So earlier this afternoon, I was headed to the hardware store to pick up an odd size drill bit that I ordered. I could have taken the 5-lane spur to the divided highway loop and so on to the store. Instead, I turned off the spur onto a county road which was the same distance but was "country cruising" and not "city dodge 'em cars". The first bit was uphill so I goose the gas and quickly crest the hill, and wouldn't you know it, a County Ossifer is writing up his fresh kill practically right there in my lap. Now my pipes are not the loudest, but they're certainly not the quietest, either. Instinctively, I push the clutch in and my exhaust disappears as I roll by the scene of the crime to ride into the peaceful distance. I'll also quote a former co-worker who said, "I was doing 70 when I p***ed the cop on the side of the road but I quickly leaned back in the seat with my elbow out the window like I was doing 55". I'm curious if anyone else out there in Jalopy Land has any 'Stealth Mode' stories. ?
Awhile back, I had just gotten my heap on the road. I took it for a shakedown cruise and take a side road back so I can see what happens when the secondaries open. I open it up and let it roar then shut it down, because I know a spot the man sometimes sits with radar. Sure as sh!t, he's sitting there! I'm going under the speed limit now, but I feel guilty as hell, so out of panic I wave when I go by...he just gives me the evil eye.
I stand in it when I find the man just to see what he does. Pfft , never had him do shizzit. now in my Daily f250, lookout here a he comes !!!
Stealth in Seattle in the "olden dayz" meant running for a steep hill like Dravus or the Counterbalance and then ducking in a side street. The cops had Plymouths and they wouldn't get out of their own way. They had NO chase driving training in those days either. We had taillight switches and radios to listen to all of the cop frequencies but we really did not need them.
Sort of a reverse stealth mode story. I got my driver's license about the same time "Thunder Road" came out. Coming home late one night out of Oklahoma City on Hwy. 152, I was doing my best Lucas Doolin imitation around the one big sweeping turn running as fast as my asthmatic '49 Ford could go and met a one-eyed car coming at me. I'd heard from other guys about a Canadian County deputy sheriff who had switches in his car that let him turn off one headlight or the other. After we p***ed each other, I checked the mirror to look for brake lights but there wasn't anything but taillights showing. Next time I looked, there were two headlights coming up hard and then the red light came on. After I got the ticket, he showed me his dash with the switches that controlled not only the headlights but the taillights and brake lights.
Same story but on the other side. I bought a 1947 Mercury in 1967 (still have it) The Merc got a tilt front and a 392 and some customising. After building the car, I added a console with 100 hours of wiring just for the console. Of course I included switches to turn off the tail lights. and interior lights if the doors are open and a switch to turn on the interior lights when the door is closed, headphone jacks for front and back seats, all the gauges were in the console. And yes, I did use the switch to get away from the police that one time.
I grew up in Phoenix. Back in the 60's I had this '40 Chevy as my street racer...my racing buddy and I were making a right turn at a light and I decided to do a burn out for fun. I didn't see the cop at the light who was making a left turn in our direction until it was too late. Once I saw him, I pulled over like there was a problem, turned the key off and then back on which produced a huge flame out the back of the car. My buddy and I scrambled out of the car, popped the hood and pretended that the throttle got stuck somehow....acting surprised when the cop walked up beside us....he just shook his head and said, "Nice show..." and walked back to his patrol car. We still laugh about it today.
Two deputies parked in a Crown Vic, behind a billboard. Half asleep on a Saturday afternoon in those comfy leather seats, air con on coolio. Que a snarling, ground shaking roar. Pan left, and a flash of red streaks past. Small pebbles skitter against the Crown Vic hubcaps. First deputy comes alert, glances down at the radar gun. 150mph flashing on the LEDs. Eyebrow raised, first deputy glances at the second deputy. "Wazzat?" Second Deputy, older and greyer, grins. "Chebbie Too". First deputy drops eyebrow, rolls eyes. "Naw.... they won't do that". Cheers, Harv
I forgot to mention, we had taillight switches also and radios to listen to all of the cop frequencies. LOL!!!
When I was trucking, the taillight switches were referred to as "Virginia switches" and everybody had a Bearcat scanner until they got outlawed. Must be the use of the switches originated in Virginia or maybe some chick named Virginia told her boyfriend, "You know, if you were to put a shutoff switch on your brake lights, Daddy would never know we're out here in the driveway" .
I called 'em bootlegger switches. Still do. Back in those "quad headlight" days, I had a '64 Comet that I bought off a used car lot. It must have belonged to a fireman previously because it had a small aluminum box with a switch under the dash that made the inside pair of headlights alternately flash like on cop cars. I occasionally made some of my buddies pull to the curb and piss their pants. One time I was the best man for a friend's wedding and for the traditional drive through town, the Comet was decorated, the horn was honking, and the lights were flashing. Even the cops were waving at us because they thought the lights were a nice touch given those cir***stances.
