Oh No Caught By The Cops In The Vette

[Stewart A.]

Re: Oh No Caught By The Cops In The Vette

Jim I felt like I was in the car with you. Open roof, Stars out, V8 in hand, 65 Vette and nobody anywhere Great story, your a lucky boy to. Stewy

[Michael A.]

Re: Oh No Caught By The Cops In The Vette

Great story Jim. Bill Ogden just may have some competition when it comes to storytelling and being "young in our Corvettes".

Cheers,

[Stuart F.]

Re: Oh No Caught By The Cops In The Vette

Alas, I know the feeling. For the first 3 months that I owned my 63 I was stationed down in New Mexico at White Sands Missle Range out in the desert. My buddy and I used to spend many of our week end nights down in Whoopie town across the border (at Jazz clubs, not girlie bars). The drive to and from El Paso, Texas was about 45 miles each way and we usually returned to base in the wee hours of the morning. Before leaving the parking lot on the U.S. side of the bridge, we'd drop the top for the drive home. We not only enjoyed viewing the stars, but it helped to keep ourselves awake. We'd listen to radio KLS from Salt Lake City most all the way with the volume turned up real high to overcome the wind noise. I had aircraft landing lights in the high beams in order to look way down the road for large jack rabbits. The first stretch of the drive was long and straight through Ft. Bliss property and we'd crank it up to a conservative 100 mph in order to anticipate a 90* turn in the road onto a winding section of the road into the base. The road was patrolled during the day by the Military Police, but not much at all at night. The problem with the aircraft landing lights is they tend to hypnotize the driver, specially if you are tired and had a few Cubalibre's. Such was the case with me one night and I approached the 90* turn at about 100 mph. I realized it at the last possible second and began a frantic downshift and braking effort using my metallic brakes to the max. I didn't quite make the clean part of the turn, rather got onto some stones or marbles which caused me to loop it 360* into a road continuation area that was fenced off. I ended up about an inch or two from the fence and killed the engine. My buddy slept through it until I was able to refire the engine. He awoke and asked if everything was ok. I stuttered out a reply and was shaking a bit. He asked me if I wanted him to drive the rest of the way, and I said fine. He liked the curving part of the road anyway, and was an old SCCA member. Tired though I was, I didn't sleep a wink until we got back to the barracks and had a chance to purge the nights indiscretions. One of our resident 21 year old gray haired PHD's was sitting on the next stool working out a math problem on toilet paper - never blinked an eye.

Stu Fox

[Sandra H.]

Re: Oh No Caught By The Cops In The Vette

Interesting Stuart.....my Corvette also has aircraft landing light hi-beams. Had no idea anyone else did this.

Sandy

[Stuart F.]

Re: Oh No Caught By The Cops In The Vette

Sandy;;

We started using the Landing lights in like 58 or 59 already when a buddy who had just gotten out of the Air Force introduced us to the idea. Just a simple bending of the connection prongs to fit the standard automotive headlight plug, and they fit into the holders real nice. Trouble is they were easy to spot by the Police due to the flat clear lenses, and they were already getting tough on Halogens, and extra road and fog lights. When I got the 63, with it's hidden headlights, ah ha! They not only worked good on the long desert roads but were great punishment for the occasional high beam road bully. Have not used them for a long time as I don't spend too much time out on the road at night, and there is so much traffic on the roads that I would now be the road bully each time I used them. Fact is, I can hardly use my high beams at all any more.

Stu Fox

[Sandra H.]

Re: Oh No Caught By The Cops In The Vette

It's always fun to hear about little details like that.....don't know how this car came to have them. Just part of the legendary, aggressive reputation she had where late husband lived I think.
This car is still remembered very well by guys there.....but not so fondly by some.

Sandy

[Stewart A.]

Re: Oh No Caught By The Cops In The Vette

Hey Stu is traffic a real problem over there. All the movies I see seem to have highways jamed with cars. It seems like it would be faster walking.
Oh and there is nothing as scary as doing a 360 in a car not on purpose. I've been there in my youth many times. At one stage I was traveling so fast on a corner the 4 tires were ripped off the rims ? Stewy

[Stuart F.]

Re: Oh No Caught By The Cops In The Vette

Actually, there are still quite a few back roads left here in Florida. I have some favorites already, but I always fear for the unknown. You see a lot of folks here have off road vehicles and you never know where they will pop back onto the road. Then there are big sand hill cranes who are gray and hard to pick up at speed.

Reminds me of another story of an accident I had with my 56 show car w/58 Fuelie engine. I was coming back home late one November night down a long country road with onion fields on both sides. It had limited or no access cross roads, yet a couple had driven off into the field at a tractor access to probably eat some onions, and decided to come back on the highway while I was cutting a 130 mph run. I had just checked my tach when my buddy yelled for me to look out for the car with no lights. My first reaction was to go for the brakes and, like all good drum brakes of those days, my car pulled to one side which caused the 50 Olds engine block in my trunk to shift. Then it was "baby hang on"! from that point on. I tried every thing including getting back on the gas to pull it out, but each arc got wider as it swerved back and forth like a pendulum. I slid through a shallow ditch and clipped about a dozen small trees with my RR bumper, but not enough to catch. Then I came to a long series of country mail boxes which I had to take out to squeeze between two large trees. One mail box came through the windshield, and I stopped just on the other side of the highway, re-started and backed into a driveway. The couple had stopped up the road as I guess I scared the crap out of them when I went by them sliding sideways at over 100 mph. My friends, some distance behind, said they saw what looked like tail lights going back and forth as fast as one could move a hand to describe.

