We’ve come a long way from the days of the Club, the original steering wheel lock which has been mass-produced and duplicated umpteenth times. Yes, the Club is still around, in all its steel and chrome glory, but the sad truth is that a determined car thief can remove that Club in a matter of minutes, if he wants.

Websites like eHow.com offer directions on how to remove the Club. Of course, the instructions are intended for the car’s owner who lost his key, but let’s be realistic, once information like this is in the public domain, whoever wants to read it can read it. For the thief who doesn’t have even 2nd grade reading skills and can’t avail himself of eHow, he can simply go to YouTube and watch one of the several videos providing all of the gory details (average running time 1:49).

There is even a counter-Club device being sold called the Club Buster, which looks like a weird giant corkscrew… same principle by the way. It’s marketed to locksmiths, tow-truck operators, emergency services personnel and automobile repossession professionals. Automobile repossession professionals; is that what they’re calling car thieves these days? Oh, they probably mean “legal” repossession professionals, like the kind who works for the local car dealership.

The Club alone will work as a deterrent only for the most casual, opportunistic, would-be car thief. Someone who really really wants your car is going to get it, Club and all.