Ahhh… I can feel some of your satisfaction even now. 
If I understand you, you’re referring to the core, the pin within the stem of the valve. I’m aware of a similiar incident and it should come as no surprise it was also conceived by teenagers.
During a large adult party with 100(?) visiting cars, a pair of neighborhood teens removed the valve cores from tires and disabled like 12 cars. I wasn’t involved but knew the perps and the party host family though they didn’t know each other. The dumb kids got their hands on a valve tool and it just happened the party next block occurred around the time they figured out how to connect it to a power drill.
I can confirm it was purely a crime of teenaged boredom, stupidity, and lack of mechanical outlets but completely without motive or consideration of consequences.
Hey, a quintuple pleonasm! Very rare nowadays, nice to see one.
Nm, sorry.
The cores, yes. But we call them valves in my part of the world. The bits that have a bit of rubber attatched and took like a pepper shaker on top.
Had to look it up, but this could be my new favorite word.
ple·o·nasm
/ˈplēəˌnazəm/
noun: pleonasm
- the use of more words than are necessary to convey meaning (e.g. see with one’s eyes ), either as a fault of style or for emphasis.
Some did, and still do. I have a 1969 MG. Back then, the state of the art (or maybe just the style) for lightweight wheels was to make them with wire spokes like a motorcycle wheel. The result was that the rim wasn’t air tight because of all the spokes poking through it. It needs an inner tube just like a bicycle tire would.
Rather than four or five lug nuts, the way most car wheels are attached to their hub, mine has a single large nut on the center. Taking it off requires a large key, like a skate key, and a heavy, lead mallet.