A bit like these Rich - http://www.wickedlasers.com/?gclid=CIaZsOeqxLsCFTHLtAodikoAzw. Commonly pointed at police helicopters and airliners landing

I'm sure that I'm being completely paranoid here but I'd have some concerns about the potential for criminal abuse of such a system.

I share your concern 'kerbed enthusiasm' with so much 'hacked' software now freely available or 'on sale' on the internet - for a small fee. Only yesterday, I read an article about car thieves simply using "a little black box" to unlock unattended vehicles in order to help themselves to any valuables inside.

Funnily enough the thought entered my head the otherday as I 'blipped' my Berlingo that it must be so easy to capture and re-transmit the locl/unlock code.

Unless they work on a rolling code system but it sounds like they can work around that as well.

Thanks 'mss1tw' - I have found a link to the article I read - it includes a video which shows how nonchalant the theives are - unbelievable CCTV video and worrying for all of us who park our cars on the driveway overnight. See below:

news.msn.com/science-technology/high-tech-car-thie...e

Re your 'capturing and re-transmit the lock/unlock code' I can remember some time ago when central locking via an infra red key was common - and we were all warned to be careful to get really close to the car sensor before locking or unlocking our car since anyone with a PDA with built in IR link could stand close by and 'capture' our unique key code, store it on their PDA and then use it as soon as we left our car unattended. The IR link was essentially a 'near field' link but modern RF keys have a much greater range - maybe in excess of 30 metres radius and therefore the opportunities for illicit 'capture' by a potential thief are now greatly enhanced.

Worrying for me - I'd be disappointed if my Berlingo itself was stolen, but out of a job if they took the contents (>£2000 of elecrical tools and materials)

Worrying for me - I'd be disappointed if my Berlingo itself was stolen, but out of a job if they took the contents (>£2000 of elecrical tools and materials)

Do not worry mss1tw, the 'professional thieves' are mainly interested in stealing prestige cars 'to order' so your tools should be safe as long as they are out of sight in the boot and the vehicle is locked.

Good point - and another plus point for driving an anonymous-looking vehicle.

(The steps on the roof are an unavoidable clue, though!)

Thank you "firmbutfair" post dated 11th Jan. This has given me a reason to continue refurbishing my Wolseley.

Ooh 'hillman' a Wolseley 1500 cc ? A very modern looking car or maybe like a Riley Pathfinder as used by the Police ?

On second thoughts maybe a Wolseley Hornet/Riley Elf - both based on the Austin 7 Mini but with a little boot added at the rear ? Any road up you should be immune from any form of remote control or 'interception' with any of the above slassic cars with their simple electro-mechanical, distributor based ignition circuits and brushes on your dynamo etc - indeed all of this classic technology including your 'splashy' contact breaker points and unsuppressed spark plug HT leads should generate more their own wideband RF interference, with the added bonus of generating an effective localised 'jamming' signal to upset/confuse the 'modern' transponders !

Edited by Firmbutfair on 17/01/2014 at 09:09

"Ooh 'hillman' a Wolseley 1500 cc ? A very modern looking car or maybe like a Riley Pathfinder as used by the Police ?

On second thoughts maybe a Wolseley Hornet/Riley Elf - both based on the Austin 7 Mini but with a little boot added at the rear ? Any road up you should be immune from any form of remote control or 'interception' with any of the above slassic cars with their simple electro-mechanical, distributor based ignition circuits and brushes on your dynamo etc - indeed all of this classic technology including your 'splashy' contact breaker points and unsuppressed spark plug HT leads should generate more their ownwideband RF interference, with the added bonus of generating an effective localised 'jamming' signal to upset/confuse the 'modern' transponders !"

firmbutfair, I started out with a Wolseley 4/44 and if you want a project that's the one to aim for. The next Wolseley I owned was a 1500, not the same kind of animal at all. I think the 4/44 and the one that followed it (4/50 ?) were the last true Wolseleys. The 1500 seemed to be based on the Morris Minor. Everything after that was 'badge engineered', based on other models from the British Leyland line up. My present Wolseley, which I've had since the early 70s is the 6/110. That was based on the Austin Westminster. There were a few variants, including the one with the Rolls Royce engiine, which I think was bought from Army Surplus.

This thread's come a long way - no matter, 'thread drift' is part of the fun. I'm glad it's Hillman refurbishing a Wolseley rather than the other way round: my memories of Hillmans were that they were underpowered and not very reliable - not a good combination.

Just to be nerdy for a moment: the original Wolseley company (the car-making part anyway) went bust in the late 1920s, when there were just too many makers for too few buyers. William Morris bought the company and from the 30s Wolseleys started to look like upmarket Morrises, using mechanicals in common. So you can take your pick as to which you think the last 'real Wolseley' was.

The 4/50 and 6/80 (early post-war) were based on the Morris Oxford and Morris Six: then came the 4/44 (early 1950s) which didn't have a Morris body equivalent but shared basically the same bodywork with the MG Magnette. The 15/50 (mid 1950s) was a 4/44 with the BMC B-series engine, so was a bit livelier.

My first ever car was an Austin A50 with that B-series engine: interestingly it shares with my current Octavia vRS (with the VAG TSI petrol engine) the admirable low-down torque that in between times was mostly found in diesels.

Still, it would need a helicopter with a pretty big magnet to stop the Wolseley 6/110. It's still got copper plug leads so it might interfere with the helicopter electrics.

My present Wolseley, which I've had since the early 70s is the 6/110. That was based on the Austin Westminster. There were a few variants, including the one with the Rolls Royce engiine, which I think was bought from Army Surplus.

The Princess 4 litre R engine was a short-stroke version of the military engine, I think, specially developed for BMC for this vehicle.

The Rolls-Royce B-series of 4/6/8 cylinder engines were NOT car engines - they were designed for military and commercial vehicles, a mixture of all cast iron and cast iron block/alloy head versions.

The FB60 used in the Princess R was indeed an all-alloy version of the B6, specifically designed/built for Austin by R-R. Production was planned at 5,000/year but Austin could only sell 6,500 in 4 years and then dropped. With no penalty clauses, it lost R-R a lot of money.

I once had a problem in the UK, in late evening with weather much like we are having now, of coughing and rough runing of the engine of the Wolseley when I started it up. When I lifted the bonnet in the dark it was like Blackpool illuminations in there. The spark was going along the surface of the plug leads as much as through the core. My neighbour, a very experienced mechanic, advised me to change the plug leads because the insulation had deteriorated. Think what that would do to the present day mobile phone reception.

All my old cars were like that - that was how I knew when to replace the plug leads - especially when they changed from copper-cored to carbon-impregnated string core.