Lebowski's burn out thread has me wondering what YOUR favorite, ticketed, law infraction is. Of course this post comes with one of mine. Sunny Sunday morning. No cars in sight. New 4 lane road. State cop was on a cross road. Dumb luck. 124 mph. The cop thanked me for pulling over. He said he would have never caught me. Cops had shit cars back in 85. That was as fast as my car would go. The valves were floating. Cost me $100.00
I got pulled over my senior year of high school. Driving a 31 model A sedan, had a mean sbc/automatic, open headers, and the only glass in the car was the windshield. Didn't even have the cloth top in it. Cop caught me coming down main st (wasn't speeding THAT much) and pulled me over. Tried to nail me for no fenders, no windshield wipers, no seat belts, no turn signals, improper exhaust, etc. I finally had to ask him if he was going to write me a ticket or if I could go to class.. Ended up with a ticket for no windshield wiper. Another funny story about that car, I got permission to take it to auto shop one day to do an oil change on the lift.... turned out we had a substitute who HATES hot rods. President of the Model A restorer society locally or something. Gave us his background and made sure to tell us he would rather DIE than see a model A ford turned into a damn hot rod. He about died when we got released to the shop and I wheeled that car in.
Back in 1970 I was street racing a friend in my '70 Nova 350/4spd and he flat out ran away from me in his '69 Road Runner. It was just after 2 AM and we were on our way home from our favorite watering hole. I duck down another street and the cop goes after the RR. The cop is looking for "lunch money" and my pal has a total of eighty-seven cents in his pocket. One Chicago's finest takes it with this admonition- Don't let me catch you doing that again, now get the f@#% out of here.
I got out of the army at Fort Hood Texas on Friday and wanted to spend the weekend with my girlfriend now wife before heading home to Washington. A buddy got out on Monday and lived in La Puente Ca and I was headed to my aunt's in Santa Monica and then south to my Grandmothers in National City. We left Ft Hood about 10 on Monday morning and hit Roswell NM about 7 that evening, Pulling down an on ramp I saw a couple of cars that were moving pretty good and nailed it down the onramp rowing through the gears and caught and passed them and was cruising pretty close to 80 when the red and blue lights came on behind me. Cop says "you were going a bit fast there" and I say that I probably was but the other cars were going fast too. He comes back with "yes, I was clocking them when you caught and passed them" Wrote me a ticket and gave me an envelope to mail the payment in. Ticket cost me 10 bucks. Danny had offered to buy all the gas and pay the motel room for the nights we were on the road. We spent the night in Gallop and made it into La Puente about 9 on Tuesday night after a quick stop in Vegas where he won enough on a nickle slot machine to pay for the trip.
My best one was when I lived above central Flordia{Mount Dora}I had a girl friend down in the town of Christmas Flordia {yes that was the towns name}It was about a 40 minute ride to get there. I had a Dodge Cornet.They had just open a new toll stretch of a toll high way down to it. It was New Years Eve and around 8 p.m. So I just put the pedal to the metal. I was doing 110 and no one was around and then out of the grass in the middle comes one of thoses State Troopers with one of those small mustangs with the 5.0 motor in it. It took him about a minute to catch me. I finally pulled over and he said do you know how fast I clocked you? I said the speedometer wasn't working and said no. He said he liked Mopars and asked me to open the hood after he checked me out. He said is that a 440 motor in there ? I lied and said yes. It was a 383.He said well I liked Mopars and since it was New Years Eve and I wasn't drinking he just let me go with a verbal warning. I was lucky that night.LOL. Bruce.
16 yrs old. 1969. Went to my first drag strip at Dragway 42. After being inspired at the strip Driving my very first car, a 1959 ford station wagon. Thought I too had a Hotrod driving home in a four lane doing 100 mph. Judge gave me hell for driving an old car that fast and took my license away for 6 months. Well deserved.
Hadn't had my DL very long and got nailed for ridin' a motorsickle w/no helmet. (before 'choice' was put into law in Ohio). Worst part was, I knew the trooper (we serviced the cruisers at the gas station I worked at), but he had his Sgt with him that day for a ride-along. No choice. 30 seconds earlier & he would have caught me on the back wheel...
During my high school days, trying to show off to my girl friend in my OT muscle car. I was turning donuts in an underground parking lot. There was a police cruiser parked at the exit of the garage when I pulled out, he stopped me, asked if I saw him parked in the same spot when I entered the garage? Duh! I was too enamored with my girl friend next to me to be paying any attention. It cost me a careless driving ticket.
