Back in High School, I was so excited when I purchased a cassette player with a removable faceplate. I worked hard to afford that car stereo and was happy about all of the features, sound, and options except how attractive it may have been to thieves. In the beginning, I removed the faceplate when I left my vehicle, but that didn’t last too long: who wants to carry their stereo’s faceplate with them? With the technology and amazing sound coming out of car stereos today, these items become even more attractive to car thieves, and a better way to deter them must be realized. How about the fake faceplate?

To find a car with a cassette player is very rare, and the chances that these same stereos would be stolen is pretty slim. Why not combine the practically obsolete technology to your current car stereo in order to decrease the chances of it being stolen. In other words, make your stereo uglier and less appealing.

A great Do It Yourself project was created that used an old cassette car stereo, half a physical cassette, and some ingenuity to build a faceplate to go over the car stereo, making it look worthless. You can make your own using the DIY direction at Instructables, which include instructions, explanations, and images.

Since you will be using an old stereo, I guess the cost would be decreased and wouldn’t matter much if you screw up along the way. Just save your worthy stereo deck.