A really nice evening's drive...

[bill_powell]

It's been a scorcher today; heat index above 100°F, nasty humidity. I needed to go into town, but it was just <span style="font-style: italic">too</span> hot.

So I waited 'till the evening. Did my errands, and cruised back around 65MPH. Much nicer out; down to the 80s. Just a darn <span style="font-style: italic">nice</span> evening.

We have a construction zone for about a 5 mile stretch. Four lane road turns into a two lane road. Speed limit goes down to 45 MPH.
And you <span style="font-style: italic">don't</span> want to speed around here; they WILL get you.

So I cruised along, just above the speed limit.

And so here comes dude with his jacked-up pickup. I guess he felt I should have been driving faster, so he rides up right behind me to let me know. Lights and grill filling my rearview.

I <span style="font-style: italic">was</span> cruising along at 50ish, but this kind of thing really pi$$es me off, so I slowed down to precisly 45MPH...the exact speed limit. (My speedo is a GPS, so I KNOW how fast I'm really going...)

And so that's how things went for the next few miles. He on my bumper, me ignoring him. Just cruising along at 45MPH. Like the sign says.

At the end of the construction zone, there's a sharp 'S' curve as the road veers over to the new section of highway. Has a 25MPH limit through the turns. I downshifted right before entering, stomped on the gas, and took the 'S' at about 50MPH. Easy peasy. For our little Spridgets, anyway.

Suddenly my bumper-riding buddy was <span style="font-style: italic">way</span> back there, likely cursing the handling ability of that little foreign car, and the lack thereof in his high-rise pickum-up truck.

So he STOMPS ON IT. This dude comes flying up, trying to close the gap, likely to impress me with his straight line acceleration prowess. <span style="font-style: italic">Yee-Haw!</span>

And that's when the blue lights came on. Ahh, the State Troopers. God love 'em. He pulled over.

I tooted my horn and cruised along home. :angel:




Like I said: a <span style="font-style: italic">really</span> nice evening's drive.


:banana:

 

[jlaird]

LOL, you so bad. Love it.

 

[elrey]

:thumbsup:

 

[drooartz]

Fantastic!

 

[JPSmit]

Life is good.

 

[Mickey Richaud]

~~Snicker~~

And you're right about the heat yesterday; pretty sure it hit 100 here.

Next time you're in town, let me know.

Mickey

 

[DrEntropy]

Age and guile!! :thumbsup:

 

[JPSmit]

and you just know that when he got home the ticket was your fault.

 

[The_architect]

LOL.

Long story short but an ex-GF of mine was caught speeding in a construction zone in Oklahoma. She found herself incarcerated over a three-day holiday weekend. AND she was a lawyer AND she was a fairly important State official on official business!! You'd think if anything she could get out. Even a State judge could not spring her.

I guess you don't want to get caught speeding in a construction zone in that state (although perhaps it was being a lawyer or being a State employee that got her locked up)!!

 

[bill_powell]

Good morning, all.

Glad you enjoyed my little story.

Have to admit, I lead a pretty boring existence nowadays, and I really look forward to just getting out of our little town for a bit. Yes, I do drive my Midget every day, but how much fun can one get in a little town of 1400 people and one steetlight?

I enjoy the time alone, on the highway, sneaking up to the incredible speeds of 60 to 65 MPH, Zeppelin playing on the stereo, and just being 'one' with our little cars.

So I DO NOT appreciate having some clown spoil it.

You all may recall my various posts concerning mods I've done to the car. (with much help from here; Thanks!) Especially the Frontline suspension transplant. It has resulted in a car with a great grin factor, and I love really <span style="font-style: italic">driving</span> it. And I'll tell you: she can take a corner, man.

Actually, I'm pretty lucky I didn't get pulled over, too. Who knows why not; perhaps the Trooper did not see my run through the 'S', or perhaps he didn't care. This <span style="font-style: italic">is</span> a small town, and we all kind of know each other. Wouldn't surprise me if I hear about it today...




Anyway, a couple of things before I head out:

Jack, I'm really not <span style="font-style: italic">that</span> bad. Just a <span style="font-style: italic">little</span> vindictive. So I accept the blame for his ticket...and proudly!

