Camaro Theft

Stateside, Chevy’s pony car is proving a hot target with thieves reports Huw Evans

Vehicle theft has been a growing problem in North America lately. Across the United States and Canada, occurrences of stolen cars and trucks keep climbing. And if you happen to own a latemodel Chevy Camaro, your vehicle is at the top of the list. According to the Los Angeles Times, a total of seven Camaros were reported stolen during 2023. In the first three months of this year alone, the number was up to 90! And it isn’t just California; across the land, dealerships, individual owners, even vehicle OEMs have been targeted. In 2022, a highly publicised incident saw seven brand-new sixth generation Camaros stolen in Lansing, Michigan, right from outside the assembly plant that built them.

The incident took on the stuff of a Hollywood film. The seven cars, most of which were ZL1s, were driven onto the eastbound lanes of Interstate 96 (which runs from Lansing to Detroit). Michigan State Police tried to intercept the thieves by setting up a roadblock, however they were unsuccessful, and a highspeed chase ensued. Eventually, through the combined efforts of the Michigan State Police, Livingston County Sheriff’s Department, Metroparks police, as well as a helicopter and even canine units, five of the seven vehicles were eventually recovered, using stop sticks (tyre deflation devices) to halt the thieves’ progress.

Camaros have been stolen right off dealership lots, from auction houses and even from driveways and residences located in gated communities. Some of these cars are stolen by professional theft rings and either stripped for parts or exported out of the country, often ending up in places such as the Middle East and Africa. Others end up in the hands of joyriders and meet their demise due to dangerous high-speed driving (as did one stolen from an auction house in Clayton in Johnston County, North Carolina – the driver involved was just 17).

Yet others are stolen and then used in street racing and what’s known as street takeovers. These are essentially illegal, underground car meets (think Fast & Furious) where the objective is to perform burnouts and slide around intersections on public streets. In Los Angeles, the problem has become so bad that in February this year, the city council voted to launch a pilot programme targeting 20 intersections across the city, including notorious areas such as the intersections of 2nd, 3rd and 4th Street and Grand Boulevard in downtown LA, as well as other well-known streets such as Crenshaw Boulevard and Florence Avenue, and Mulholland Drive and Cordia Drive in Encino, west of Hollywood.

The pilot programme will see these streets modified with raised and hardened centre sections to try and deter these ‘hooning’ activities, though some believe this won’t go far enough to deter the problem, since the street takeovers will just move to other locations. Another issue regarding street takeovers is that, often, it’s extremely dangerous for police to respond, since the drivers and their cars will try to flee the area, putting the public at risk, and there have been a number of high-speed fatalities, as well as shootings related to these events.

While the issues revolving around the spike in car thefts and street takeovers are numerous and complex, the high theft rates in Camaros and other high-profile American performance vehicles such as Corvettes and Dodge Challenger SRT-8s is believed to be largely driven by key cloning, where thieves can essentially create a new smart key for the vehicle and then reprogram its ignition system, allowing it to be unlocked, started and driven away. Police have encouraged owners to block key signals by placing keys inside special blocking boxes, or even something as simple as an aluminium can, though more elaborate theft measures such as fuel cut-off systems can also help. It’s perhaps somewhat ironic that with Camaro production ending in 2023 (the last one of the six-generation rolling off the Lansing assembly line on December 14 as a 2024 model), the car has garnered such publicity in the first few months of the year, albeit for arguably the wrong reasons.

Nevertheless, the fact that Camaros continue to be among the most stolen cars in North America speaks volumes to their desirability. Furthermore, today’s statistics follow a decades-long trend where Chevy’s pony car has consistently ranked at the top of the list when it comes to car thieves. And, like it or loathe it, theft is an ingrained part of Camaro folklore, almost as much as tyre smoking SS and ZL1s, Saturday night test and tunes, not to mention corner carving and street bruising Z28s. Let’s just hope however, that the theft situation regarding the most recent incarnation of Chevy’s pony car improves over the coming months and years, so that enthusiasts and fans can continue to enjoy and celebrate these cars in the same way they do with their illustrious predecessors.★