Back in 1971 I was stationed at Shaw AFB in S.C. and my girlfriend lived up in Charlotte N.C. On the weekend I would high tail it up there for visits, etc. Well one night I got a late start and was heading up there on two lane roads around 9 or 10 o'clock. I was running pretty fast in my old 66 Fairlane, buzzing through those small towns that had already rolled up the sidewalks. I was going down this one stretch of pretty straight road with up and down hills. I was getting on it trying to make up time when I come over this hill and almost rear ended this car in front of me going rather slow. I about messed my pants when the reflective words "Highway Patrol" light up with my headlights. The trooper slowed to about 30 so that I would pass him. He followed me a while, I guess checking out my tag number. When he pulled me over and I told him where I was going, he was cool and said he understands wanting to go see my girl and that he likes the military. So I got a warning. Needless to say, I slowed down the rest of the way. Well, for that trip anyway.
"Did embed rubber in a public roadway". Most official description of about 100 ft. of black stripes in Wildwood I ever heard.
In about 83` sitting at a stop light with my step dad in the passenger seat, my younger brother in the back seat sitting in the middle so that I can't see out of the rearview mirror. 68 firebird 400, auto trans, 2:56 rear end. Kid sitting next to me smirking so I press the brake hard and start adding liberal amounts of throttle, within a couple seconds we are sitting in a cloud of dense white smoke. Light turns green and I let off and slowly turn the corner when out of the white smoke I see blue and red lights emerge. I pulled over and the cop walks up to me and tells me in 15 yrs he's never seen such a beautiful burnout much less right in front of his car! I grin and says "the throttle stuck?" He says then it would be an unsafe car and have to towed, I said ok then heavy right foot but hey I wasn't speeding! He says nope, no speeding. Gives me a ticket. That ticket was hell on my insurance.. Then there's the sheriff's deputy, evading at high speed, a trailer park, first & last date but that's another long story
16 in '62. Red 57 Chevy with close ratio 3 speed / 265 w/4barrel. 105 in 2nd gear inside a 30 mph zone. Lt Chandler of the THP clocked me , took me to jail ,in a cell for what seemed like eternity and then had to call my dad to come get me. Judge Rhea wasn't as impressed with my driving ability as my classmates were. Lost my license and then couldn't get insurance on a corvette that I bought later. I never drove like that again (well almost never ).
Many years ago leaving the drag strip in the north part of the city. I'm about 18 and I'm driving my 65 barracuda with a transplanted 340. I'd decided to run open fenderwell headers on the way home and bolt the bottle mufflers back on later. I turn onto the main road and head east. I run her up to about 4800 rpm and I'm reaching for 3rd gear when I see an unmarked cruiser coming from the other direction and he's fumbling for his bubble light to get it up on the dash. I decide that since he has a fair distance to get to the intersection before he can turn around and come after me (4 lanes with the median) I stayed in the throttle and went through the gears and wound it out for a little. Got up to a residential area and turned in, found a back alley and parked out of sight between a garage and a fence. Went for a walk and saw him roaming around for over an hour looking for me The things we do when we are young and foolish I guess I really am a hoodlum
One night I was hanging out with b-i-l in the garage admiring the fresh swapped in 327 enjoying an adult beverage when he suggests we take it for a burn. I don't know why but we left the beers on the work bench and went a few blocks to an industrial area where we did this stuff all the time. We were stopped getting ready to hang a left on the abandoned street when we see two headlights moving way slow coming towards us. B-i-l says we don't want that guy in front of us so I turn and nail it. Fishtailed curb to curb through first and second; next thing party lights are lit behind us. Yep, those fuzzy headlights was a city cop, said there had been break-ins in the area and that was the only reason he was there. Oh well, "Exhibition of Acceleration and Speed" and a mandatory court appearance. Judge wanted to know if I had a reasonable explanation.
There's too many stories to tell, but reading them is fun and let's me know I'm not alone. Early morning on July 4th I was getting ready to go a parade for top honors dignitary hauling. Went to the car wash, got fuel and headed back to the house. There wasn't anyone out yet and the roads were so nice. I was headed south on a 50 Mph 4 lane in third gear with my foot on the floor. Down shifted pretty hard make a hard left and mashed the pedal again for about 500 feet, downshifted again made another left and ripped thru first second and third gear sideways for about 300 feet. Coasted the last 500 feet down and turned into my driveway. There was a cruiser in my next door neighbors drive way. There was still a cloud of smoke at the end of the street, smoke still rolling out from under the car and now he's pulled in my driveway behind me. The cop tells me how they ( him and my neighbor) heard someone hauling ass and "wished he could catch the guy as the car is getting louder and stupider then Lo and behold you come right to me". Well I got the typical lecture with emphasis that he didn't see it this time but knows where to look. I told the cop I didn't want to be late for the parade- I have to haul the mayor. He said parade line up doesn't start for 2 hrs. The Cop was very cool after a couple mins and left with a handshake and wished me happy birthday.