I'm known for being b*** ackwards. So to respond, I'll do the other... Going to work at half past midnight, at 35mph on a country lane style but heavy traffic road, a pair of headlights appear in my trunk. The car I have, Pontiac, was just bought that day. It was a cheapo deal that was in dire need of a clean up. So visibility was not to be had due to tobacco, smoke stained gl***. In those days inexperience led me to think I gotta shake this nut. Let's see what this Ponyack does. So I tromp the right pedal, check the mirror, check the speedo. At 75 the mirror turns to a dance of blue and red. Officer tells me that a run of my plate comes back a Chevy. My explanation of ***le, tag transfer is just words since I was dumb enough to leave the papers home. His solution is to radio for their tow truck ( ha ha ha ) to confi****e the property that is apparently not mine. It meant a phone call to get my the wife from bed so I can get to work. ( not at all happy, that one ) No speed ticket but paid the tow after proving ownership. A Year later, same job, same hour, different route, I did a semi roll stop sign. A short distance on,, the flashing blue-red lights. I wait til the officer walks up laughing, calling me by my last name. He apologizes for taking away my car when I had indeed bought it. I apologize for making him write up the stop sign. I did however realize, early on, that when ever I'd spot the cop paint jobs to pounce on the brakes. But not before getting two write ups before my junior license was 3 months old.
Hello, We learned early how to lower the open exhaust sound when near CHP patrols or the local police cars. The one drive-in restaurant parking lot had a rear alley driveway that ran parallel to the main parking lot entrance in Bixby Knolls. Most turned into the main entrance driveway. Then idled across the whole lot with the open exhaust rumbling as the car cruised by. Then if there was a space open in the preferred back row, the carload of teens went around the block to pull right into the angled parking spaces. If not, then another cruise into the main entrance for a different parking space. Sometimes, people would go up the back alley driveway and continue to accelerate down the alley making a louder rumbling noise. That usually brought the local police to check out those that looked like they could have open exhausts, illegally opened. So, those runs were few per night, but did happen. We almost could tell who was making the drive with the exhaust noises, unless someone got headers or a new set of mufflers. Then someone gets a new set of mufflers and throws the whole memory banks in a tizzy when the idle and acceleration is a new sound no one has ever heard before... Idling and slow acceleration is just as nice as a full acceleration blast... Jnaki But, to get the rumbling motor sound, we had to crawl underneath and unbolt the caps of the exhaust outlets. After a race or long night of cruising, someone had to crawl under and cap up the two outlets for quiet cruising near local police or learn quickly, how to almost silence the sound with higher RPMs. When I was given a set of Corvette tubular mufflers, I had them installed and our local muffler guy measured everything for an over the axle and out below the rear bumper was the custom route. We knew the minus facts of the locations of: in front of the rear wheels, behind the rear wheels and short stubby straight pipes ending at the rear axle. We learned that when the RPMs were at a certain level even the open exhausts sound of the modified 348 motor quieted down so it was almost not heard standing next to the car. That was one way to drive by a local police car or CHP cruising down the main drag near the two local drive-in parking lots. I came up with the idea of a slit in one side of the exhaust outlet. Now, the bolt could slide into the slit and be twisted tight with a wingnut. It was not something we all did all of the time. But, if a big encounter was planned for the nearby Cherry Avenue Drags location the caps came off and the sound appeared. When the phase of street scavengers was around, it was a round of funny sounds. One would think that the sounds of open exhaust would sound like a set of individual header pipes. But the length of the pipes, the dual pipes for each side that we had made a hollow chamber sound that was not similar to open headers. At the drags, they were legal in the stock cl***es for several weeks until they were deemed not factory stock. So, most or all returned to the street, but quickly faded out due to s****ing everything possible on normal drives and slow driveway entrances with deep ruts. But, the one thing those scavengers had going was the look from the rear or side, plus, it was easier to get the RPM’s up enough to silence the sound when necessary. The sound was not that of a high performance individual header or 4 into one open header system. It was odd sounding and for us, the pipes were taken off after a small s****e to the lowest tips in the rear. It was definitely not high performance sound that we all wanted to convey to others. Looks… ok for chrome ones, but very heavy. The sound was a negative in all counts. The performance at the drags, not as good as just the open short exhaust outlets by themselves. A fad that came and disappeared quickly. Although, we left our dual pipe set of chrome scavenger pipes in the rafters of the backyard garage when we sold the house in 1998. They had been sitting there since 1960, up, up and away, out of normal sight. We just forgot they were there. Modified Master @themoose Thanks...
No stealth mode needed this time. When I first fired up my Chevy II I took it out on the interstate to see what it would do. I kicked it up to 120. A car pulled up to the side of me, I looked over and it was a Highway Patrol trooper. I smiled and waved, he waved and took off leaving me in the dust! Larry
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