'Whole of the Door Gang'
By: Dave Leggett - 6 January 2006 08:13
I know it's not really very amusing if you live in the New York area and you emerge into the cold morning to find that thieves have made off with a rear door on your beloved Toyota Camry, but we like to occasionally lighten the mood with an offbeat or funny item. What tickled us a tad over this story was the local media dubbing the thieves the 'Whole of the Door Gang' (a word play on the 'Hole in the Wall Gang' that featured in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). Nice work by whoever thought that one up. So, if your Highlander SUV has been converted to fresh air in the rear overnight, you can at least raise a few laughs by telling people that Robert Redford and Paul Newman have paid you a visit.
Actually, there is one serious point for the auto industry in the actions of these thieves and that is in the ease with which is reported they can remove Toyota doors. In making cars easier to break up for entirely laudable manufacturing, ease-of-repair and recycling reasons, are manufacturers also making things easier for thieves like this?
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Comments on this blog post
I don't think it's anything to do with ease of repair or recycling, it's down to the economics of "door off" build and making the doors easy to install lineside during assembly, which has been the norm for years. Usually it's a retaining clip on one hinge, undo one bolt on the checker, unsnap the multi-pin electric plug, open wider than normal and lift.
Paul Smith, United Kingdom