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BRAKING NEWS: Sneaky thief steals same van over and over again

A biweekly roundup of automotive news, good, bad and just plain weird: Same van “borrowed” for several break-ins Houston resident Beverly Havard knew something was up.
Thief
photo illustration Mike Wakefield, North Shore News

A biweekly roundup of automotive news, good, bad and just plain weird:

Same van “borrowed” for several break-ins

Houston resident Beverly Havard knew something was up. Each time she got into her van in the morning, she’d notice that minor things were a little off. A mirror would be improperly adjusted, or the seat would need to be moved forward.

Then she noticed that the odometer kept creeping up. What was going on? Was the van haunted?

Well, no. A clever thief was “borrowing” Ms. Havard’s van, using a stolen spare key to do so. He’d sneak the van out of the driveway at night, use it as a getaway vehicle for break-ins, and be assured that if it was spotted on camera, suspicion would fall on someone else.

Happily, the police soon caught up with the fly-by-night van snatcher. Unhappily, he managed to drive the vehicle into a pole during the pursuit, leaving the Havard family with their suspicions confirmed, but without a van.

Samaritan law proposed for hot dogs

Across the border in Georgia, a law already exists to absolve Good Samaritans from civil liability. If you see a child left in a hot car, you can break the window to rescue them, without fear of legal repercussions. It’s a pretty sensible law, especially in the frequently litigious United States.

Now, a Georgia state senator is proposing to extend that protection to people who rescue pets from locked vehicles. State senator Kay Kirkpatrick introduced the bill as a result of her work on a committee working to regulate service animals. The senator reportedly has her own service animal, a 14-year-old labradoodle.

Now, you can’t just go around smashing up windows willy-nilly. Anyone who spots a dog locked in a car on a hot day, must call 911 before calling in.

In British Columbia, the law states that only a police officer is allowed to break into a car to rescue a dog, although there are about 30 special SPCA constables also legally allowed to do so. Seems like one of those things we on the dog-loving North Shore might want to consider updating – right after we start ticketing people for driving around with their dogs in their laps.

Prince Philip gives up his license to drive

At 97, the occasionally irascible Duke of Edinburgh has surrendered his license, a few weeks after colliding with another car near the royal Sandringham estate. No one was seriously injured in the crash, though the Prince’s Land Rover ended up on its roof, and the driver of the other car suffered cuts and bruises. Her passenger sustained a broken wrist.

The law in Britain doesn’t set specific age limits for drivers, but past the age of 70, you must renew your license every three years. It’s only a couple of years since Prince Philip drove the Obamas to lunch on their official state visit. And it’s also only a few days since police issued an official caution to the Prince for driving around without a seatbelt on.

The official statement from Buckingham Palace is, “After careful consideration The Duke of Edinburgh has taken the decision to voluntarily surrender his driving license.”

Anyone who has seen a picture of what the Queen looks like when she’s annoyed may apply their own definition to the term, “voluntarily.”

VW hints at a new beach buggy

Set to debut at this year’s Geneva International Motor Show, Volkswagen’s modern take on the classic beach body will sit on an electrified chassis. Volkswagen’s MEB platform is a self-contained unit that integrates battery and drivetrain into a single unit. If you tear down a Tesla into its constituent parts, it’s the same idea, but slightly more compact.

So far, VW’s calling their idea a concept, but both their EV hatchback and EV microbus concepts have passed the green light for production. It’s entirely possible that VW might build an electric dune buggy in the foreseeable future.

Or, if they don’t, that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to buy one. The original dune buggies built by the likes of Bruce Meyers used Beetle components and fibreglass bodies. There’s no reason some small-scale specialty shop won’t be able to order rolling chassis from VW, and then build their own bodies, open-topped or otherwise.

VW is already talking about tie-ups with other manufacturers, and the company has a long history of working with custom coachbuilders. If you think an electrified future is going to be a lot of boring homogeneous pods, then worry no longer. Hop in and let’s go surfing.

Special edition MX-5 sells out in hours

Announced at this year’s Chicago Auto Show, where Mazda first debuted the Miata, the 30th anniversary MX-5 has shown that the public still loves proper lightweight sports cars. Crossovers still headline the sales charts, but the special edition for this lightweight two seater was completely sold out almost immediately.

The 30th anniversary MX-5 comes in a unique orange colour, and can be got in either soft-top or folding hardtop, with either a manual or automatic transmission. The brake calipers are also painted orange, and a set of lightweight RAYS forged alloy rims have been fitted.

A total of 3,000 anniversary edition MX-5s were initially available, but now there’s only a waitlist. Speaking personally, your humble author is still waiting for a return of the British Racing Green version.

Watch this space for all the best and worst of automotive news, or submit your own auto oddities to mcaleer.nsnews@gmail.com.