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Camo vehicles

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 12:54 pm
by grenfell
Partly inspired by the military /camo wearing thread I'd like to pose a question about camouflage painting vehicles.
One thing that came up on that thread is how camouflage can make a person stick out from the crowd and I'd say the same is true if not more so with a vehicle and therrein lies my train of thinking. I drive a transit for work and surprise surprise it's white as are an awful lot off vans. It sort of screams "builders van" and as such is a potential target for thievery , indeed it was broken into once by the use of a tibbe key and tools stolen . I now have additional security locks but still had someone attempt to get in thankfully unsuccessfully . A bit like rural crime there is now an almost epidemic of van break ins and vans and tools being stolen . I'm a member of a Facebook group dedicated to van crime and it makes for pretty depressing reading at times.
Now my thinking is if a van is white it's assumed to be a builder , courier or some sort of tradesmans vehicle but if a van is painted in a camo who or what does that suggest as the user? I did mention I'd painted my fugly white trailer in a non military camo ( Khaki base with dark green and black sponged on) to tone it's presence down a bit and that would be the logical scheme to paint the van in too. , it certainly wouldn't blend into an urban scene and should stick out . I'm not a fan of urban camos with the exception of Berlin camo but the idea would be to make it stand out and perhaps be easier to find should it be nicked.
Any comments or even an idea of who you think might be using such a painted van appreciated.
Sorry if it's not totally prepper related unless one considers actions to prevent the loss of one's livelihood as preparing for the future.

Re: Camo vehicles

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 1:45 pm
by Arzosah
grenfell wrote: Thu Sep 20, 2018 12:54 pm Now my thinking is if a van is white it's assumed to be a builder , courier or some sort of tradesmans vehicle but if a van is painted in a camo who or what does that suggest as the user? /...../ I'm not a fan of urban camos with the exception of Berlin camo but the idea would be to make it stand out and perhaps be easier to find should it be nicked.
Any comments or even an idea of who you think might be using such a painted van appreciated.
Sorry if it's not totally prepper related unless one considers actions to prevent the loss of one's livelihood as preparing for the future.
A van in the present day painted in camo, green/brown and whatnot? To be honest, grenfell, the first thing it suggests is someone I'd be scared of. It might also suggest a forest ranger - but they have tools aplenty, so thats no good. What do *you* think it suggests? I'm not a tealeaf, so I'm not your target "market" here :lol:

If the aim is to stand out and make it easier to find if nicked, then yes, it would do that, until it was repainted . It would also mark you out, surely? If you're about not having the van nicked in the first place, wouldn't a better camo be painting it to merge in to how camper vans are painted? Sky blue and cream, that sort of thing?

Re: Camo vehicles

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 2:07 pm
by grenfell
Thanks for the comment even if you're not the target audience of light fingered scrotery . There has been similar discussions on the Facebook group about how to make a van look less appealing to rob. Some have suggested making it look like a diddicoy's van and not containing anything of value , some suggested signs for window cleaner so supposedly only having a few buckets and sponges inside , some went a little further and said signs saying something along the lines of sanitary product collection and yet another suggested painting it to look like a police van. That last one is of course illegal and to make matters worse someone then posted a link to an actual police van being broken into.
Camo would certainly make it stand out but then at the same time there have been quite individual vehicles stolen and of course signwritten ones that should be easy to spot.
As to what or who would be in such a vehicle I'll admit I can't quite put my finger on it and that in itself might work against the idea as crims might just break into it just to see. On a similar vein there was one van which had the "no tools stored in van" sticker that was broken into and had "just checking" scratched into a panel.
I don't think my van would be nicked and repainted , nicked , stripped of the engine and burnt out or dumped would be more likely.
I've tried to clock people when I've had the trailer with me and apart from a few friends I can't say I've actually seen people take any notice. As it is the van could do with a tidy up and I'm just mulling over ideas.

Re: Camo vehicles

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 2:15 pm
by Deeps
Image

Similar to your sanitary products one I guess. Maybe go the other way and make it look as new and shiny as you can so it doesn't look like a worky van. Couriers don't keep stuff in overnight I'm led to believe so maybe 'Grenfells Couriers' on it or something ???

Re: Camo vehicles

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 2:55 pm
by grenfell
Well that one certainly stands out.
To be honest I don't think there's a definitive answer to this one. Camper vans get stolen with alarming regularity , the markings of something supposedly worthless looks really out of place if ladders are carried for instance ( unless one goes for window cleaners and the crims aren't after ladders) and really fancy shined jobs are targeted too besides it would take far too much work to get it looking that good and staying that good. There's even a train of thought that having additional security is merely advertising the fact that there could very well be something worth nicking contained inside. Even the HIV testers might have needles etc that could conceivably be sold to drug users.
I seem to vaguely recall someone on here having a camoed vehicle , hopefully I'm right and they may have some feedback on how people reacted.

Re: Camo vehicles

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 6:10 pm
by ForgeCorvus
How about "Extreme Cleaning Services" on the side and one of these on the backdoor
Image

Even scroates are scared of catching summat nasty

Re: Camo vehicles

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 6:20 pm
by Deeps
You could always get Tim Westwood to pimp it for you bro, innit. ;)
As you say, there's probably no 'sure' way to avoid getting tanned. Good luck mate.

Re: Camo vehicles

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 6:24 pm
by jansman
Up until 5 years ago,I was a hardcore cycle commuter.I had a very nice machine stolen,sadly.My cousin was a cycle courier in London at that time,and had three identical bikes - top-end kit. But you wouldn't have known.He 'tanked them up' as he called it.

He wrapped electrical tape round the handle bars and cable runs,and sprayed the frame ( badly) with matt black paint.As he was riding fixies,there was no problem with thieves spotting good gear sets.He never had one nicked.

You could apply a similar principle to ' urbanising' a van,perhaps?

Re: Camo vehicles

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 6:35 pm
by ForgeCorvus
jansman wrote: Thu Sep 20, 2018 6:24 pm Up until 5 years ago,I was a hardcore cycle commuter.I had a very nice machine stolen,sadly.My cousin was a cycle courier in London at that time,and had three identical bikes - top-end kit. But you wouldn't have known.He 'tanked them up' as he called it.

He wrapped electrical tape round the handle bars and cable runs,and sprayed the frame ( badly) with matt black paint.As he was riding fixies,there was no problem with thieves spotting good gear sets.He never had one nicked.

You could apply a similar principle to ' urbanising' a van,perhaps?
Red primer along the bottom of the doors and a wire coathanger for an aerial ?

Re: Camo vehicles

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 6:50 pm
by Arzosah
Some great ideas here! I love the "urbanising" - primer paint and gaffer tape all over it, maybe a mirror hanging off if thats not illegal ... sanitary products and window cleaning are good too. HIV testing - nope, I suspect the same as you that there'll be a huge association with needles, especially as a van like that might be suspected of being an actual needle exchange.

I do know that in very dodgy areas of Merseyside, genuinely "urbanised" cars don't get stolen :mrgreen:

But I do think that simple is best, probably - "urbanised" white or grey.