I've now had my hood ornament stolen for the second time while in Austin.... my question is as follows: Other than simply buying a new hood ornament for my 2002 s-type is there anything else i can do to prevent this in the future ?? I seriously cannot imagine what this person has planned for a broken hood ornament. Is there a device that shocks the everloving sense out of a person upon contact? or a siren that blares?? I mean I know these sound extreme, but if there is ANYTHING that might prevent this in the future I would greatly appreciate it.

AO

 

Sorry to hear that bro,
You can do several things, one that comes to mind is an alarm system as you mention. Easy, and you can do it yourself.
Wire it up so that when someone touches it, or moves it, the horn will sound. That's about the best easiest thing i can think of without spending lots of cash.

The second thing you can do is order a hood from Jag UK. Their hoods don't have the provision for the ornament. (illegal in the UK) or take yours to a body shop and have them fill in the hole....

Good luck

 

I was never a fan of the "Leaper"

 

This sucks, kids who do anything other than admire cars ..well lets just sayI have plans for them [:@]

As much fun as it would be to shock the offender, you shouldnt and here's why: 1 legal ramifications and 2 he/they may destroy your car or do a lot more damage to it. So I'd get an alarm hooked up to it, that way the guy should bolt when it goes off.

 

Actually... right after I posted I thought about the shocking thing... and while it would make me feel better the result would just end up being worse for me. I'm ordering a new ornament on ebay and when it arrives i think i'm just going to have them wire it up so that the horn sounds when someone touches/moves it.... thanks so much for everyone's help

AO

 

Good choice, think I saw a leaper on ebay for about 200 bucks, that what youve found $ wise?

 

I know it's little consolation, but be happy you have the spring loaded cat. Prior to 1995 the leapers bolted directly to the hood. So when those cats were stolen, the owner also got hit with about $600 worth of hood damage as well!

 

yeah... im pretty sure I'm going to purchase the one for $200 on ebay.... some of the others look kind of sketchy... not to mention the "leaper desk weight" etc all look like stolen hood ornaments made into something else and ken I'm sure there is a bright side to every situation, I just don't happen to be nearly that optimistic of a person

AO

 

What i dont get is that jaguar know that the ornaments get stolen, hence the spring loaded leaper, why dont they come up with an idea to prevent it from happening at all. Also im sure these leapers can be made and sold for a lot less then $200, you can buy whole hood for $600 (minus the leaper of course). hooking the stock alarm system to the leaper is a good idea, but i dont think it will respond too well, my alarm is loud as hell when it goes off for the panic, but m car got hit hard and the alarm it didnt even go off. Just some advice, make it real sensitive, and hopefully it will work better then mine.

 

Jag can't even legally offer the leaper in the UK. I think it's more telling about us the consumer. Look what we will pay for hood ornaments, wheels and air conditioning, but at the same time we will try to find a way to cut the brake rotors or "replace them next time" rather than spending the money. Who wants to buy air filters? I want bling!