The Police!

[don's 37]

Just wondering...how many of you guy's get stopped by the cops just so they can nose around your cars? My Dad likes to tell me stories when he was a kid about getting stopped all the time.

[Frank The Plumber]

My best one is the story I have of not getting noticed by Johnny Law: As a youngster I had a 70 Mustang, Bright red, porsche guards red, Full race, a chute 31.5 slicks open headers, wheelie bars, all lexan glass, no mistaking that it was a drag car, had lights but ran off a battery system. Well I stopped for a couple of hot dogs at a dog shop on Harlem Avenue, mine and about three other cars, they were sedate, and I'm sitting there under the big lights looking for a little contest, In pulls Johnny, right next to me in a Chi town full dresser, two officers get out and never even look at me. ????? So my buddy says hey wouldn't this be a great picture, we were on film back then so he is lining up his precious shot and Another unit beeps at him to get out of the way,with that obnoxious honk horn, they park right next to me on the other side, so here I am with a full drag pig sitting between 2 units with bars and a chute and a shut off switch, we got the heck away from it and sat there and watched. Now theres 4 cops sitting there eating hot dogs and us watching them way too much so the one big copper says HEY WHAT ARE YOU KIDS UP TO? Nothing officer, WELL YOU BETTER NOT BE CRUISIN THIS IS A NO CRUISIN STREET SEE THE SIGNS? Well my smarty pants buddy just has to whisper, no sir we're not cruisin sir, we're drag racing. WHATS THAT? I chime in no sir we're on bicycles sir, ARE YOU EATING? just finishing up GOOD GET OUT HERE YOU PUNK KIDS. so now I have to buy another hot dog or five cause I have to stick around cause I have a big red reason not to leave sitting between 2 blue and white and gumballed reasons to run like hell. I was there for an hour, I felt like Jaws the hot dog eater, all 4 officers left at once and never even saw it, they leave and I came out. Across the street was another dog joint that had a huge lot and in that lot were about 20 cars full of the usual suspects, they are all hollering at the coppers to look at my car. All they did is distract them and the units rolled to them, so me and my buddies rolled my car around back of our dog joint, recorked my car, lit it up and rolled off to Superdawgs.
The best non event of the summer of 88.

[Dennis/Arkansas]

My first car was a 1931 Model A. I had just finished restoring it and was cruising around. A cop stop me for some trumped up reason. Any way, while he was nosing around he leaned into the car and the hammer on his revolver put a scrape in my freshly painted coupe. I was clinching my teeth to keep from telling him what a jerk he was. He ignored it and let me go on my not-so-merry way. Dennis/Arkansas

[Vic Piano]

I've been stopped several times for running blue dots... I still use them in most of our cars/trucks.

[general gow]

frank, that's a great story.

[Frank The Plumber]

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I kick myself to this very day for not having that photo, it was a microcosm of my wasted youth.

[AJ]

I've been stopped once too. The LA County sheriff's officer conceded to me in the end that he had really pulled me over so he could look at my hot rod. I could have shit a brick. Because he could have cited me for a dozen reasons (like no reg. tags, wipers, horn, fenders). Instead we talked about it for 5 min, and then he left.

[hardtimes]

Originally Posted by don's 37

Just wondering...how many of you guy's get stopped by the cops just so they can nose around your cars? My Dad likes to tell me stories when he was a kid about getting stopped all the time.

Good question! Hmm, there have been a 'few' over all of the years. Well, that can happen when driving 50+years. I hesitate to give up one of the more interesting, but heregoes:
Back '58, all I owned, literally, was this '50 ford coupe. Gray primer thing that ran good enough. My buddys' sister was getting married in a little coal town not far from my buds "hill" farm. Well, about 1am we're driving back to his hillfarm and almost make it to his mile long dirt road driveway. These headlights/spotlight suddenly come on behind us as I swing into the dirt lane. Then the red bubblegum machine light and siren come on! The dirt road is only one lane, so I said that I'm driving up the mountain to the house. Wrong move #1.. The cop runs into my bumper part way up the hill..his way of saying stop, I guess. That move pissed me off and I decided to hang a left and go straight up the side of the mtn on an old log trail..that we knew. Wrong move#2.. Going thru small grown bushes, I was making progress away from the bad guys, when we heard the distinct sound of three rounds hitting the metal of my trunk!! Now I was really pissed!! Made it to the top of the field, to the forest where we hunted. Shut out my headlights, as I thought we knew the log road...wrong move #3. Now these keystones thought that they had Dillinger and company. When that big boat made it to the top..he put all his cubes to the metal, caught and ramed us sideways into the trees. I would have put his lights out,,,butt as I said, we had just come from a wedding and had enjoyed ourselves.. somewhat.. It only went downhill from there and out of consideration for the weak hearted here, I'll stop now. They did look the car over thought and said how nice it had been. Damages: two destroyed tux suits, one driver '50 and one broked tooth/heart!! Ah, life is good. lol

[Lawrie]

