Stolen Parts.

[Gaugster]

Folks - I saw this on the Cougar forum and figured I'd post it here in the main FE thread.

*********
I just got this e-mail from a local engine rebuilder, Rob at "Blue Oval" ....

"Last week, I found that my 40 foot storage unit at Public Storage had been broken into, and almost everything of any value had been taken. Last time I'd been in the unit was Dec 22nd, so sometime in the last 4 weeks, they picked the locks and loaded up over 6000 pounds of new and used parts. They knew exactly what they were doing, as they cherry picked all the better parts, leaving behind core blocks that were marked "crack-needs repair" or "missing main caps". They took over 25 blocks, 25+ crankshafts, 20 pairs of cylinder heads, tooling for the SuperFlo Flow Bench, and customer parts for their engine projects.

I'll provide an abbreviated list here to highlight some of what was taken. Please let me know if you run across anything on line, or through the grapevine, that seems unusual or might be related.

The blocks ranged from simple washed cores with paint on them to hot tanked cores to fully machined and bagged customer blocks ready to go.

Cores included 390 and 428CJ FE, early and late 351W, 289/302/5.0, SVO R302 and the older A4 302 Motorsport block, 429/460, 429CJ 4-bolt, 350 4 bolt main, 454BBC both Gen IV and Gen VI, early Pontiac 428

Machined blocks included: 427FE Center Oiler - fully done, 2 early 460 2 bolt blocks, AMC 401 2 bolt with ARP main studs, 350 4 bolt w/ARP main studs, 289 and 302 with ARP main bolts.


Cylinder heads were all cores: SBF, FE, 429, BBC oval port

Crankshafts: 289, 302, 5.0, 351W, 361FE, 390FE, 429, 460, 350 cast & steel, 454, AMC 401

Also: 2 Mustang Toploader 4 speed transmissions, S-code FE iron 4V intake manifold, 351C 4V exhaust manifolds

Complete Chevy 235-L6 engine: disassembled, cleaned, all small parts boxed up.

Ford MEL 430: ALL parts except block, crank, and heads. Many parts black powder coated such as intake, oil pan, v-covers.....

460 Stroker engine: boxed parts intake manifold to oil pan

2.3L boxed external components: brackets, alternator, etc., Factory Ford service manual

351W Intake to oil pan parts, SVO J302 alum cyl heads

Super Flo Flow Bench set up fixtures (they left the bench, but took all the boxed up fixturing) Brzezinski cylinder head slider plates, flow cylinder bores, manual valve opening bar (picture below) , and inlet flow guide plates."

Please keep a super keen eye out for ANY of these parts. They will most likely show up out of state...

Contact Rob at BlueOval in Englewood Co
**********

[blykins]

I've heard from several sources that Rob went out of business.  Is this not the case?

[Dumpling]

Someone took 6,000 lbs of parts and there's no video, no one saw anything?

[chilly460]

You’d think a storage place would have excellent security video capability, especially considering how cheap/easy those setups have become.  Even if insurance covers it for him and his customers, tough to run out and find a good centeroiler, and if the GM parts were numbers matching rare stuff that could get very messy. 

[Gaugster]

I've heard from several sources that Rob went out of business.  Is this not the case?

That's entirely possible as I couldn't find much of an on-line presence. I don't have any other background about the shop so take it for what it is.

[cjshaker]

"Please keep a super keen eye out for ANY of these parts. They will most likely show up out of state..."

With no certain way to identify the parts, this does no good. Heck, most of us here have at least several of those items laying around. And who keeps customers parts in a third party storage locker? I wouldn't be very happy knowing my valuable parts, that were intended to be at a shop being worked on, were being stored in some unsecure facility. At least in a shop the parts should have been covered by an insurance policy. Just doesn't add up to me.

[CV355]

Someone took 6,000 lbs of parts and there's no video, no one saw anything?

No kidding...

I had 3 crates of parts stolen from me in 2010, but that was probably 300lbs worth of stuff (gauges, piping, brakes, take-off components, heads, intake, etc).  We're talking minutes to run off with that in those crates.  6000lbs in all those parts, loose?  Geez, even with 3-4 guys that's still an event.  Usually when something like that happens, it's someone you know...

[BigBlueIron]

And who keeps customers parts in a third party storage locker? I wouldn't be very happy knowing my valuable parts, that were intended to be at a shop being worked on, were being stored in some unsecure facility. At least in a shop the parts should have been covered by an insurance policy. Just doesn't add up to me.

