During the winter of 1989,I walked out to my brand new paid for 5.7 litre fully loaded IROC-Z,in the Lombard SportMart parking lot in the middle of the afternoon.
I was surprised to see all the windows fogged up.I honestly thought I was walking upto the wrong car..
As I approached the door to unlock it,I saw the door lock was popped outside & found a much older hispanic man sitting behind the wheel,hunched over the steering column,(now shattered in a million pieces on the floor)..struggling to get the car to start.
He couldn't figure it out because the ignition system used the same technology as the Corvette,a resistor imbedded into the ignition key.Once the ignition switch was rotated,it waited a few seconds to read the resistor.Without the key,it wasn't there and the car's ignition would not start.
This scumbag thief was breathing so hard,because he didn't understand that and probably spent a good 30 minutes struggling with it,as that's how long I was in the store.
As I surprised the living [censored] out of him,and he me,I yelled "WTF!"..and he said something back in Spanish and slammed the door shut and I held it to lock him in.He slid over the console and proceeded to get out the passenger side.I ran over to the passenger side,to hold that door closed,and yelled out to passer bys in the very populated lot,"Call the Police,Call the Police!"All just stared at me like lifeless drones.
The thief shuffled back to the drivers side and got out that door.I chased him across the lot,and he stopped as I caught up to him and pulled out a knife,and said "F*** You" & lunged the knife at me.I moved to one side to duck him & he ran lickity split across the lot towards traffic.I didn't pursue him anymore because of that.Instead I ran back into the store I came out of to call the police.By the time they arrived it was too late.He was gone,and my brand new car was in dishovled pieces inside.
I had to have it towed to a local dealership,as it wouldn't start and needed alot of internal wiring repair,column etc.,as well as the door fixed and repainted.
After I filled a report,the officer told me I was wise to not run after him,as that 2 other people were recently slashed during the same incident,in the same area and time of day.
They never caught the guy,but I'll never forget what he looked like that's for sure..