I used to get away with tickets in my t Bucket. So much so, that I used to think the cop didn't want to be an asshole, like the cop in "American Graffiti".
I don't even have my license yet and I've already had a run in with the cops, I'm in the driving school car doing the limit on my first road lesson and a cop pulls me over to tell us that the tail lights out, I had a mini heart attack and such, not really much compared to you guys just thought it was funny.
In my youth, was pulled over on what was labeled at the time, "deadliest highway in North TX." Hwy 380, east-west between Denton and Greenville... I just Googled and it is apparently still dangerous, but now due to heavy traffic of suburbanites in Priuses and Tahoes. At the time, it was a 2 lane rural highway with LOTS of blind left turns hidden by small rises in the road, with farmers tooting down the road on tractors with hay bales and such... coming up over a rise in the road, and you might find yourself right on top of a farmer waiting to take a left turn. Also, there are colleges on both ends of this section of road-- UNT and TWU, both in Denton, and TX A&M Commerce (was ETSU at the time) not too far past Greenville... so students like me on the road as well. Convention at the time was to pass stopped left-turners on the right shoulder (it was also absolutely legal in such cases). Cop pulled me over late one night as I blazed through Farmersville (the name says it all), headed back to school, in my slightly OT barely-muffled, big motor hooptey ride. He did the, "where's the fire?" routine ('cept I wasn't speeding, and he knew I knew that), then did the lengthy "visual inspection," then settled on a ticket for no driver's door mirror. I mentioned that the law requires "a minimum of one 'rearward facing' mirror," and pointed to the one hanging in the middle of the car. He spent a while in his car on the radio, then came back and handed me a ticket... the charge was (hand written in the 'other' field)... "droving on improved shoulder." I guess his radio chat confirmed my mirror law comment. Fast forward to court day. I was able to speak to the judge in his office before court time. I showed him the ticket and gave him the 60 second version of my story above (minus the loud pipes part). When he got to "droving on improved shoulder," he looked up at me, and with a completely straight face, asked me if I had been herding cattle down the road... then he started chuckling, said officer so-and-so was an idiot, then told me ticked was dismissed. For those who don't get the joke... droving <-- click /long story done
Ya all got bout 2 weeks....? it el take at least that long ta tell ya.... San Diego/national city/chula vista /el cajon/ santee --- etc etc etc ---you ready over 50 tickets and under a hun (100) in less than 2 years.... sad being a youngpunkfuckinknowitall... grew up moved to the track and been happy ever since.
Hehe.Droving.Know it well.Used to help a friend on his cattle ranch in Florida.Riding drag got a bit dusty,crusty and nasty. Good luck.have fun.Be safe. Leo
Cruising Colby in my OT 70 340 Dart in the old days; that was the cruising spot in Everett for what seemed like forever, until it was shut down, the NO CRUISING warning signs went up, and things slowly and completely died up in the greater Seattle area. Friend and I were sitting at a red light alongside a 57 Chevrolet;, both blipping throttles; light goes green, and were off to the races. Everett cop was right behind me, 2 cars back; had't seen him. He lights us up, 57 keeps going, I pull over. Cop comes up to my window, and I just know I taking a ride to somewhere I don't want to be, but the cop says, "look, you and I both know what this car can do, don't do it in town". Lets me go with the warning to leave town for the night; YES SIR!!! Friend could't believe it, neither did I. I still don't believe it. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
14-1/2 years old....Got one before I had a license. Still in Driver's Ed at Ramona H.S......Driving my 1970 Subaru 360 around Riverside, CA in 1971. I traded a Thrifty's Guitar and Amp for it. Anyway, My buddy's and I are driving around and I get pulled over. I took a little long to pull to the side because we were in front of Ramona H.S and there was a no parking area. So, I went half way up the block to stop by the tennis courts and stadium.....The COP approaches and is looking at us pretty hard. Asked why I took so long to stop and I told him why. Well, he thought we were smoking pot was his PC for the stop. Once he found out that we were football players with long hair, he wrote me for speeding. I was speeding only little bit and chirped the tires. Anyway, got the ticket and had my license suspended before I got it.