We ( two couples) had been out to the bank of new zealand ball in Wellington in 67,we were in a Bradford station wagon that had a matress in the back to sit on, we had just got our hamburgers from the MENU (me and You hamberger joint) and were all sitting in the back on the matress,one of the girls had bought a JUMBO burger with the lot and bit into it,the egg sqeezed out and went down the front of her ball gown,
she let out one hell of a scream,a policeman on the beat came zooming over and shone his torch in and asked "what the hell was going on"
when we explaned he laughed and told us to be more carefull.
We were 17 at the time, the Bradford was painted pink and called Lille the pink. it didnt even have a rear door,just a rool down tarp,
I,m married to one of the girls.
Lawrie

[roccaas]

Wasn't there a story going around about a Highway Mountie who pulled over a Classic of some sort just so he could tell his LT. that he put his foot up on a running board just like the Captain was always reminiscing about during the "good old days"???

[~~Walts37~~]

I was driving my first car A 31 sedan while my little brother was driving a 37 Chev we somehow got in a race down sample town hill both of us were side by side at the city limits sign and the local cop was waiting for us at the bottom of the hill. WE both got speeding tickets. Neither one of us had any money so My dad made a deal with the police dept that we would work it out . I had to dig ditches for the city & my little brother who is now 73 was sweeping the city main street after midnight (no traffic) on Saturday nights because he was still in school. Still don't remember who won the race.

[t.soseman]

Back in '63 I believe the year was, I had my AV8 at a bodyman friend's shop that was about a 1/2 mile out of town on a little used back road. The car had just received some priming and sheetmetal work and I had to bring it back into town to do more mechanical work before he could finish the body. Well instead of the rather quick 1/2 mile on the back road I took a longer route on two highways just so I could drive it a little. You guessed it a highway patrolman stopped me on the way back into town. He gave me an equiptment ticket to end all equiptment tickets. Two pages worth. Little things like no windshield, in fact no windows at all, no head lights, no tail lights, no brake lights, no license plate light, no license plate or registration, no horn,no rear view mirrors, no floor, no mufflers, but what really pulled his chain was the fact that I was driving the car sitting on an upside down bucket with vice grips instead a steering wheel. Things were a little more easy going around here back in the 50s and early 60s or I would probably have missed school the following Monday because I was in jail. I didn't tell my Mother about it for a couple weeks. God,s honest truth.

[Mike in Mass]

After a night of drinkin with the boys ,havin a hell of a time at the local beachside bar ,we jump into my 64 galaxy 2dr hrdtop ,it barly started uh oh, what the ,,, My generator was dieing and taking my battery with it . One of my buddies 'had to go home' I think I,ll make it ,,,one by one things started to go ,,the radio,,the interior light started to fade ,it got harder and harder to see ,.theres no one in front of me and I,m hopscotchen from street light to streetlight ,tryin not to hit the curb. My "friends" are all "sleeping' by now ,,and here comes Johny Law right at me . He hit the bleus while bangin a U-e and I just pulled over "Do you know why I pulled you over" He says , Ah ,,,"no" and "WHATS A MATTER WITH YOUR FRIENDS !." Ah,,, There very tired "SIR" You have no headlights". It,s amazing how the affects of 10 beers can dissapate in seconds. "Yes I do, Could I get out of the car and show you ? With both of us leaning down in front of the car ,you could still see the tiny trickle of juice flowing thru my headlights.YOU SEE OFFICER !I DO HAVE HEADLIGHTS ! After some himin an hawin he says "Do you have a flashlight ?I had a magnetic flashlight in my glovvy, stuck it in the middle of my "metal" dash, AND LET ME GO! THANKYOU EVERREADY! and Hanson,Mass PD

[HOTRODPRIMER]

I small town America when I was in my teens it was a regular thing to be stopped by the man in blue/fuzz but back then the had red bubble gum machines on top of the car instead of blue lights.

I received more than my fair share of tickets for excessive noise (glass pack mufflers),,,

Also in the mid sixtys my hair was a little long and the police in the small sleepy Southern town of Anderson liked nothing better than bust them long haired hippies.

Driving a jacked up 63 Falcon Sprint didn't make life easier,,hot rodders were also fair game.

It has been years since I have had any problems with the long arm of the law. HRP

[TomT/Williamsburg]

When I first moved to Virginia about 15 years or so ago I treated myself to a completely done street rod, a phantom 39 C---- flatback sedan cabriolet. It was a cool car that had plexi covers over the headlights that were removed for night-time driving, reversed white and teal scallops, early TPI aftermarket setup, recessed headlights into the fender, nice wheel/tire combo, good rake, etc, etc. Nicest looking car I ever owned up to that point in time.

Anyway, one local cop here in Willyburg always stopped me and argued that I was not supposed to be driving the car during the weekday and only to shows. There was already a law in VA that said it was OK - I even showed him a copy of the law - he didn't care. He harassed me several times and onseveral occasions, arguing with me every time. I always kept my cool, stated the facts time and time again, regardless of what he said.

