Projects Can't afford a 32 3 window, make one.

HT,

You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.

I have nothing to compare to your continuing ordeal

HOWEVER to all those blind to how evil and corrupt law enforcement can be....

Here is picture of me standing beside my pickup, after being stopped by an over zealous MHP officer and kept for 3+ hours while he figured out what he could charge me a my passenger with.



(Yep that's me patiently waiting for Barney to figure out how to spell "obstruction")


A friend and I were invited by a good friend and retired PD Sgt, to drive as a sweeper for a Law Enforcement and Fire Fighters Harley Club Event.
- Lets start by being very clear I am a clean cut accountant, I work 35' down City Hall from the local PD, prior to that I worked in court and I have no priors for anything ever!

My passenger and I were charged with misdemeanor obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence for loading a Law Enforcement Member's personal Harley into my truck after he miss judged a curve and dumped his bike over in a field, no injuries, single vehicle accident in rural Montana. In fact he road bitch on his girlfriends bike to the next poker run stop... Since I was the last vehicle in the group a Federal Marshall, a DEA agent and a Firefighter (all club members & riders) waited at the scene and helped me load the bike into my truck. The bike was not badly damaged mostly faring and bags, but the foot board bent the shift lever over into the case making it unrideable. Once loaded I left the rest of the 20+ group, foregoing the rest of the stops and headed back to town to drop the bike off (loaded down my truck couldn't keep up with them anyway) My biggest mistake was leaving the group and not having cell service in the hills, to call on them once the hassle started. Once separated from the group it was all on me. The icing on the cake, after spending hours in the sun, I was forced to deliver the "evidence" to the impound lot. Last time I checked once anything is declared "evidence" law enforcement takes custody of the evidence and certainly doesn't let the suspect deliver it to impound... but this is Montana. In restrospect I should have refused and let him arrest me but at that point I didn't want additional charges, post bond on a weekend and my passenger and I just wanted to go home.

All charges were thrown out in court, however the MHP threatened me and my passenger repeatedly with jail. My passenger and I spent 2 separate days off work to travel to another county for court, first for the arraignment, second for evidentiary hearing, I had to pay court fees/expenses and talk a friend that is a prosecuting attorney into writing a letter to the judge hearing the case.

 

Wow. That's the best word that describes this.

Insane attention to detail.Wow

Unbelieveable amount of work done on a budget in a short time.Wow

Shock and digust when it was stolen.WOW

Nice car, great story with a shitty ending. Hope the car turns up, should be easy to spot by a HAMBer if it ever sees the light of day. It will show up if people keep watching for it...

I just read this whole thread (76 pages) in one day. WOW

 

WTF? Why would you even post a reply like that? I don't understand why you'd "not pass judgment", but then imply there might be something to what the authorities claim? Why not come clean and tell us all every bad thing you've ever done? You know you want to do the right thing!

 

I've had fits with my insurance company (one of the big 3) over my policy. For instance, I have a rider that covers my shop but there are some crazy rules.

For instance: If a part is new in the box on a shelf, it is covered for loss. If it's not new, it's not covered. Even though I walked through my shop and videoed all the parts on the shelves. I asked about the furniture stored out there, and it is all covered, even though it's not new. ???

Lawnmower is covered, 4 wheeler isn't. WTF? When I asked why, she said the 4 wheeler is for fun and the lawn mower is yard tool. So I asked if I promised I'd use the 4 wheeler to pull the garden cart if that made it a lawn tool. She wasn't impressed with my humor.

As for the insurance on my car (when I had it with them), it was an agreed upon price policy, but again there we inclusions and exclusions that got too confusing. I gave up on them because I was afraid that if there was a claim, with all the double speak and exceptions they'd find a way not to pay. In the end, I went with Haggerty for the shop, shop contents, mustang and racecars.

I can easily believe the OP got screwed by the insurance carrier. Part of the reason for an agreed upon policy is that you need the agreed-upon amount to replace the car. If he got the engine for free on the original build, but has to replace it, then you have to have the $ in the policy to replace the engine. So is that fraud? I don't think so.