Actually got caught driving before I had a license too. My dad had me driving solo since I was 12. After school I would hot lap my older sisters karman gia around the gravel roads right in the middle of our small town. Dad didn't know about that, or did he? Dad said if I drive like he was sitting next to me , I wouldn't have any problems. One day I was doing just that but I had a couple buddies in the back of the truck holding on to our joint effort go-cart. One of them decided to "moon" the car behind us, Ha Ha Ha. A couple weeks later me and my buddy are coming home after fishing and a cop pulls us over for what seemed like no reason. Remember, I have no license yet. I was probably 14. So the cop tells me to drive home. He followed me and he had a talk with my dad. Ya you guessed it, the car my buddy mooned was this off duty cop. Tells my Dad about my buddies' very becoming butt and tells him to get this kid a drivers license. That cop ended being pretty good to me as a teenager. So I tell Dad that my buddy needs a ride home with his fishing gear and all. Dad says, "take the car". Same cop caught me flipping a cookie right on main street with my 67 Barracuda with a 340, same car that will only do 124 mph. I was a habitual offender by then and once again, No license. He says " what the hell are you doing Charlie?" I said going home Bob. He said "get out of here. I went home.
This may not count since it was a motorcycle (a tired, stripped down 1955 Royal Enfield/Indian 500CC thumper) but I had been to the car wash to wash the dirt/oil off of it and was on my way back to the duplex, no muffler and I had hammered it, I pulled into the drive way and the cop pulled up shortly, he told me to hold it down next time, no ticket, the bike had no lights, no horn, no nothing, I played in the desert near Las Cruces NM, but it did have a license plate, that was about 1968 or 69
All my favorite stories about the police end up with me getting away. But here is a funny a picture of a dumb rookie cop who crashed into this man trying to blow through the x-section with no horn just lights. After the police just kept going, hit and run style. Sent from my SM-J727T1 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Long story so sit back and enjoy another beer Back in late 1969 or early 1970 after I had just gotten out if the army after serving in Vietnam and still being a little crazy from that experience I, as I’ve posted on other threads here on the HAMB bought a ‘ 61 Vette into which I managed to cram what at the time was a pretty hot engine …The 427 Chevy L88. Even though I drove like a fool luck was with me and I somehow managed to stay clear of the local police…that is until late one night or should I say early one morning while heading home from cruising around my small town and I had to stop at a red light past the center of town when a friend of mine pulled alongside with his built to the hilt SB 301 powered ‘55 Chevy. It had a reputation of being a pretty fast car with a gasser style straight axle, tilt fiberglass nose, 4.56 rear gears and lightened to the max. Up until then we had never tested our cars against each other and I guess he thought maybe it was time. I looked over at him and waived and he smiled and pointed at the red light and then up the road meaning you know what. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a car pulling into the side intersection and glanced over to see what it was just as the light changed. The 55 came out of the hole at full throttle in a cloud of tire smoke. The other car at the intersection turned out to be a police cruiser and the flashing lights came on immediately as I saw the cop on the passenger side jump out of the car and come running over to my car as the cruiser took off on hot pursuit of the 55. I couldn't believe it when he got into the Vette with me and said follow those cars. I said yes sir and tromped on in. The road out of town was four lanes and up a hill with enough mild curves to block your long distance view of what was up ahead. I soon caught and as per my passengers command passed the apparently not too healthy cruiser and after cresting the next hill I could see the 55 a ways up ahead sitting at a red light at the upcoming intersection. I pulled up on the inside of the 55 and could see my buddy laughing and waiving at me until he noticed my passenger and then the flashing lights that suddenly appeared in his rear view. We all pulled over to the shoulder and after showing the customary documentation we received a nice long talk about all of the things that we could be arrested for and how we were lucky that it was 2:00AM and there was no other traffic on the small town road. Just about the time I figured they were going to start writing up the summonses there was an emergency call on the police radio saying something about a disturbance in a local parking lot on the other side of town. The older of the 2 police officers who was a sergeant said this was our lucky day and that he was going to let us off with a verbal warning but that if he ever saw us as much think about violating a traffic law again , he would throw the book at us. I wasn't until the next night after work when I went to my friends house to have a good laugh about the night before that I found out that he over slept after being up for half the night and got up late for work and tried to make the time up when he went through a stop sign just outside the factory entrance and you guessed it, the same cops were sitting in the parking lot across the street just getting ready to go off duty. Thirty day suspension of license and a hefty fine. By the way, we never did find out who had the fastest car.
The Jalopy Journal
