Tell all of us some of your "busted" stories. Maybe you got caught racing where you shouldn't have, or burning off tires or possibly having a car that attracted too much negative attention. Tell us what it is.
busted stories
- Thread starter gunship
- Start date
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OK, gunship, got a couple of stories for you from waaay back in the early '70s here in SoCal. Both of them involve my old '69 Swinger 340 that was built pretty stout.
Sorry these are so long but I think they're pretty good stories from "back in the day"...
First story: One of the prime cruising spots back then was Whittier Blvd. in Whittier. Cruising the couple of miles could take you 30-40 minutes and there were always a ton of great muscle cars out on a Friday or Saturday night. Once you left the west end of the cruising area you were in a dimly lit industrial area with no homes or stores at all and street traffic was non-existent.
Well, this one particular Saturday night, my ex-wife and I were just heading back to our apartment after being out cruising with friends on the boulevard. We'd just passed under the railroad bridge that marked the western end of cruise route when this '65 Chevelle pulled up alongside and started making moves like he wanted to race. Naturally I couldn't just let it go so off we went from a roll right in the middle of the deserted dark industrial area. After I beat him he turned left and I turned right to head home.
We got a couple of miles away from the boulevard when a Whittier police car pulled up behind me and hit me with his lights. I pulled over and he walks up to my window and tells me to just sit tight for a minute.
A couple of minutes go by and all of a sudden the Chevelle pulls up behind me with another police car behind him. They bust both of us for a "speed contest". All I could figure was they had a helicopter up that night that saw the race go down.
The cool thing was when I went to pay the ticket, the cop must have used the wrong VC number because the clerk said, "25." I immediately paid it, hurried out of the court and drove home smiling the whole way.
Second: This was in October '73 - I remember because I'd just got a call at work that day that the brand new '74 TransAm that my ex and I had ordered in early August had just arrived at the dealership and was ready for pickup.
Again, I was in my 340 Swinger when I left work. The street in front of work was always busy at leaving time but a couple of my friends from work stepped off the curb into the crosswalk and stopped traffic. I pulled out of the parking lot, turned left and (just to showoff a bit) jumped on it. The tires broke loose (I was running 4.89 gears on the street back then) and all you could see behind me was a cloud of tire smoke.
Unfortunately, heading the other was was a LA County Sheriff in his black-and-white looking at me with the biggest eyes I'd ever seen. I backed off immediately, turned right at the next corner and pulled over to the curb and just waited. He came screaming around the corner and almost passed me but managed to pull over and stop in front of me.
He got out of his car, hitched his pants up like Buford T. Justice and came walking back to my car. I already had license and registration ready for him.
He expected to find a young kid driver and was surprised to see someone in their twenties wearing a shirt and tie. I got the lecture and a ticket for "exhibition of speed" that came with a mandatory court appearance.
I went to court the day before the specified date - the cop wasn't there because I was a day early - plead "guilty with an explanation" and gave the judge just a slightly modified story as to why I was pulled over. I said my tires must have been wet and dirty from the construction going on in the lot at work (there really was some construction going on there) and my tires must have broken loose and the officer must have heard that and pulled me over.
Got out of that one for $20.
Sorry these are so long but I think they're pretty good stories from "back in the day"...
First story: One of the prime cruising spots back then was Whittier Blvd. in Whittier. Cruising the couple of miles could take you 30-40 minutes and there were always a ton of great muscle cars out on a Friday or Saturday night. Once you left the west end of the cruising area you were in a dimly lit industrial area with no homes or stores at all and street traffic was non-existent.
Well, this one particular Saturday night, my ex-wife and I were just heading back to our apartment after being out cruising with friends on the boulevard. We'd just passed under the railroad bridge that marked the western end of cruise route when this '65 Chevelle pulled up alongside and started making moves like he wanted to race. Naturally I couldn't just let it go so off we went from a roll right in the middle of the deserted dark industrial area. After I beat him he turned left and I turned right to head home.
We got a couple of miles away from the boulevard when a Whittier police car pulled up behind me and hit me with his lights. I pulled over and he walks up to my window and tells me to just sit tight for a minute.
A couple of minutes go by and all of a sudden the Chevelle pulls up behind me with another police car behind him. They bust both of us for a "speed contest". All I could figure was they had a helicopter up that night that saw the race go down.
The cool thing was when I went to pay the ticket, the cop must have used the wrong VC number because the clerk said, "25." I immediately paid it, hurried out of the court and drove home smiling the whole way.
Second: This was in October '73 - I remember because I'd just got a call at work that day that the brand new '74 TransAm that my ex and I had ordered in early August had just arrived at the dealership and was ready for pickup.
Again, I was in my 340 Swinger when I left work. The street in front of work was always busy at leaving time but a couple of my friends from work stepped off the curb into the crosswalk and stopped traffic. I pulled out of the parking lot, turned left and (just to showoff a bit) jumped on it. The tires broke loose (I was running 4.89 gears on the street back then) and all you could see behind me was a cloud of tire smoke.
Unfortunately, heading the other was was a LA County Sheriff in his black-and-white looking at me with the biggest eyes I'd ever seen. I backed off immediately, turned right at the next corner and pulled over to the curb and just waited. He came screaming around the corner and almost passed me but managed to pull over and stop in front of me.
He got out of his car, hitched his pants up like Buford T. Justice and came walking back to my car. I already had license and registration ready for him.
He expected to find a young kid driver and was surprised to see someone in their twenties wearing a shirt and tie. I got the lecture and a ticket for "exhibition of speed" that came with a mandatory court appearance.
I went to court the day before the specified date - the cop wasn't there because I was a day early - plead "guilty with an explanation" and gave the judge just a slightly modified story as to why I was pulled over. I said my tires must have been wet and dirty from the construction going on in the lot at work (there really was some construction going on there) and my tires must have broken loose and the officer must have heard that and pulled me over.
Got out of that one for $20.
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