Help identify this vehicle and catch some thieves.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Apologies for X posting.

Six months ago I had a 'visit' from the light-fingered brigade who broke into my shed and relieved me of an old lawnmower, and more expensively a brand new hedge trimmer and chain saw.

Two nights ago the same tyre tracks took the same path across the same field and stopped in the same place outside my hedge.

I no longer keep anything of value in the shed, so no crime committed, but this time I got some decent measurements in the wet soil.

What I have is:

Wheelbase 2.45 meters +- 50 cm. Track 1.45 meters +-5cm. Tread width 165mm, sidewalls maybe 200mm apart, Michelin cheapo tyres Almost certainly 4x4 to leave the sort of marks it did - there were 4 equal sized gouges where it stopped, and then took off again. A bit lighter than a Landrover Defender - mine leaves deeper tracks on wider tyres.

Since the intention was to remove large garden machinery, I am guessing a pickup or a van style back - as in landrover and jap copies thereof.

Any suggestions as to the make of vehicle would be welcome. By me and the police here. They are cagey, but I have the impression they know who it is, but lack evidence.

[s--p--o--n--i--x]

Take a plaster cast of the tyre tracks before they dissappear...and get a security camera!

sPoniX

[Clive Summerfield]

Hmm.

Kia Sportage comes in at 2.65m wheelbase, track is 1.44m, runs on 205/70R15 and weighs in at 1494kg unladen.

Others such as RAV4, Freelander, Vitaras, et al don't seem to fit the dimensions you give as well as the Kia Sportage. Also strikes me as the sort of poor mans 4WD that thieves might use. After all, if they want to keep a Freelander running, they'll need more than the proceeds of shed break-ins.

Cheers Clive

[The Natural Philosopher]

No need. They are Michelins, same as last time, as I'ded by local police.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Thank you muchly.

I too have identified that its very small, narrow tracked and narrow on the tryes - it may be it is NOT 4WD and is something like a clapped old Fiesta van or similar. Of all the possible suspect types round here, an old pickup - more than 10 years, maybe 15 - is the sort of vehicle one would expect.

2.65m is too long. its absolutely not over 2.6m, and its absoluteley 165mm across the treads - is that where the tyre is 'measured' at?

And track was VERY precise and easier to measure than anything else - I got 1.45 and 1.46 on two measurements.

However I will look up te Kia and see if it fits vehicles I have seen hanging around.

Keep the data coming, and thank you.

[Jules]

If you're implying old and cheap, and assuming 4wd, then the first thing that sprang to mind was one of those old Lada Riva 4x4's - cheap and cheerful, do the job etc.

I can't find any details on track, but wheelbase is 2.2m and tyre width is

6.95" (176mm) at the rim (I think, site wasn't too clear), so 165mm for the tread might be right.

cheers

Jules

[s--p--o--n--i--x]

Ford escort/Vauxhall astra?

sPoNiX

[The Natural Philosopher]

Sounds right except for the track. Too wide by half! Oh, and wheelbase - too long!

I am thinking it may not be 4WD after all.

[The Natural Philosopher]

That had crossed my mind. Thats exactly teh sort of nasty old heap of rusty cr@p I woud expect the lads to have.

Hmm. Can anyone find specs on Marinas, Datsun bluebrds, and Astras

These all look 'in the ballpark' from what I have found.

[The Natural Philosopher]

AHA. I may have it. Volvo 145 estate?

This looks like it matches in EVERY respect.

base 102.5" = 2.60 meters wheelbase. Track 57" = 1.45 meters Tire size 165 S 15.

I'll dig deeper, but its not the first time I have seen a dodgy volvo hanging around.

[nightjar]

Perhaps you should keep something very heavy, that looks valuable, in your shed. A metal stockist I knew had a group of travellers try to steal his entire brass stock. The Police caught them, several hours later, trying to get the heavily overladen lorry out of the mud alongside his building.

Colin Bignell

[Adrian]

The Natural Philosopher ( snipped-for-privacy@b.c) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Apart from the fact they're damn near extinct.

I'm with the Scrote in a Scrote Van theory.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Look. What cars curently run on 165 tyres? Not many - certainly very few road cars.

If you put that in - already its a 70's car.

Over a million 145's were made, its an old banger sure, but there are still a lot around.

We are talking 300 yards across a muddy field. Volvos to that. Most modern cars do not. Apart from 4x4's and everything I can find more modern than the volvo uses wider tyres and/or has a wider track.

Feel free to please find something more modern that fits the bill, but its the best I have come up with yet.

[Adrian]

The Natural Philosopher ( snipped-for-privacy@b.c) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Not so sure about that - almost anything Escort-sized and below apart from probably the last five years or so. Hell, many Fiesta-size use 135 and 145. Escort Vans are prime thieving pikey scum fodder - and would have no problem with a bit of muddy grass, especially with somebody who'll be used to nicking things out of sheds in the middle of the night behind the wheel.

It's the 165 tread width that rules out a 4x4, for sure - nothing 4x4 uses tyres that narrow - except mebbe a Panda 4x4 (Hmmm. I wonder?)

I'd love it if they did, as it's nearly impossible to get tyres to fit the

2cv4x4. Suzuki SJ are about the narrowest at 195 or so.

I'd have thought 4x4 tyres would be fairly identifiable from the tread, too

- chunkier, more open.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Ok, I'll buy that. Where can I find track and wheelbase data on Escort and Fiesta sized vans?

Its not muddy grass tho. Its ploughed and seeded deep clay with crops in it. Ive even had a fair bot o weheelspin on the defender on similar.

I though of that - but its too small to nick stuff in really.

Its the cheapo michelins similar to what you get on any small car - longitudinal sipes wih lateral ones at an angle on teh edges.

[Adrian]

The Natural Philosopher ( snipped-for-privacy@b.c) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

'92 (Mk IV) Escort Estate :-

2525mm Track F 1440mm, R 1462mm Total width 1696mm

Damn near spot-on your measurements, right?

Bit upmarket for a pikey Scrote van... Probably nicked.

[Christian McArdle]

My old Vauxhall Cavalier had 165 wide tyres. You don't have to go back to the 1970s.

Christian.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I have found the most marvellous resource

Subaru Legacy - older ones - equipped with minimal tyres has 4WD and fits the bill perfectly, and I do remeber being woken vaguely by what sounded like a VW engine - flat four in a soobie innit?

If anyone ghas Acees or DB4, maybe they can do a better serach through teh data - using the conditions

Tyre size=165

2.56

[tony sayer]

Even so NP what are, or can, you do with that info. Even if you do determine that it is such and such a vehicle, are you any really further forward?.

Perhaps the best thing you have done is to demo that your gaff isn't worth doing over again?...

[Adrian]

The Natural Philosopher ( snipped-for-privacy@b.c) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Yup. I'd think 165 a bit narrow, though.

?car=28622Legacy is about the right w/b and track, as is the older '80s Subaru (but they all dissolved YEARS ago) but Michelin's tyre finder reckons 185 or 195 for the recent Legacy.