Grateful for the door popping

[jj-]

I had something happen to me yesterday that made me grateful for the infamous door popping on my 1996 850 Wagons. The driver's door pops on my turbo and the passenger door pops on my GLT. My family and I drove the GLT to a local park about a mile or two away to let the kids practice their bike riding on a little path that goes around the park. When my wife and I got to the park, we unloaded the two kids (6 and 4) and their bikes, but unwittingly forgot to lock the doors with my wife's purse in car. There was no one else at the park except some older guy who lives nearby and sits at the park a lot. I was helping my daughter and my wife was helping my son. We had been there a short while and two kids strolled up that looked to be brothers--probably 16 and 11 years old. They were just hanging around. My daughter and I had gotten off the track onto the basketball court, which was probably 75 feet from our car, which was parked on the street. My daughter had fallen lightly and was crying a little. It only took a few seconds to get her dried up and back riding again, and it was at this point that I heard a faint and quick "pop pop." There was no doubt in my mind what that noise was. I looked up and my wife was at the far end of the park. Since it wasn't her at the car, I knew someone was up to no good. I looked back to the car and saw the teenager running off. I'm 34 and definitely realizing my aging body more and more lately, but I am still pretty quick. I took off as fast as I could and caught up to that kid in no time. He didn't realize I was pursuing him, and about 4 houses down from the park, he stopped in someone's yard to look in the purse. As he was pulling out my wife's wallet, he looked up and saw me about 10 feet away as a look of shock and terror came over his face! He dropped the purse and took a step as I smashed into him. I held him in a bear hug from behind for a minute while I was yelling at him and drawing the attention of some neighbors and passer-byes. Cutting to the end of the story, I ended up letting him go, but with some investigative work and the help of some neighbors, I figured out where he lived. Once the cops showed up, they went to his house, and he confessed. He had an upcoming court case for a worse offense, so the cops filed a report to forward onto the juvenile court. I never thought I would be grateful for that door popping, but I am today. Don't mess with the Volvo!

[jblackburn]

Hah, nice save!

That "popping" is really not too hard to fix, though! Just bolt in a new door check if your welds are not broken. Simple, easy fix.

[matthew1]

Cool story, thanks for sharing. Flaws can be good.