Well tonight, my buddy and i were driving back out home into the hills of placerville, ca coming home from a cruise night down in folsom, ca. well for any one who knows the area, we drive thru the little town diamond springs, and it was about 9:45 this evening and us being the somewhat young and stupid guys we are, decided that we wanted to rapp our glasspacks a little bit driving thru the old town and listen to the echo. there were no cars or people around and our cars have 18" glasspacks on them so they arent too loud. So we rev our engines up a little bit and there are still no cars around ( to what we can see ) and we had a blast. NOT SAYING that making a ton of noise is the right thing to do, but since we figured there were nooo cars around, why not. well about 1/2 mile up the road, some red/blue lights were flashing in my mirror. He said we were disturbing the peace (which we were) not arguing that, but he said somethings that were pretty interesting... first he said that we are stupid and immature for trying to get "too much attention" in the middle of the night with our loud ass old hot rods and loves to pull them over because they do nothing but cause traffic jams by going to slow.... i cooperated and took responsibility for my actions because i know i was guilty as charged. he let me off with a warning and told me to not bring attention to myself, though i thought no-one was around. HAHA i felt like the officer was a little rude and had a heavy grudge about the hot rodders in our area. the officer was older ( at least to me ) like late 40s early 50s age. but i could tell had a heavy grudge against the sport. has anyone else had anything similar happen to them reguarding hot rodding in their area and the police having something against it?? I KNOW I AM GUILTY OF MAKING A LITTLE BIT OF NOISE, BUT 18" GLASSPACKS ARE NOT ANYTHING COMPAIRED TO STRAIGHT PIPES OR OPEN HEADERS.......disclaimer. lol feel free to share your stories as well. if this is ot i understand
OahuEli -- Haha! maybe that did it! lol Muttley -- Yeah i agree, i think maybe officers in small towns get bored not gettting called out as much?? haha
this thread was supposed to be more of a stories thread just to hear what happens to others. i dont mean to be bitching, im just sayin'.
Small town cops don't have anything better to do. When I was younger my friends and I would go a few towns over to do some street racing. We had to pass through a very small town that was a well known speed trap with a 35mph speed limit for about a mile on the highway. There would be 8-10 of us, going the speed limit, obeying the laws, just passing through minding our own business. 9 times out of 10 the local cop would light one of us up, the rest of us would pull over a ways up the road and wait. He would back in next o the fire station and just wait for someone to break the law. The cop would tell us that our cars were too loud and that we're waking people up in the town, then he would proceed to try to find anything he could to write a ticket for, and sometimes he'd get us for ridiculous stuff like headlight height and running cheater slicks on the street. We started going 20 miles out of the way through farm roads just to avoid that town. One night about a month after we started avoiding that town, we were on our way back home, it was late, and we all decided to blast through the town balls out. He couldn't catch us all, if any of us, right? Well we rolled into town, slowed down a bit, then we put the hammer down blasting past him doing about 80mph and we kept the fires lit. These were blown small blocks with open headers, flatheads with straight pipes, built big blocks...man it was loud! We kept the hammer down for about 5 miles outside of town, and never saw any lights behind us. We got into our town about 20 minutes later, pulled into the burger joint parking lot to laugh about our night, then 3 county Sheriffs showed up to go over our cars with fine tooth combs. We all got tickets that night, but it was worth it. We never went through there as a group again.
me and my buddy get harrased all the time. Certain towns you dont drive through on a saturday night. Mainly enumclaw, next town over, where i got pulled over twice in less than a quarter mile in my hotrod. My buddy jj gets pulled over all the time in his galaxie because the paint is a little rough
People LIVE in small downtowns and you did deserve what you got...a ticket actually. As for what he said...he just wanted to push your buttons and give you reason to think the next time you drive thru his town. Then he WON'T have to stop you and give you a real ticket the next time!!! Looking at this from a distance, he was being nice to you I think. You lucked out and got a Cop who wasn't trying to shine up his badge at your expense.
