The Ravelco (pronounced Ruh-vel-co) Anti Theft Device was first sold in Houston, Texas on July 20, 1976 by Vincent Raviele. Earlier that year, Raviele drove his brand new 1976 Lincoln Mark IV, (which he could not afford) back home to Cranston, Rhode Island to show his father how well he was doing in the drag racing business. At that time, Raviele was the general manager of Houston International Dragway which was owned by Raviele's mom Omie and Raviele's stepfather Joe Simone. Little did anyone know (except for Raviele) that his car was nearly three payments past due.
On May 30, 1976 in downtown Providence, Raviele walked out of a night club toward the parking lot where he last parked his car. Upon turning the corner Raviele discovered another vehicle parked in its place. Raviele did like anyone else who has had a vehicle stolen and went to look in another parking lot thinking maybe he had made a mistake and parked in a different area. Raviele was ashamed to call the police right then, because he thought that they were going to tell him (in front of his family - whom he was trying to impress) that his car had been repossessed by Ford Motor Company for failure to make payments! The very next day the Providence Police recovered the stripped Lincoln Mark IV in the woods and contacted Mr. Raviele. The doors, seats, interior, tires, wheels, and radio were gone.
In the days to follow, Raviele found a body shop who just so happened to be selling two doors (same color), wheels and tires for a Mark IV Lincoln, a Quadrasonic 8 Track Player Radio that was already set to the radio stations in Houston. This body shop's employees were probably the same people who stole the Lincoln in the first place. Raviele most likely purchased his own parts back when he started putting his car back together. After a week passed, Raviele needed to get back to Texas so with no luck in finding seats, Raviele purchased two yellow bean-bag chairs from a vendor on the side of the road and drove back to Houston. Every once and a while Raviele had to stop and fluff up the bean bag chairs again because they would flatten out as he drove the long distance. Can you imagine the look on the faces of the toll booth operators when this brand new white Lincoln pulls up and has bright yellow bean bags chairs for seats!
Back in Houston, the insurance company thought that maybe Raviele (because of being behind on payments) had his own car stolen. Raviele vehemently disagreed but even Raviele's own Mother thought the same thing! She said that "Raviele had his hoodlum friends up in Rhode Island steal it so Raviele could get the insurance money." Raviele said "its one thing if the insurance company doubts you but when your own Mom doubts you..."
Mr. Raviele was determined that having a vehicle stolen would never happen to him again. He searched every phone book and magazine in the country for some type of anti theft device. Even back then, Mr. Raviele knew that everything available was basically for show and did not deter thieves in the least bit. The only device that was available for the prevention of theft was a push button (kill switch) hooked up to the coil and hidden under the carpet under the brake pedal. An alarm system was also available, but in order to activate it, one had to turn it on with a key that was mounted in the fender of the vehicle. Unhappy with the devices available, Mr. Raviele diligently worked day and night for nearly two months and developed the RAVELCO. The RAVELCO Anti Theft Device has been in continuous production since that time. The only change that has been made to the Ravelco since its debut in 1976 has been improvements in the materials used to manufacture the device itself.
Today Mr. Raviele is still very active with the RAVELCO Company. Mr. Raviele was also the President of Lamar Little League in 2003 and 2004 when they made back to back appearances at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. In fact Mr. Raviele's son Jimmy was a pitcher for the University of Houston Cougar Baseball Team. Jimmy started the Conference USA Championship game (which they won) in 2008. This game was played at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana.
No other anti theft device comes close to the long-term continuous success of the RAVELCO. Since the Ravelco's debut in 1976, there has never been a reported incident in which a vehicle protected by properly installed and utilized Ravelco has ever been stolen! The Ravelco Anti Theft Device is the ONLY product that can claim COMPLETE SUCCESS in preventing car theft! No other alarm system, anti theft device or vehicle tracking system can make that claim.
NOT ONE VEHICLE HAS EVER BEEN STOLEN BY DEFEATING A PROPERLY INSTALLED AND UTILIZED RAVELCO IN MORE THAN 4 DECADES!
Since the World Trade Center tragedy on September 11, 2001, numerous manufacturers of Fire Trucks, Rescue Equipment Vehicles, and even Mosquito Spraying Trucks, have contacted us inquiring and purchasing our Ravelco Anti Theft Device. It makes us real proud when we asked them how they heard about us and they replied "from their local law enforcement agencies."
To date, Ravelco manufacturing has been the principle manufacture and marketer of the product within the United States, which has somewhat limited the distribution of the RAVELCO to some of the country's major metropolitan areas.
Now, the company is seeking to expand by locating distributors who actually reside in key marketing areas throughout the country, and across the world making them more available to work one-on-one with their dealer-customers. If you think this may be something you may be interested in pursuing you are invited to visit our website's "RAVELCO DISTRIBUTOR INFORMATION" page.
On September 25, 2001 in Mexico City, Mexico, the RAVELCO Anti Theft Device was tested by CESVI-MEXICO, a company owned by the seven major insurance companies in Mexico. They tried to hot-wire the most stolen vehicle in Mexico City, a 2002 Nissan Sentra that had a RAVELCO installed on it. The CESVI Company said they would approve the RAVELCO if it passed the 8 minute test. They said no theft device or alarm ever took more than 3 minutes to bypass. After cutting wires and trying for 35 minutes they finally gave up. The next day they had the vehicle towed to a Nissan dealer to get it rewired and able to start! Needless to say the RAVELCO was approved. The RAVELCO is the only anti theft device recognized in Mexico for a discount on your insurance. With over 29 million people in Mexico City alone and nearly 200 vehicles stolen per day, the people at CESVI Company should know what does and does not work when it comes to auto theft. No alarm, tracking system or any other anti theft device is approved in Mexico. Of course this makes us at RAVELCO very proud.