Thought I would post a follow up on this event. The 392 in question has been repaired/restored by a dealer local to the owner. I don't have the full list of items replaced but include the wire harness for the GPS antenna, the dash gauge cluster, along with interior trim pieces and seats that were damaged/scratched from the break in along with driver side rear door window and trim. Some repainting but not the entire Jeep. The total cost for the parts, labor, etc was about $15k. Insurance covered it.
It appears the thieves knew what they were doing, broke a window to gain entry, started cutting wires to disable GPS, alarm, etc., and used some tech to get the Jeep running. However, with no functioning gauge cluster they didn't know how much fuel was in the tank. Turned out to be about 50 miles worth (Isn't that about 1/4 tank for a 392?
). It was found about that far out of town. The guess is they drove it off the highway into the weeds when the fuel ran dry.
The owner is a picky car guy and says he is satisfied with the quality of the work performed. This 392 is a pavement princess and doesn't know what dirt looks like. One of the security measures he has now installed is a 4122 Kill Switch (
link). This setup replaces the starter relay on the fuse block with one that has a remote switch wired to it. I got to thinking about this after watching their promo video and I guess if I had to leave my Jeep somewhere in public like a hotel parking lot overnight it would be easy enough to just remove the starter relay and take it with me, maybe a 2 min process.
Anyway, the owner is happy to have his Jeep back, and realizes if someone wants bad enough they'll get it, he's hoping to provide enough deterrent to get thieves to pass for one less protected.