I'd love for the car to be found so the OP can get cleared.

 

"Hot Turkey". Sorry to read about the theft of your '32. Surely someone or some security camera MUST have seen the car leaving the area?

 

After two years of probation served I'm done. I went to court yesterday and had the last year of my three years of probation removed. Glad it's all behind me now but it sure hurts to get screwed over like that. I wasn't convicted of anything but still got treated like a criminal. It taught me a valuable lesson, never insure anything.
Now time to start another build after I pay off the legal fees.

 

I wish you the best! Hope that things continue to improve, and that somewhere down the road they find out the truth, and your absolved of any connection to this whole ordeal! Good luck!

 

I am glad you can see light at the end of the tunnel. I enjoyed your build while you were building it.

 

I am glad to hear you are getting back on the horse so to speak. You gave me the inspiration to start my 32

 

I wish you nothing but good luck,including enough luck to find a lawyer that will sue the court system and the police for what they did to you. Sadly,this sort of thing happens every day in this country,but most people aren't aware of it because it doesn't get reported.

I once had the police in Kingsport,Tn steal a channeled 33 Plymouth 2dr sedan with a 394 Olds and hydro trans from me while they held me in the local jail for 71 hours on "suspicion of car theft" because I had just bought the car in Nevada a week or so earlier and didn't have a title for it. When they released me from jail prior to having to charge me with an actual crime,the Plymouth was missing from the impound yard and so was the tool box from the trunk of my car. I was a soldier on active duty at the time and had to report back in to Ft.Bragg in a few days,so I couldn't hang around to stir up local trouble. Besides,they threatened to arrest me for loitering if I was still in the county a hour later.

They flat stole my car and my toolbox,not to mention almost 3 days out of my life and my leave time after being away from my family for almost 3 years,and they got away with it.

 

Seriously...Kingsport? When did this happen? Not doubting you, but I've never heard of anything like that here.
Newport, TN though....different story.
Sam

 

Yes,Kingsport. SOB was a Lt with the first name of Bill,and he wore MP insignia on his tie. This was probably spring of 68 because I was back in Asia by Sept of 68.

Talked to a (now) local man after I got out of the army that was from Kingsport to try to find out the MoFo's last name and if he was still there,and he laughed and told me the guy was serving serious time in a Tn prison,along with the magistrate he had been working with. Seems like they had a regular scam going with travelers with out of state tags,and they finally picked somebody with political connections that got the Tn HP to set up a sting and catch them in the act of shaking down/robbing travelers.

BTW,if you ever saw a channeled and fenderless 33 Ply tudor with a Olds engine and torsion bar suspension running on the dirt tracks in that area,it was the 33 stolen from me.

 

Did the coupe or parts of it ever surface?

 

Dave,I'm happy to see you back,I for one didn't ever believe you did anything wrong and was a victim over overzealous law enforcement.

I look forward to seeing what you bring to the table whenever your able,I loved your ingenuity.

Stay positive man. HRP

 

X2!! You are the reason I put a steel orginal style firewall in my glass body!! Can not wait for your next build(Lottery tickets!!) Pete

 

Welcome back ! Sorry you had to go thru hell. Let's put your nightmare behind and move on to another great build.

 

I'm still ashamed by the way you were treated by a few members here.

You built a great car with a beautiful family behind you and got screwed for doing nothing more than the same thing we all do, loving hot rods.

Congratulations on being done with the past few years of legal bullshit. I was wondering if that was what your FB post was about!

 

I had posted on this thread back near the beginning, but hadn't checked back until today.
What a shock, and after the whole thing went sour, I kept reading, hoping for a positive outcome.

Way I see it, is you poured your heart and soul into this build, and you included your daughter.

