OT, tuners crushed for street racing

As a matter of fact, I HAVE HAD MY SHIT STOLEN! RIGHT OUT OF MY FUCKING DRIVEWAY!!!! Customized '97 Dodge Dakota. So yeah, I've been on that side of it, and in the worst fucking way--the cops didn't do anything when I gave them the license number of the guy who had my parts (The Weld wheels were one-off, and every other part was modified by me, and I had the pics to prove it), they told me that since I was paid off by the insurance company I was no longer the victim, and they were too busy to deal with.

How damn great would it be to see your car being turned into a crushed pile because you bought a transmission from a buddy, who had it sitting in his garage for 10 years, who bought it from someone he used to work with, who reported his car stolen to collect the insurance money and then parted it out himself.

To paraphrase Orwell, some car guys are more equal than others.
-Brad

 

amen what you say is true

 

I dont like Fast and Furious cars...BUT that is still not cool that they can crush the kids car who has put all that time and money into. I dont agree with that at all. And theres Nothing stopping them from doing that to hot rods either.

 

Thats right in my backyard and the theft of these kinds of cars is rampant for sure. Obviously these kids did not know thier rights, after you've had enough bacon grease under your nose, you learn to deal with it, to protect yourself. These kids had thier rights violated for sure and that is not right. On the other side of the coin, buyer beware is a maxium one needs to employ. I have a bicycle shop and people try to sell me bikes that are stolen all the time, I have to beware or I get in trouble. Buying stolen parts creates a market for more theft. Destroying thier cars seem more like a scare tactic than a standard practice. My two cents for what is is worth.

 

A half way good lawyer should have been able to stop that. Disturbing. More info is definitely hiding behind the story.

 

Ah man, get with it, it's the new millenium, no one has Dad's anymore------geeezzzz! And if they do, he's a clown, don't you watch TV?

 

these guys(kids) are just like us. they love the smell of burning rubber and gas. I say getting your car crushed is BULLSHIT. I don't believe any government has the right to do that. I would be suing the shit out of them.

 

I'm reading a lot of hysteria in these posts, mostly based on half-truths and innuendos. SoCal is not a police-state, cops aren't crushing hot rods, and these kids don't need lawyers...they need a kick in the ass. For those of you who don't live here and don't have the benefit of the local nightly news...I'll tell you that there are many innocents being killed by these rice-rocket kids. When these guys crash they just don't kill themselves, they kill their girlfriends and many other bystanders. This isn't a Fast and Furious movie, no scripts, just immature kids with WAY too much car for their driving skills. Before you open your hotrodder arms to take these guys in as one of your own you would do well to learn a little more about what's really going on...

 

I won't question that something needs to be done. The problem is that what is being done is something that could affect us folks who aren't the problem.

The old law of unintended consequences bothers me....

 

Isn't there a granfather clause sort of deal with old cars?

I mean, its one reason why I searched out a pre-70's car when I started all this. I got my '63 thinking I could basically modify it any way I wanted and nobody was going to be able to do anything about it.

....no smog laws, seat belt laws, etc etc.


A '93 Civic has to adhere to more stringent federal guidelines I believe. Smog equiptment, etc.

Wouldn't the very age of our cars make the police unable to touch them?

(probably wishful thinking)



All I know is I'm glad I'm not in SoCAL.....heaven forbid this nazi crap spreads out here!

 

My thought's exactly,


CBB

 

Just like my guns...they can pry my ride from my cold dead fingers....We need to start standing up for our rights and our property....
I WILL KILL ANYONE trying to asimilate my property!!!
I would rather die tryin to keep my stuff then live knowing I just gave it up...FUCK THAT!!!
What the hell is wrong with this country!?!?!?
and why are we standing for it????

 

I agree with CharlieLed. Around here the " Ricer klan " can be a pain. The Police have a right to ck a car they think may be illegal. For Instance. Almost all of them have those huge " Coffee Can " mufflers ( Cats gone ). Ride height, a bunch of stuff thats in the V&T book (everyone should go and get one for your state ).The problem is what they do with this cars and where. They rousted a bunch of Civic ricer types last fall here ,after complaints form merchants in the area about racing,noise,garbage etc. Cars were not crushed but they hauled quite a few away with stolen parts. The State Police has a task force that deals with this stuff I think . I've yet to see and probably never will a Police Sting for old Hot Rods .

