No need to rush, the thief won't get far

Eight years after we married, midway through my PhD, my wife and I lived in a two bedroomed bungalow in small village in the midlands of England. Living on the combined income of my wife's salary as a graduate teacher and a research grant from the Agatha Christie Children's Trust, we were far from affluent.
However, we were able through careful budgeting to purchase a very elderly Triumph Herald 1.2 litre car. This was our sole means of transport as the village had a very limited bus service.
British manufactured cars of the time were notoriously unreliable and their owner's confidence of completing any journey was largely dependent on the size of the tool kit carried in the car boot.
With the car we owned, my weekends were largely taken up with ensuring that it made it through the following week.
Finally however there came a time when even my efforts weren't enough, and it was necessary for me to replace the car's engine. This process started with me coaxing the car on a journey to a car breaker's yard where a replacement engine was purchased for the sum of five pounds.
With the yard's owner's departing words of: "You've got a bargain there, sunshine," ringing in my ears, the car just made it back to my home with the replacement engine secured in the boot by my wife's clothesline.
It took all of the following day to remove the old engine and replace it with the new one. Running out of daylight and energy I left the final adjustment of the car until the following day.
At 3 o'clock that morning I was in the process of writing another section of my thesis when I heard the sound of a car engine being turned over. Moving to the front of the house to get a better view, I saw a shadowy form pushing my car out on to the road. Knowing that the thief stood no chance of starting the car, I casually rang the local police station and informed them that my car was in the process of being stolen.
"You don't sound very concerned about it sir, are you sure?"
"Absolutely, and the reason I'm not worried is that I've got the rotor arm from the car in my kitchen."
"We'll send a car and two men to sort the thief out. We'd had a number of reports of cars stolen in your area."
An hour later, two somewhat embarrassed constables turned up in a "noddy car." They apologised for the delay and explained they'd just been transferred to the district and had got lost.
With the car thief long gone the two constables offered to help push my abandoned car back into the drive. This done, they then informed me that they'd had a really rotten night, and asked if they brought their sandwiches in the house would I mind making them a cup of tea.
"Not a problem," I replied. "I rather fancy one myself."
A week later, a travelling butcher's assistant was caught attempting to steal the local midwife's car.
The butcher, who visited with his van twice weekly, apologised and presented me with a complimentary pound of sausages. As I said later to my wife: "Who'd have guessed there was a link?"