One time I WAS going to a show on a Sat but I dropped off my wife and daughter to work first and he comes by, stops in the middle of the road, blocks traffic, and begins to harass me for 20 minutes, traffic is a mess, etc, etc, saying I was using the car for general transportation, illegal use, blah, blah, blah. I finally had enough of him and told him outright to give me the damn ticket and I'll see you in court. I also told him that I was going to love to see what happens to him for his stupidity as I was positive that the judge would rule in my favor, and I couldn't wait for him to give him an ass whuppin for giving me a ticket for something so stupid. I said it all very quietly and very matter-of-factly. He dropped his jaw, turned around, got into his cruiser, and never bothered me again.

[denverslim]

Great stories.
My ole departed buddy had many local cop stories, one of the funniest was about a new cop that was going to straighten out this "loud muffler problem" in town. My pal was stopped at the usual place on the usual "dragging main" part of town in his fresh '50 Merc sporting those new-fangled glass pac mufflers that were WAY louder than stock but rumour had it that they were legal. (somewhere). The cop told Charlie to stay in the car and rev the engine a little while he went around back and stuck his head down to hear, close up, the rattle put out by the Smithys. Charlie, course didn't want to incriminate himself so he would just give the car a "little" gas. After two or three times of this test the cop was getting madder and madder and walked up to the drivers' side window with his stick and told Charlie in no uncertain terms. "I'm gonna give you a ticket if you don't cooperate with me." "When I say give her the gas, I mean, giver the gas".

Charlie said that the cop went back and with his head down began to twirl his hand in circles-the sign for more revs. Charlie touched the gas pedal a blurp and the cop began to wave HARD AND FURIOUS!
At this point,Chuck figgered he wasn't gonna get out of it anyway, so he put his foot ALL THE WAY TO THE FLOOR!
Charlie,and the whole table of breakfast eating codgers, burst out laughing when he sez the ticket was well worth the look on that poor guy when he looked up with soot all over his face and started running down the street to catch his hat!...slim

[Dennis/Arkansas]

Great stories, keep 'em comin'! Dennis/Arkansas

[denverslim]

My ole buddy Chuck used tell me that back in the day, (at least here in Denver) what you had to do when you got a ticket for a loud muffler, was get a court date and take a REAL muffler to court with you! Lol. This would show the judge that you had obtained a muffler and that you were going to put it on your car. He said that someone in north Denver had a shiny, new muffler and this thing was hanging on the wall at the local of the car club, and that he knew of lots of guys who had used this "prop" to help with the lowering of the fine. As far as he knew, nobody ever used it...slim

[Frank The Plumber]

In 1984 I went to my very first big car event with a couple of my best pals, I was just a little know it all punk kid so my car was a non participant.
The event was the Car Craft Street Machine Nationals at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, it was a cool event but the high light was the cruise on Saturday night, Awesome, there were 4 lanes of cars moving at maybe 2 MPH, like a giant party, me and the boys had a van parked and we set up lawn chairs on the roof and a cooler full of Polish Sodas and we had a lot of them cause it was my 21st summer, and they were ice cold. There were a lot o lot o pretty girls at this event and in the early 80's these girls did not have the inhibitions of todays girls, thats right youngins for an ice cold beer your mom would show me your first bottles. I had some happy eyes. For about a good 2 hours we were seeing the right side of life and then all of a sudden no more.... Whats with the dry spell? Well we are up on the van roof so we can see forever, guys doing huge burnouts, girls in skinny little bikinis, bikers doing burn outs you could see it all, but right by us all of the fun had stopped.... huh... so we look over the edge of the van and there is State trooper leaning up against our van...huh...so I hop down. This guy is all decked out, a bike trooper, nice full dress Harley unit too, hes got the chaps on and full leathers, big black shades, poor son of a gun looks hot as in dying hot, so I say hay hows it going, he dont even look at me, so I hop back up on the van go in the cooer and grab a can of Coke hop down walk up to him open it right in his presence and offer it to him, Boy his face sure got happy, he pulled up his shades and thanked us. I said quite a night huh, ya he says but I don't see it the same as you, me..how do you mean, he says, well... those girls shirts aint quite as light when I'm around as they are for you, He asked if he could wet his bandana in our ice water and did and then drove off to a call. Back to the ladies we go, oh yeah. Rumor has it that an officer was seriously injured that year at Springfield and the event was not held there again, me and the boys said a prayer that we hoped the guy would be alright as all the troopers were very cool. The event was moved to Du Quion Il. It just was not the same. Good but not the same.

[Mike in Mass]

I just got yelled at by the local constabulary for leaving my truck running while I went into the little store HE WAS PISSED .well I says "You don,t shoot the horse ,when you tie him em up to the hicthin post do ya" My 8 year old daughter was next to me, an she chuckled . "Don,t do it again" ! he says shaking his head. ITS FRIGGIN 19 DEGREES OUT . Drivin home I rememberd this thread and found it figured theres got to be a few more good stories out there since the last post 4 years ago !