 

"I've yet to see and probably never will a Police Sting for old Hot Rods."

And a couple years ago, the ricers never saw a sting for their cars either.
Someone else posted that we don't see the news out there, what a problem it is with these kids racing and killing each other and innocent bystanders.
You mean like the ProMod accident at the parade? It doesn't take a bunch of instances for some idiot to have a knee-jerk reaction and start thinking it's their duty to make problems go away before they become problems. The law books are full of them...California's fuller than most. Just look at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals; all the silly rules they make from the bench, only to be overturned by the Supreme Court. But not ALL of them are overturned.

Cats gone, ride height changed, a bunch of stuff that's in the V&T book...sounds like stuff that could EASILY be applied to hot rods. And the government isn't going to differentiate between a hot rod '53 Chevy, a '67 Camaro and a '79 Camaro. Any more than we see a distinction between an Accura, a Civic Si, WRX.

-Brad

 

All the cops need is an excuse to pull you over. A broken taillight is a ticketable offense, as showing white light to the rear while driving is illegal. Therefore, all they need to do is have an excuse to pull you over, and then the search can begin.

Ever been pulled over for 2-3mph over the speed limit? I was once pulled over because my tires grazed the yellow line in the center of the road. HOWEVER, I wasn't harassed or ticketed about either one of those offenses. The first one (2-3 over) the cop wanted to go through my lowered '84 Nissan pickup and see if there was any contraband. The second one, I was in an '82 3/4 ton 4x4 with 7" lift and 36" tires, and the cop wanted me out of town, so he ran me. No tickets issued in either stop.

Age and experience is a wonderful thing. However, I seriously doubt that these cars were destroyed without these kids having some kind of legal representation.

I'm not sure how they can figure this stuff out, but more and more parts are supposedly being imprinted with the VIN# of the original vehicle in efforts to combat the purchasing of stolen parts. Many years ago, my dad (who has a used car lot and repair shop) was selling a '89 Chevy truck. A friend of several years was offered to test drive the truck for a weekend so he could decide to buy it. Well, this guy was apparently being watched, and was popped coming back across the Kansas/Oklahoma border with a 16' stock trailer full of stolen electronics. The truck was impounded, and gone over with a fine toothed comb looking for stolen parts.

The guy was test driving the truck, so why were they looking for stolen auto parts? Because some friends of my dad's (guys I grew up knowing and associating with) had been busted before and were known operators of a chop shop. Come to find out, the 5 speed trans turned up as stolen, and he had to fight for months to get them to let him have the truck back. He wound up going up to Kansas and removing the transmission, and then towing the truck back. Didn't matter that particular transmission came from a notable and well established salvage yard here in Oklahoma.


I'm figuring its the problem children who are drawing this intense scrutiny to themselves. Kind of the adage of the squeeky wheel gets the grease. If these kids weren't being stupid with their cars and operating them, and the movies weren't glorifying the way they are using them, then this would be a moot issue.

Groucho was saying something along the lines of older cars being exempt or something along that line. Well, we aren't exempt, but as a group, we aren't out there being stupid with the way we are driving our cars, and as a result, we aren't drawing the negative attention to ourselves. Yeah, we run open exhausts, and we do burnouts, but we aren't out there being dumbasses and racing one another on the streets!

Not to mention that we often, as a group, tend to support the extra curricular activities that the police and cities put on by attending their organized cruise ins and little get togethers. Not to mention that for the most part, our cars are cool and interesting, with each and every one being somewhat different. We stand out, and for that reason, we try not to draw negative attention to ourselves. We contain our racing and 'clowning' to safer venues such as drag strips or race tracks.

Now, given all of this information, I'll give you a different senario.

A group of "hotrod" guys out in Cali started to take their billetmobiles out and started doing the same stuff these ricers are doing - street racing, drifting, creating traffic issues (other than those drivers who stop and stare at our rides), and getting people killed. Just how long would it be before the cops started to crack down on all of us throughout the country?