Who would go to all that trouble to build an outstanding car, include your girl, then whip it away from her? I could understand maybe commiting fraud due to needing the money, but to break your kids heart?
Ain't no caring Dad gona do that, I am a caregiver to my flatmates 5 year old daughter, who I love as my own, and I can tell you, as any caring parent would, that I'd give my life for her.
This is the part that saddened me the most. Little Shelby considered this, her car.
Shame on Grundy.
Did they read this thread?
Shame on everyone who didn't believe David.

So thank you for this thread, the good and the bad. You David, have given a lot to this site, not only inspiring Hambers in the build part, but also teaching us a valuable lesson in the last part.
I'm sorry this went the way it did, but I believe you will get closure one day. Good things do happen to good people, but not always in the way yourd thought, so keep on keepin on.
You have many friends here.

 

Thanks for the kind words guys, it means alot to me. Grundy said they would come after me for insurance fraud if I sued them. I did what the DMV said to do, I never claimed it was a real 32 and anyone that looked at it would know it wasn't. So it's a total loss plus legal fees well into the six figures.
My little girl is going to be 12 soon so we have to find her a car to build. I will find something someday I'm sure.

 

Good to here you are still alive and well,keep in touch. HRP

 

/Moves Grundy from the "Viable Old Car Insurers" list to the "Lying Thieving Bastard Insurers" list.

The first list is getting mighty short, while the latter grows in length every day.

/le sigh

 

Got to tell you, they made the same list for me that GM did. I will respond with my wallet. The smartest thing they could ever do is offer you an apology, pay the claim, offer compensation for your legal fees.
Thousands of people have heard about this, it will not be forgotten. In the long run the majority of folks will get it right

 

Goodness gracious ... What a mess ! Grundy will not get dime one from me, I'll tell ya that.

Keep your head up, HT

 

I ain't no lawyer but I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night, so take this as such. If Grundy really had anything supporting insurance fraud they wouldn't use that as leverage to discourage you. In fact, they wouldn't warn you at all they'd just come after you full force. If they did indeed warn you I would take that as meaning they have FAR more to lose than gain and figured the threat would keep you at bay. Talk to a real lawyer (not an internet bad ass like me) now that this is all in the past and see if you have a case. For what they put you through I think you're owed compensation!

 

I second this. They don't warn you, they just do it. I also second the Grundy isn't getting a dine of my money thought as well.

 

Third.

 

Arbitration - off topic diesel Excursion 4wd total ... Progressive Insurance; independent appraisal/damage rental home roof ... Farmers Insurance; water damage lawsuit ... Farmers Insurance. KC71 - 3 ..... them ZERO. Had I not fought for monetary justice ... I would have lost out on 8k, 12k, and 16 k respectively. Out of pocket, I'm down my time and 2k dollars. The latter two cases had legal fees covered in the insurance settlements.

It sucks, especially if you have already had your ass kicked a bit. I waited in the belief that right was right. They left me waiting long enough to fuel the anger needed to say f#ck them. I'm sure that I'm on some sort of insurance assassination list, but I never blinked against these guys. I won, they lost. Actually, they folded. In hindsight, I should have brought the last case to its end. Damages are higher when your battle involves unfair business practices. Oh well ... I didn't.

Can't forget the most important part --- > You have R E C E I P T S. Get an experienced insurance litigant lawyer. Lick their chops for something like this. Juicy bone right here.

Good luck, and sorry for all the bullsh#t.



You're still a hell of a car man. In memoriam of awesome. ^^^ You know it.

 

I have Grundy now. I think after all this that I have just renewed it for the last time.

 

Holee shite! What a rollercoaster ride. Will be shopping for insurance shortly. Grundy can kiss it! Also plan to dig very much deep into my documents and appraisal and cross those t's.

Very sorry for the way this shook out for you Dave. You built a helluva car.

 

Interesting story, sorry how it went for you Dave. I wonder if you could/should make a movie out of it, helping to maybe regain the monetary loss at least, and maybe somehow make-up some happy ending, like how your daughter grew up to be a lawyer or something like that (and she found the car?)...