OT, tuners crushed for street racing

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19339955/ didn't know s**t would stack that high

 

if you read the article they cannot crush the cars for street racing, they crush the cars because of stolen parts found on the vehicles. the judge will only give them the OK to crush if they can prove the vin was tampered with or the parts are stolen.

 

I saw that. I couldn't help but laugh. If they were that good at street racing, they wouldn't have gotten caught.

I really laughed out loud when one of the guys said that he and his MOM(!) have over $10K in hi performance parts in it. This kid was only 18 when this happened. What the Hell did she think he was doing with that kind of car? So much for parental discipline... And where was Dad during all that?

Vance

 

Gotta think the pic of the guy wearing the Mr. Goodwrench shirt isn't going to make some corporate types happy...

 

Thats harsh,,,can they really identify all parts to who they actually belong ?? I mean stolen tranny ??

 

On new cars - yeah. It's called legacy tracking; vendors of components need to know if their product is responsible for a defect which results in accident or injury.

I'm of mixed feelings on this one; feels like a repeat of the same old shit from years gone by - at the same time, there are some total dumbass tuners out there...

 

yeah,,but will always be that way sadly,,use to see to many people get messed up down on Front Street,,buy some cocky guy with a fast car ,,who nothing about cars or driving

 

A scary thought is the many cars that rodders own with tampered Vin#'s and all the titles being sold.

 

If they can do that to the kids with tunners they can do it to anybody at any time,,,,more big brother mentality.,,,,,protect us from ourselves,,,HRP

 

It said one guy got stopped for a busted tail light.
And if I read it correctly, and I think it said this in more than one place: the cops only need to THINK or SUSPECT parts are stolen. Not necessarily prove they are. I know it said that when they mentioned the trans...said it was stolen and they suspected other parts were stolen.
Now imagine you're crusing down the road in your custom or hot rod, get pulled for not using your turn signal or burned out tail light, and the cops decide they don't like your hair cut and want to inspect the car for stolen parts.
hmmmm...vin on the car doesn't match vin on the block...and the vin stamped in that 4-speed or auto trans doesn't match either.
So what happens to you if they run the numbers on the trans you bought at a swap meet 8 years ago, and find out it came out of a car that was reported stolen in 1982?
Guess what buddy, your '64 Chevy, '63 Ford, '50 Merc, '60 Rivi or '29 Model A has stolen parts on it. Off to the crusher with that high-emissions polluter!

Ever read the quote from the Nazi era? I'll paraphrase, but it goes something like this: "When they came for the jews, I said nothing because I wasn't a jew. When they came for the Gypsies I said nothing because i wasn't a Gypsie. When they came for the homosexuals I said nothing because I wasn't a homosexual. When they came for the foreigners, I said nothing because I wasn't a foreigner. When they came for me, there was nobody to speak up for me."
You may not like the import cars or the lifestyle, and certainly can't condone street racing, but the route and method the authorities are using to crush these cars can be applied to all of us on this board.

-Brad

 

Police State of mind.

 

yup, it's scary.

 

Maybe if you had your shit stolen you might feel different. It sucks to have your car hacked and the parts stolen. My next door neighbors kid had his Honda Civic hacked up. It would be great to see the car crushed that they thief had

 

On the news the other night they said the cars are getting impounded because of "off-road use only" parts found on these cars. That effectively means that without a CARB (California Air Resources Board) number, any modification is supposedly justification for impound.

While the enforcers are clearly (IMO) targeting the rice burners, how long will it be before this spreads to "traditional" hot rods? They seem to be concerned about power to weight ratios on the Civics, but what about the guys running 400+ HP in a buggy sprung "A" roadster with drum brakes? Not trying to swing this thread into a bitch session about "the man" being out to get car enthusiasts, but where do they draw the line?

 

They should strap the thieves in the cars before they crush them.

 

i tend to agree. i don't condone street racing but this sort of thing by the government REALY pisses me off. they'd have to restrain me if it was my car they were trying to crush. i'd come un-fucking-glued!!!

 

They should crush Drunk drivers cars !



CBB

 

That's pretty messed up. The way it reads, the car's aren't being crushed because the kids were caught racing but because they had stolen parts. How are you supposed to know where used parts come from? If the police want to do this, they should be obligated to provide the means to double check the VIN #s on the part (for free).

Also, what about the person who owns the stolen parts? I'd think if someones car with rare parts are stolen (thinking more old cars here) that they'd want them back instead of crushed.

Looks pretty much like facism to me.

 

There's always more to the story that we never get told

 

You are absolutely 100% right! We need to help stand up for these guys because it could just as easily be us. It doesn't even sound like the cops had to prove very much, and having the cars crushed is pretty drastic.

SO, What can I, er, we, do??

 

"Most of the cars police examine are illegally modified. Sergio Zavala, 18, was pulled over in his 1993 yellow Honda Civic for a broken tail light in December. He had purchased a B-20 Vtech engine with a double-overhead cam a couple months before, and after a police investigation, was told it was stolen."

Since when does a broken tailight constitute "probable cause" for a search of the engine bay and verification of the transmission serial numbers???

 

Here's why it scares the hell out of me........

I was once a teenager with a really nice, shiny, muscley car that I'd been slaving on for years before driving age with my hard earned paperboy money......

Several times had cops accuse me of having stolen parts on the car. They were always crawling all over it writing down numbers and were absolutely certain I'd stolen a "corvette" engine from across town somewhere. It came out of our family station wagon after dad totaled it, but the numbers were decked off during my rebuild. To this day the only conclusion is I had too nice a car for a 16 year old kid.

If these laws had existed in 1988, my pride and joy would have been part of that stack. Because I worked too hard, and took too much pride in my car. That is fucked up.

 

holy shit hope i never get pulled over in my 59 f100, 59 body sitting on a 61 frame, 79 front axel, 71 rear axel, 96 dodge 5speed tranny, not to mention im hiding the vin so the state will issue me a new vin and title cause i didnt get a title with the truck. thank god i live in wyoming where nobody really gives a rats ass.

 

Yep. I'm not saying this shit isn't happening, but once you've read an article on something you either have personal experience with or direct knowledge of, you realize just how skewed/biased/influenced the media is. It's a scare tactic.

Bryan

 

Since when? since he is 18 years old and doesn't know his rights...

 

Don't believe everything you read.......news journalists tend to get their stories wrong.....they're like the weather man........

 

Damn, who's logic was this..... so crushing the car with the stolen parts is going to do what ??? hmm perhaps send the thief out for another car ??
Good luck on that one.

 

another factor is some of these kids buy parts off the internet...(ie classified sections on forums or big name online auctions), how do they know its stolen goods until its too late? All newer stuff has vin #'s on every bodypart including the motor and tranny. Is there a website to check if the motor and tranny is stolen?

 

Ahh, good. No Amelican cahs

 

Someone already mentioned it sort of, but if they can tell a part is stolen they must know who it is stolen from. Why wouldn't it go back to that person instead of being crushed? Or all the "stolen" parts taken off and returned before the rest is crushed?