Someone mentioned the Semler(sp?) car in the parade that went into the crowd and killed those people. That, unfortunately, is a major tradgedy that cannot be undone. It is also a blight on the sport of drag racing, and will eventually have repercussions throughout different parade events. I'm pretty sure that car wasn't street legal, and wouldn't have otherwise been on the street except for that parade display, but it still draws negative attention that none of us need.

Squirrel is right. The laws of unintended consequences is something we should all be worried about. However, no matter how much you like (or dislike) your local Donut Posse, support them, and be nice to them, so they'll all be nice to us as well.

 

I'm going to have to agree with you Brad, and with Squirrel as well.

I don't know the laws in CA, but in NJ I don't think any of this could happen under current law. This is not to say that bad things can't happen to you if you engage in illegal activity with your auto, whether it be racing or otherwise. Police can seize vehicles that have been involved in crimes, the same way the public can go and purchase seized drug dealers cars at auction. As far as I know, NJ has not seized any vehicles for street racing, but they might be able to if they decided to pursue it. Generally it works in the same fashion as for people who get DUIs; a hardcore fine and points out the wazoo, maybe even lose your license. But, you keep your car.

As far as the stolen parts, it's much easier to prove with the new cars than witht he old ones. A new Acura wil have the vehicle VIN stamped on the motor somewhere whereas any 2 or 4 bolt 350 SBC from 1969-1980 will have a 3970010. Even in this case though, I don't believe that the vehicle can be outright taken on account that the car is still property of the rightful owner, just the stolen parts aren't. Therefore, one may have to forfeit the stolen parts, and be guilty of being in possession of stolen goods, or theft if they took it themselves, but none of those scenarios should be grounds for seizure of the car. The tail light being out is the cause for the stop. This is called a pretextual stop. Once a stop has commenced, an officer can give the interior of the vehicle a quick once over through the windows under the plain view doctrine. However, to seach the inside of the vehicle, trunk, or even under the hood, the cop must have probably cause, or have consent from the driver. Since we don't know the whole story, the kid may have given the cop permission when he could have just said no, or maybe had some contraband in the car, in which case the cop can search everything incident to a lawful arrest. the law is tricky, and unfortuanately police lie and a people's civil liberties are trampled.

I do agree with CharlieLED though. These kids broke the law and deserve to be punished. Street racing is a major problem. An elderly woman was killed a block from my apartment at college by a new Saturn Ion and a 350Z racing at 9:30 am. I can't tell you how many times i've been asked to race when i'm just driving around in my 98 Mustang GT. People are dumb and do dumb things, but when knee-jerk laws like this go into effect, it creates a slippery slope that can swallow up people it never intended to reach.

The Martin Niemoller quote is a great one

 

Even if you refuse, the cops can still wind up searching your car. The way they do this is to call in the K-9 units to do an exterior search of your car, and then tell you the dog alerted on it, and that gives them the probable cause they needed in the first place. Unfortunately, the extra effort tends to lead to additional harassment and tickets being issued.

You're right though - cops do lie. My ex-wife was a reserve officer and a police dispatcher for many years, and is now back doing just that again. One particular 'idiot' control they do when the get a belligerant moron in the back seat is slam on the brakes to cause the moron to slam face first into the front of the cage. How do they get around this? They were stopping for "that big dog in the street they were about to hit."

I've heard many stories, and they do tend to contain a great deal of information about cops tweaking the evidence. The only way around it is to have a great lawyer to find the technicality to get you off.

As I've said before, I always carry a small notebook and pen with me for whenever I am stopped. As soon as the cop starts talking to me, I start taking notes. When he asks what I'm doing, I tell him point blank that "I'm taking notes for court, should I need to go." Then it is all by the book from there. Either I'm going to be let go with no bullshit, or I've got notes for court to fight or argue whatever citation I recieved.

I heard a cop say once that he loved his job because it was "The only job he'd ever had where the customer was always wrong."

 

something that hasn't been touched on yet is all the other illegal stuff that goes along with these street racer types that doesn't happen with us... gang violence and drug rings. how else do these kids finance their projects? There's no way in hell that I could have legally made $10,000 during my senior year of high school?! and there's no way in hell you're gonna catch me dealing to finance my ride! Its a completely different crowd... I'd be suprised as all hell if they came after us too.