Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club | Where oh where has my little Delica gone....

Ultimate bummer! My Delicas was stolen sometime last night from in front of our house in Surrey so I am putting this out there just in case another Delica club member runs across a Green and Champagne Super Exceed Delica license plate 002 PED. It has a QUEST University sticker in the rear window and some body damage along the left rear fender.

I want my baby back! Dang it! Craaaaaaaaap....so frustrating!

L300 or L400?

I suspect the rego number would be the key to the model. I am not familiar with your system but we could tell by the rego how long a car has been registered and then depending on how long L400s have been available that would enable an educated guess. I am guessing L300 as it seems silly for some one to steal an L400 cause they stand out like a sore thumb over there at the moment.. Cheers

Delicas in general stick out like a sore thumb.
As for the "rego number" the licence plates in North America are not associated to the vehicle in the way they are over there, my plates are now on their third vehicle, they stay with the person, and not with the car when it gets sold. (the one exception is the province of Quebec, but they're always a bit different). The police are really the only ones that can associate the plate to the vehicle in any meaningful way.

so sorry to hear that! i offer you my sympathy. if it turns up in powell river, ill see it and ill call the cops

Sorry to hear about your loss - I hope your Van resurfaces somewhere unharmed... Can't really see why someone would steal a Deli (not exactly the most "common" and "meager" vehicle on the street - and not exactly a racehorse for some joyriding either... you are certainly not gonna outrun the cops in this thing... weird)

I know this won't help here - but I have been thinking about installing a main battery shut of switch on mine somewhere hidden (i.e. only the insiders know where it is) and due to the fact that my ECU is disconnected and I have to manually glow my plugs prior to start, I would like to see the freakin' car thief managing to start mine - especially now that temperatures are getting colder again...

I really hope that you will get your ride back!

Good luck,
Chris

the one I have constantly thought would be a good idea is a cut-off on the fuel cut-off solenoid... no fuel, no driving... sit there listening to my tape deck all you want, hopefully you're still there when the cops show up!

Brutal news!

Is there any tips on this board for securing a Deli, besides a wheel-lock or adding a car alarm? And will either of these deter the most proficient thieves?

Because of their height, many Delicas have to be parked on the street, which makes them a prime target for our region's car bandits.

Anyways, I hope you get your vehicle back. But that totally sucks.

You can get an Autowatch 363 immobilizer through BCAA for $199 including installation. (I think that's the member price.) You even get a tiny percentage discount on your annual insurance from ICBC. I had it done and it seems to work fine.

They mount a small light at the top of the steering column that blinks when it's activated. If you don't have the small black de-activator (comes with 2) with you (on your key chain) when you get in the vehicle, it disables about 2 or 3 different electrical circuits and won't let it start.

Cheers,

Awesome advice. Thank you.

Good luck and I'll keep an eye out as well.

If you can say whether it's an L300 or and L400 like the others asked, that would be great.

Unfortunately, from what I've heard in the past, the only people that really look to steal vehicles like Delica's/van's, etc... are drug dealers or homeless that need the space to haul gear or sleep in for a short period of time.

Hopefully, that is not the case and it's just been towed away.

Be sure to call all the tow companies as well just in case.

might want to keep an eye on ebay etc if there is any black market for car parts. the best defense for not having your car stolen is drive it unless car jackings are common there. fitting an immobiliser should be a good way to deter thieves but anything visible that looks like they have to spend more time should help.

This is the thing about security, you have to figure out what you are securing against. If you are asking for a system that will make the vehicle impossible to steal, there is no such thing. The best you can do is make it less attractive than the next vehicle.

You have to figure out who would target a delica, it is probably not someone planning to re-sell the vehicle, the community is too small, and the odds of being caught are high, smuggling it out of the country to re-sell is too cost prohibitive for this too. They could part it out, but that is a lot of work, and again, the small community makes the odds of getting caught high, and the ability to sell the parts low. This means your main risk is the person who will steal for transportation, crime, or simply because the opportunity is there.

These types of criminals don't usually care what vehicle they have as long as they have something, so to deter these sorts of crimes you actually need very little, locking the doors and taking the keys with you is 90% of it, add any alarm (or even a blinking LED), or something like "the club" and the odds of this type of crime drop significantly, any form of immobilizer will pretty much make it zero. It becomes easier to move to the next car on the street than to steal yours.

To deter against a "determined and proficient thief" is a lot more work, luckily they are less likely to target a 15 year old Delica (as I mentioned above) These people are better at getting past locks, alarms, even immobilizers, and if all else fails, it's almost impossible to secure against a tow-truck. The best bet for securing against a determined thief is to make sure the vehicle is being watched and that they can't do anything without drawing a lot of attention...

I have a removable steering wheel.... but I also wouldn't be that upset about it getting ripped off... I take my tools in every night for a reason.

Anyways, it's an L300 Star Wagon. Suprised nobody knew this. I am going to go out on a limb and say it's a 1992 (possibly 1991). Case closed by me (only guy that knew this factoid).