i don't really care if my 6-year-old stereo gets stolen because i'm pretty sure it fell off the back of a truck anyway.

it's the circle of life.

Captain Nobody

SNL too, with the car that was a crappy rust-bucket on the outside, and the lap of luxury on the inside.

Complete with motorized radio antenna, that popped out a bent coat hanger.

someToast

Mad Magazine did this in the early 70's - but they also offered a fancy faceplate to cover up the crappy looking one.

(this has been an old geek's version of "Simpsons Did It")

MickeyMoo

Blimey, its a cassette tape in the wild, I thought they were all extinct!

bbfreak

Back in the days of the pull out stereos I knew a guy who would pull out his Sony deck and slip a 2 knob Kraco job in it's place, this seemed like a pretty cleaver method back in the day.

Kellsarah

I had mine stolen a couple of years ago... here is the thing... there will always be a new generation degenerate trash too stupid to use common sense. They were caught within 30 minutes because they started at the front of my neighborhood not realizing there was only one way in/out and my neighbors are cops... the big clue would have been the cop cars parked everywhere but they didn't see them somehow.

VeeDub

"Just get yourself a bunch of epoxy, some Velcro, an ironic cassette"

did you HAVE to bring up Alanis Morissette? how vulgar.

nutbastard

@aseriesoftubes: Stereos get stolen allll the time in bad neighborhoods, we had 6 cars on the same street hit in one night - yeah, it was the right time to move.

robotleawesome

@sonophy: Sorry buddy, that's GM temp controls and A/C Delco written all over it.

...crappy is right.

newgalactic

Awesome idea, but do people still steal stereos? I've heard of people getting their pop-out LCD screens stolen, as well as things like seats, rims, etc. But stereos? I haven't heard of stereos being stolen since in-dash CD players were the new thing.

aseriesoftubes

I wish I'd removed the lovely Blaupunkt 8-track player from my Honda Accord before I junked it. :)

infmom

Jah! So they need to make customizable models of this or crooks will look for them and go: "That car has a hidden super-fancy stereo". Funny I thought that I liked the one in the car and then I got into a friends car. Wow.... It's like getting a new pair of perfect headsets after using the free $2.95 kind.

altus

I have to agree, brilliant. Plus, I love tape. That looks like Nissan dash, maybe?

sonophy

That is so brilliant.

I wonder what "ironic cassette" works best? Does it vary depending on the environment?

bobx3

ahahah nice. i can believe this will work. funny story actually. my moms radio got stolen so we hooked up an old one with the knobs on both sides just for SOME entertainment. one day we came back from shopping and found one of the doors open but the radio was still there :S nothing else was missing.

G-Man-Livid

The way that cassette tape sticks out is pure comedy. Personally I prefer the South African anti-theft system.

+ Watch video

Joseph

Who the hell leaves(or should I say left) their cassette sticking that far out? I'd break into the car simply to try to push it back in.

Dook_In_The_Urinal

Crap - now I am gonna have to just start breaking into EVERY car.

Hiphopopotamus

Soon, there won't be any aftermarket stereos, since all new cars have non-removable stereos built into the car.

Honda Accord Stereo:
[automobiles.honda.com]

MichaelScrip

My dad once had a bmw that had a custom stereo in it, and the stereo was stolen 3 times over the 2 years he had the car!

HawkSkater0

@bobx3:

I'd pick "William Shatner's Christmas Carols" myself.

Aleki

I should get on this. I've had my car stereo stolen 3 times in 3 years. I've been afraid to buy a new once since the last breaking. Baltimore, MD over here, btw.

PR_GMR

@bobx3:

I wonder what "ironic cassette" works best?

Janes Addiction - Been Caught Stealing

x23

@someToast: I remeber that commercial. They did the ball bearing test and it fell in a rust hole. I think Kevin nealon did the voice over.

Git Em SteveDave has a new Lego set

Until the thieves start recognizing the facade - then they'll KNOW you have a good stereo underneath.

chaoslink

This isn't new by any means. I've known of people who did this back in the 90's, and even then it wasn't a new concept...

Xavoc

IDK if they released "Jagged Little Pill" on cassette... Might have to make a mixtape.

Omg. Totally haven't done THAT since I was twelve.

.... Seriously, though, this is kinda cool.

philbert

@Git Em SteveDave has a new Lego set: Nope. Phil Hartman did the voiceover. David Spade was the actor.

Not that this is any sort of bona fide authority on the matter, but I found a transcript of the bit.

racermd

@bobx3:
I-Ron Butterfly, of course. That or I-Ron Maiden.

@Joseph:
You sorta have to actually be _in_ the car for that to work (there's a button on the floor of the driver's side that you need to press and hold for a bit before the flamage will kick in). Not many stereo-jackers will be comfortable doing their work when the vehicle is occupied.

Purple Dave

@aseriesoftubes: I had my car stereo stolen several years back. I live in a fairly decent neighborohood, but it was stolen by some spoiled rich brat who was trying to support his meth habit so I am to find out. He sold it to a pawn shop down the road and the cops found him.

So what happens with the police report? Well, they give me a complete copy complete with photo ID, SSN, address, phone number, etc. He doesn't show up for court and gets a warrant out for his arrest.

I should have made better use of all that info.

GOKOR

@MichaelScrip: That has to be one of the ugliest dashboard/consoles I've ever seen. Whoever thought of splitting the climate control into two separate panels and sticking the radio in between them should be beaten.

Gev

I actually did this a few years ago with an old Kenwood that flipped over automatically when the car was started. Instead of the glossy black face that came with it, I had a busted looking stock cassette player. I wish there was a company that still made the auto-flippy ones.

2-7offsuit

That IS pretty clever! Well thought.

IrisMR

I haven't had a car with a DIN sized stereo in ages. No aftermarket for me.

1roll20s

@someToast: YES!!! Totally reminds me of the SNL skit. The commercial was in 1993, "The Chameleon XLE". I can't find a clip online though :(

remps

This might be useful against the stupider thieves or for older cars, but anyone with a half decent brain would realize the issue with a car model from this century having a tape drive. They should have gone for a radio-only or cheap looking CD stereo.

Guizzy

@2-7offsuit: I had an artist friend of mine airbrush a missing deck on the back of my "auto-flippy" one, and from outside the vehicle, it look perfect.

zenpoet