Sorry guys, that whole bad image thing, it's my fault, it's kinda like my second job to keep it that way....
To be objective you have to understand that some old folks like me like our peace and quiet. Now don't get me wrong, I like the sound of open headers or throaty pipes as much as anyone. but not after I have retired for the day. This less than considerate person down the street has this rice burner with a fart tip muffler that came and went at all hours, raising the ire of everyone, as it is a nice quiet neighborhood other wise.The young couple next door with three small children did finally call the authorities and filed a complaint. So you see, the police may be doing what is expected of them and not harassing folks. If you just got a warning you should be happy, and I do appreciate that you accept your responsibility in the matter. Just my perspective.
over here its a tuff life driving a modified car, old or new. I can get fines for almost any mod i have, and can even get the car inpouned if the sonovabitch thinks its the right thing to do. they dont even bother lookin at how well the mods are done, it just isnt legal to do any, body or chassis. exaple, flared arches= modified body, no good, fine or inpound. bags= modified suspension, big non no, should be straight inpound obvious custom grille= modified body, no good, big fine. loud pipes= modified exhaust, no good, fine or inpound. shaved handles= as above, fine or inpound i can go on forever. I used to drive the car as a work in priogress, then 4 months ago i got pulled and the cop not so niceley said, if i catch you again w/ the car in theis state you can say good by to it for good. So until im on full paint and straight body i wont take it out again,im ridin my fuckin cycle! Am i clear? i'd be more than happy to pay tickets all day long. you guys in the States have it easy.
you woke him up, and he had to wipe the sprinkles off his face before he stopped you..thats the reason for the agression. fun govenor
I grew up near a small town (still there) and I think they let us get away with a lot of things because we either went to school with them or their kids. Heck, for our graduation party they came out to tell us (who were all underage) that the state troopers had a road block set up for all of us that would try to go home. They also told us that they would give us a ride or show us" the back way" around. I guess we were just lucky.
They don't REALLY care if it's modified or not. What they REALLY care about is the revenue it generates to give you a ticket or impound your vehicle. It's a form of tax. They are literally taking your money at the point of a gun so they can spend it on themselves. Fender flares and modifying the grill don't harm anyone or anything. They are just excuses to take your money.
ive got hotrods and choppers/bobbers. long hair tattoos and earrings and i live by a very small SOUTHERN town, need i say more?
Back in the late 50's, in Hayward Calif. Which was still a fairly small town, I had the safest car around. I got stopped in my 36 coupe at least once a week, and they always checked everything. lights, wipers, horn, brakes, emergency brake, glass, Mufflers, Etc. we couldn't get away with 18" glasspacks then. You would have had to replace them and then go get them checked.
But he gave him a warning ticket. Something that happened to me back in the 70's. One week end a group of us (about 10) headed south for the weekend on "modified" Harleys. About 300 miles from home we got stopped for a license check. They kept us on the side of the road for 4 hours, then brought all of the drivers license back, handed them all to one guy and left. No tickets, no questions,---zip. After that, we were on our way. No bitching, whining or ????????. All of us understood that it went with the territory. If you're doing something that's a little different from the majority of the people, you can expect to talk to law enforcement pretty regularly. I took lots of trips on my scooter back then and talked to the cops about once every day or so. Just went along with the deal. If it bothered me to talk to them, I'd have stayed home. One last thought. Cops are people. Some are great folks, some are assholes, just like any profession out there. Ya got to learn to deal with the bad along with good (not just cops). Larry T
Haha! you guys are funny. Cops are doing a job just like anyone else. Theirs is to stop the course of action such as disturbing the peace with loud pipes. Sounds like all the stories here got off easy. Yea, I have been pulled over for being dumb just like everyone else but was polite and got off with warnings most times. sometimes not. lost my license a few times too. Oh, and the revenue goes to the state not the PD that writes the ticket. Always love how the hoodlum blames the man for his actions! Take responsibility for yourself. Just my $.02
know the feeling..........around where i live the cops are pretty friendly(small town) for the most part. there might be one who will tail you for awhile and then turn off. up the road in another small town, the cops will stop you every time you go through. i had one that stopped me when i had a license applied for plate on it and looked for anything he could find and then let me go. it just depends on who you run into.
