic who made a good portion of his living by welding gas tanks with bad seams. The seams typically run horizontally about half way up. He'd fill the leaky tank with gas and then weld the seam as the burning gasoline dripped to the ground. He said that only the fumes would explode and he had done this for a long time when I had met him in complete safely too.
Personally, I don't think I would ever choose to do it however.
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