The Automobile Thieves is an American crime-drama silent film directed by J. Stuart Blackton.

It was released on November 10, 1906 by The American Vitagraph Company; a print of the feature is preserved in the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

[1][2] The Thieves' Den - Plotting a big strike - Two of the gang hired as Lady's Maid and Chauffeur by millionaire victim - Robbery, murder, safe blowing and escape in stolen auto - Holdup of auto parties on the highway and sensational robbery of jewels and money while running side by side with another automobile - Police Headquarters - Detectives starting out to trace the criminals - Following the clue - laying a trap - Not yet, but soon, a narrow escape - Desperate pursuit, a race for life and liberty between two fast and powerful cars - Breakdown of the auto thieve's machine, theft of another car - chase continued - surrounded but not surrendered - automobile explodes, bursts into flames and is entirely destroyed - the woman and her pal retreat, fighting desperately - she is wounded, and the man carries her to the den, where after a furious battle with the police, the gang is captured.

In an advertisement in The New York Clipper, dated 1906, Vitagraph proclaimed that there was a "destruction by fire of a $2,000 automobile" and the picture was "founded on fact - startling in conception and execution - daringly realistic in plot and climax...not cheap, trashy, dime-novel melodrama, but a cleverly constructed, superbly acted production capable of holding the attention of intelligent, up-to-date audience".

[3] This was Florence Lawrence's first movie; she went on to star in more Vitagraph films, but her real name never appeared on the credits.