If you think that those stories are bad... In 1958, the Ma. registry of motor vechicles sat outside the local drag strip, on the road and inspected cars on trailers, that were registered (street classes), made the owners start them, and then gave tickets for loud pipes or cut outs!!!
I'm probably gonna get flamed BUT, Just like anything else there are always exceptions but as the father and brother of police officers I would venture to say that for the most part they are not terribly worried about stuff like that. a little more concerned about notgetting shot or hurt or sued. A little common sense goes a long way. In a small town like that if some citizen saw him not pull you over then he gets accused of not doing his job.
You guys have no idea how nice it is today compared to the early 60s. When we were young you could not get away with the shit that goes on today. Sorry I have no pity for guys that are admittedly trying to disturb the peace. I hope that you never grow out of it but I do hope that you learn to respect your neighbors and their children and become a little more discrete about where and when you listen to your pipes. I love loud pipes and I have no mufflers on my P/U but I do try to respect my neighbors and I have never been stopped for loud pipes even with the lakers uncapped.
shortly after I bought my 38 Nash I just couldn't resist running over to the next town to the A&W for a root beer... Sunday evening close to dusk ( I should have gone earlier, as I only had one tiny stock working tail light & no brake lights at the time )... I live in the country, & come in on the county roads south of town... the A&W is on the north side... I picked up a local PD a couple blocks south of the A&W, & he followed me all the way through town ( BTW... did I mention I had no license on the car, & didn't have the paper permit taped to the back window, as required, the 1st thing I did was add a set of new Ansen Sprint wheels, & still had the farmer welded straight pipe exhaust on the car ) I fully expected to get pulled over, & get a "fix it ticket" for all the things I planned to fix anyway... but the guy followed be to the edge of town, & turned of, & left me in peace... I deserved a ticket or the tail light, brake lights, & not taping the paper permit in my window... I just wanted to cruise over for a root beer... BTW... got a guy I know that builds ( sorry ) Ratt Rods, & he's often test drove around town, & never been pulled over... I'd guess if someone were doing burn outs, or were too loud, it wouldn't matter if they were driving a Honda or a Nash... but I've been treated more than fairly driving around like an old man
I live in a small town in mass. I know some of the cops in town and most are very nice compared to the surrounding areas. I know I can cruise around in my flatty powered roadster with the pipes uncorked without too much worry. I decided to take it to the next town over to the autoparts store memorial day weekend to return the wrong filter they ordered for it. I was driving on a 4 lane (undivided) highway with shopping plazas restaurants and bars on the way back. I was riding in the left lane because people park on the side of the right lane when a truck decides to make a left hand turn in front of me. I hit the brakes, changed lanes and punched the gas a little to get back up to speed as I changed back into the left lane. I was at speed (probably 45-50mph) for less than 1/4 mile before I got to a red light. apparently there was a motorcycle cop around behind me who pulled up next to me. Usually when somebody yells out to me when I'm driving they say "nice car" or "what year" etc. but this time I turned to see a cop on a harley. He points to a "thickly settled" sign up the road a ways and tells me it means 30mph and I shouldn't have been doing 60-65 then continues with a little more until the light turns green. If I didn't know better I would have laughed at him. I think I've had that car over 60 less than half a dozen times. He just saw me changing lanes, heard the pipes and gave me a tongue lashing. hell I bet his harley makes as much hp as my roadster does. it's just something you have to expect and learn to deal with when you love the sound of open pipes. I do find that many of the cops around here now own harleys and are much more tolerant of hot rods because of it. imo if you plan to drive your car after dark open pipes are asking for trouble. I rarely drive my car after 7 because I don't like to put the dump covers back on. I do drive to work some days and leave at 6:30am but I drive it as easy as I can.
The Jalopy Journal