I drove the car back into town w/o a windshield to our friends gas station (he was the Police Commissioner), called him for advice on what to do. He first had me sober up, then called his friends at the Sheriff Dept. to report the accident. It then began to snow which covered up my skid marks and furrow in the ditch.

During the course of repairing my car, I broke down the tires to replace them. The RR had a full handfull of ground up leaves and grass - and yet, it never lost even a pound of air pressure! Go figure.

Needless to say that incident changed my life with the lessons I learned:

1) I felt some what immortal (young and foolish).
2) Always expect the unexpected. I forever have the ability to see far down the road and anticipate what other cars may do.
3) Never use a heavy V8 engine block for tractive weight in the winter (sandbags may be ok).

Stu Fox

[Stewart A.]

Re: Oh No Caught By The Cops In The Vette

Accidents are scary stuff. Stu you've done some pretty crazy things in your past. It's good to see your still kicking. I think we have all learnt our lessons over the years by learning from our own mistakes.
I'm glad I have passed the age of 20 (now 40) and never injured anyone. Stewy

[Stuart F.]

Re: Oh No Caught By The Cops In The Vette

Stewy;

In actuality, I have only had two automobile accidents (moving w/ physical damage) in my life: the one I described with my 56 back in about 1959, the other in 1992 with my Vette when I hit a deer. In both cases, as noted, they were unexpected obstacles that appeared as of out of no where - the first when going about 130 mph, and the second at only 30 to 35 mph. That is why I listed this as one of my major lessons, that of being always weary of the unexpected (some might say it was a message from the almighty). In the first one I only got a cut across the bridge of my nose from the broken windshield. Ironically, most of the glass shattered and went into the back seat. I was cleaning little chips of glass out of that car until the day I sold it, even though I had put a new 57 interior into it.

The other lesson (immortality) was the one that was most dangerous for in the years to come I was in South East Asia (62 thru 71) in the Army and as a contractor. I always volunteered for the dangerous assignments without fear of any consequences, just for the adventure. The most I have to show for it is an imbedded shard of aluminum in my left knee (from an H-34 door frame) and a simple Commendation Medal (this fool would do anything we asked him to, but don't ask what because none of it ever happened).

Stu Fox

[Ted S.]

Re: Oh No Caught By The Cops In The Vette

Back in the late '80s a group of us would ride "crotch rockets" from LA to Laguna Seca to watch the formula 1 motorcycle races. We always took tha back roads up and then would take some of the main roads back. Coming back one Sunday, I was on the 101 Freeway coming out of Santa Barbara toward LA on a 1000 Ninja when I spotted a midyear vette cruising along. He and I went faster and faster until I passed him shifting from 5th to 6th saying to myself "yea I've got another gear what do you have"? As I looked down at the speedo I was running 142 and then I turned to the left to see a CHP sitting in the center median. It was instant eye contact. The guy in the vette raised his hand and then points to me and then him to gesture "one of us is going down you or me". I figured this was it, I was going to end a great weekend with going to jail. The guy in the midyear took the next off ramp and I remembered a bike exactly like mine passing me earlier. I kept the speed on and pulled in beside him figuring if we got stopped he and I would both deny it. As it turned out a buddy of mine was behind me and said the CHP never pulled out.

Anyone out there rember racing a red/charcoal Ninja in the late 80's coming out of Santa Barbara?

[Chuck L.]

Re: Oh No Caught By The Cops In The Vette

Since everyone is telling stories until we're all deleted, I was driving down the main drag on Marco Island, FL, in my '62 when a cop put on his lights and pulled me over. I knew I was legal, so I sat calmly in the seat while my wife was having a minor seizure, blaming me for speeding! Sure enough, he walked up and said one of his buddies had just bought a '62 in New York,and he saw my car and radio'ed him about it. He wanted to come and see it, if I was agreeable. I agreed, of course, and he came over to check mine out. We had a long conversation and then parted.

The same Police officer, as it turns out, subsequently pulled me over in my Tahoe for speeding 2 days later on the Marco Island bridge. I was without seatbelt, 47mph in a 35 Zone, and feeling no pain. I recognized him as he approached in my rear view mirror, jumped out and said "Hi Matt, I'm the guy with the white '62 Vette your friend looked at the other night. His composure changed from the typical Georgia sheriff to one of, OK, I know you, please take it easy and put on your seat belt! That old Vette saved me tons of money that time!

[Roger W.]

Re: Oh No Caught By The Cops In The Vette

Back in the last century, a friend of mine bought a brand new 69 Z28 Camaro. One night I was behind him in my 63 Impala with a 409. He downshifted and went through the gears burning rubber and I did the same thing, staying right with him.
We both stopped at a stop sign and I pulled along side of him to discuss what watering hole we were going to. We were there for about a minute when the cops with flashing lights pulled up behind us. One of the cops said "We got you for drag racing." I don't think that they had even actually seen us. they just heard us. If we had not been sitting there, they would not even been able to stop us. They did not have any tickets in the cruiser, so they just took our information to be turned over to the Registry of Motor Vehicles. That almost always ment a licsense suspension.
I went home imeadiatly and called a good friend's brother in law who was a cop and told him the story. He got back to me in a afew days and said "Yea they got you guys for drag racing." He said that it would cost us each a bottle of booz to make the drag race report go away.
I raced over to the liquor store and got 2 bottles and gave them to my cop friend. That was the last that I heard about the drag racing.
The guy in the Z28 never paid me for his bottle.