Exactly

[Heo]

Someone took 6,000 lbs of parts and there's no video, no one saw anything?

No kidding...

I had 3 crates of parts stolen from me in 2010, but that was probably 300lbs worth of stuff (gauges, piping, brakes, take-off components, heads, intake, etc).  We're talking minutes to run off with that in those crates.  6000lbs in all those parts, loose?  Geez, even with 3-4 guys that's still an event.  Usually when something like that happens, it's someone you know...

Yes it is someone he knows. Who know were the parts was stored and how much it was. Not a random heist

[Katz427]

Yes, I heard Rob closed shop late 2019. I guess he didn't tell a lot of people. So the storage locker makes, sense. The shop was cleaned, from what I heard. Got to store the residuals someplace.

[Blueoval77]

The dis trustful old bastard in me has an eyebrow raised at the guy thats going out of business who suddenly gets all the customers stuff stolen.... Sorry if this guy is friends with anyone... Its just the world we live in.....
CMon , I know some of you other old dis trustful bastards were thinking it !!!! Dont push me out there to be the bad guy !!!

[cleandan]

The dis trustful old bastard in me has an eyebrow raised at the guy thats going out of business who suddenly gets all the customers stuff stolen.... Sorry if this guy is friends with anyone... Its just the world we live in.....
CMon , I know some of you other old dis trustful bastards were thinking it !!!! Dont push me out there to be the bad guy !!!

I'll step up and say your thoughts are plausible given the circumstances.

I will also chime in a state the basic overall theme concerning the theft of parts I dealt with and what the lawyers told me.
First, based on the information and proof I had, I certainly had a case.
That case would have won had I taken things to court because of the proof and information I had in hand.

The rub happened when it came time to specifically identify MY parts from any other similar parts in the shop.
If I had some sort of personal identification marks I would have been able to pick out my literal parts from the shop...and then won my parts back in the court case.

Because I did not have this kind of specific marking system there would be no way to identify my literal parts as different from similar parts, thus resulting in a monetary "win" rather than a retrieval of my rare and hard to source parts.

I would suspect the parts that were taken have no specifically unique ID markings, thus making them just more parts in a pile of parts that can not be directly linked to any specific person.

[GerryP]

I'll tell you a couple things that I do after having been the victim of a burglary.  I mark all of my parts that have any value and note identifying features, like casting code, date code and if it's something like a block, I'll stamp my own serial number into the block.

For my tools and my music equipment, I use Excel spread sheets for a thorough inventory.  I'm not going to kid anyone, but this stuff took a long time.  For everything that has a model, a serial number, or some identifying feature, like an engraving, I put them as a data line that includes what it is, who made it, what the model is, what the serial number is, when I got it, where I got it, how much it cost, and any other notes that would help in either recovery or claim payment.  I continue to add to the spreadsheets whenever I have something to add.  I am very disciplined in maintaining these data sheets.  Once I have a change, I email the revised data sheets to my yahoo email account.  That way, if someone steals my computer, the data sheets are retrievable with any computer or even my phone.  That will buy you some peace of mind.  You might not be able to keep your stuff from being stolen, but you don't want to have to go through the nightmare that faces you with your insurance company in trying to file a comprehensive claim.  A little peace of mind.

As to this guy...well, you have to give him the benefit of the doubt until you get something else to cause you to think otherwise.

[Katz427]

I helped clean up an old engine machine shop 25 years ago. The owner was retiring, and he and his wife were going to go on an Alaskan cruise. The shop was full of engines and parts. He machined an rebuilt several engines before his retirement, but the owners most didn't have the money to pay, so they never returned.  Some did come to pay, and pick up parts.  Some parts and engines had been waiting for the owners to  return for over 10 years. The equipment left was put in storage.  The owner's son , a couple years later, had to auction, what remained.

[BIGBLOCKHEAD]

I've known Rob for many years and I last saw him last summer when he set up my BBM heads.  He has had a tough time in recent years.  He lost the lease on the building he had been in for a long time and had a very short time frame to vacate the shop and he had to store a ton of stuff in short order. He set up a smaller shop in some vacant space at a friends auto repair shop and was trying to recover.  He and his wife split at about the time too.  His right hand man was sidelined by medical problems and Rob was having health issues too.  He is a great guy, but if this really happened, that would probably put most guys out of business.  So sorry for him and his customers.