Some of you may be aware of this from my social media platform, but I'd ask anyone to be aware of buying items from Northern Ireland or Ireland in general.
Basically I've had £1000's in Rover & Rover 75 / MG ZT parts stolen whilst I was at Pride of Longbridge.
Now I've absolutely zero doubt that it was someone in the Rover community in Northern Ireland because of what was taken instead of just scrap thieves.
I came home on Monday and had to deal with my partner having severe foot poisoning, so I've only been able to tackle this properly on Friday.
This has left me in a bit of a situation now and I'm rather fed up to say the least. Parts where taken from my small storage shed and some from off and inside my cars parked in my rear garden area.
I'm completely wiped out, as most of this was stuff I was planning to sell after POL to help pay for the continuing restoration of my cars as I'm still out of full time work and my 2nd job only gives me an average of 26 to 30 ish hours a month.
Thankfully I still have the brakes elsewhere from the group buy, and I do wonder was this their original goal.
To give you an idea of what was stolen, there's more but I haven't checked everything yet.
2x Projector lamp sets mk1 75
1x Xenon sets mk2 75 (both only have 3 lugs)
2x catalytic converters from Rover 75 diesels
4 sets of mtec brake discs silver coating for Rover 75s
2 sets of mtec brake discs silver coating for a mg zt 190
Multiple sets of mintex brake pads
6x Serpent alloys with caps mk2 logo so rare
5x Meteor alloys with caps again mk2 logo so rare
2x Rover 75 embossed head rests in sandstone beige
1x Walnut Rover 75 steering wheel grey leather
1x Light Oak Rover 75 steering wheel grey leather
Rover K series service kit for my 216, so also included distributor cap / arm etc
Multiple Rover 75 parts, brand new bearings, sensors, rear arms etc.
Unfortunately since I've done the above list originally I also found out two pretty hard to find items also where taken and I keep finding more missing everytime now.
1x walnut hand brake grip
1x wood capped mk1 gear knob
Obviously good chance most of this is scrapped already in Northern Ireland, I've reached out to the scrap yards locally who have my number also.
However the 75 specific parts are how I know someone knew what they where taking as they left my mountain bike and my lawnmower, and obviously took their time Cherry picking when they realised they had found lots of nice bits, no chance they did this in a single trip.
Parts where either on cars, in bubble wrap, in my shed or in the case of the alloys where actually buried under a tarp behind my white 75 tourer, and no one, upon no one knew they where there.
As stated I must give a big thank you to the online Rover community on social media, the amount of genuine messages I've received from fellow enthusiasts in the UK, Ireland and beyond has absolutely been staggering.
I appreciate every share, comment and people watching out. Ironically the stuff is probably now so hot from the online support I'd suspect they will have no choice but to either scrap it or sit on it for such a long time it will be even more obvious when it comes up for sale.
I also appreciate everyone for helping and yes, footage etc has all been passed to police, neighbours heard nothing sadly and unfortunately no one else's cameras got anything.
Truthfully I'm grateful it happened when I was away and my pets where in a kennel, so they didn't get poisoned or worse.
I made a video on my YouTube channel about my disgust on the situation should you wish to see me discuss the matter.
https://youtu.be/O3j6hpgTKzM
I've been asked would I do a reward for return, and I have decided no, if someone knows something then you would hope car enthusiasts would want to help other people out, and make sure it doesn't happen to others.
Sadly whilst I had a great time at POL this has absolutely destroyed my enthusiasm and I will likely take significant time away from the local scene from it.
None the less, please if people see items for sale from Ireland or Northern Ireland let me know. For example the Serpents, I have not seen a set offered for sale locally since the set I bought in 2018. Good rover parts are extremely rare now.
Thank you all for a bit of a rant here about it. I've shared in groups and others are helping keep eye open. All we can do.
Colin