Mickey, I tend to run out there around the 1ST and 15TH of each month, if possible. I'll try to let you know, but to be honest I'm usually running around like the proverbial headless chicken while I'm there. Are you going to the Nashville Brit Car Club show this year?

Well, gotta go; thanks all for your responses...of course, it just eggs on my behavior, so from now on it's all <span style="font-style: italic">your</span> collective fault.



All you all have a great day~

 

[jlaird]

Oh no, you misunderstood. That bad was good. Wish it was my story.

Sometimes folks need to learn the hard way.

 

[aeronca65t]

Excellent!

A few years ago I was driving up a two lane hill in my area. It was after dark, speed limit was 45 mph and I was doing about 47 mph in the fast lane coming up on several slow-moving trucks in the slow lane.

<span style="font-style: italic">Speed Racer</span> flies up in the slow lane and attempts a "last minute" pass to cut in front of me. He timed it wrong and got stuck behind me. I guess he figured I should have nailed my brakes to let him cut me off.

Anyway, to show his displeasure, he tailgated me while swerving back and forth behind me.

Since it was dark, he didn't notice the cop who was driving behind him (and neither did I).

The office did not approve of his antics.

It was most amusing to see the gumball lights go on. :laugh:

 

[JPSmit]

Good morning, all.



Actually, I'm pretty lucky I didn't get pulled over, too. Who knows why not; perhaps the Trooper did not see my run through the 'S', or perhaps he didn't care.

Or maybe he didn't even see you in front of that pickum up truck.

 

[Mickey Richaud]

Mickey, Are you going to the Nashville Brit Car Club show this year?

Probably not.

 

[Bayless]

Great stories all. Love it when that happens. BTW, yesterday was the 60th day of actual temperatures over 100 here in OKC.

 

[bill_powell]

Great stories all. Love it when that happens.

Agree! I really like hearing about the escapades of everyone here. Please do share some more.

Oh no, you misunderstood. That bad was good. Wish it was my story.

Sometimes folks need to learn the hard way.

No worries; I knew what you meant. I was just going with it, but sometimes my smartassery does not translate well to the written page.

And besides: there have been times (in my past, of course) when I really <span style="font-style: italic">have</span> been bad. Downright mean, in fact.

An example: Back in the late 1970s, in Southern California, along with a few of my equally unsavory friends, we would cruise Van Nuys Blvd in our little cars (usually Dave in his Datsun 510, Jeff in his Capri, Eddie with his Fiat, me and my Mini) w/ the sole purpose of enticing people to street race.

We would look for the big, fast American steel, annoy them, and then get them to follow us up to Mulholland Drive for a $50 run.

Well, with those big V8s against us, we would usually be chasing at first. No biggie however; we'd be able to stay with them because of the frequent tight, hillside turns. Then you would come up on an area called 'European Straights' which was a stretch of road with a series of back to back, switchback-type sharp turns. We would get them there every time.

And once we did, it was all over.

And just in case, most of us had brake-light cutoff switches. That's where the mean part I mentioned came in. If necessary, we would brake for every turn, get 'em used to the lights, and then cut them out before powering into a nice sharp one. That <span style="font-style: italic">always</span> worked.

Ahh, memories.

But I don't do that stuff anymore. Because it's wrong. And it's illegal.

And because I'm an adult now.

 

[nomad]

Bill that was really ornery of you----and funny! I liked all kinds of cars when young but never realized cars could handle until I discovered Brit cars!

Your pickup altercation reminded me of a drive across Iowa in the 70's during the 55mph days. My wife and I dropped onto I80 just east of Omaha and were soon passed by a red Jag doing close to 90. Figuring he either had a fuzz buster or hankering for a big fine I decided to let him run interferense while I followed a 1/4 mile back. We went all the way across Iowa with me laying on the brakes every time the Jags brake lights came on. Never failed the group that we had picked up following and speeding like us would'nt all catch on and begin passing. The speed trap up ahead would have a field day. Happened several times going across the state.

Kurt.

 

[DrEntropy]

Since ya asked for "more":

In about '72 or '73 I was leaving Perkiomen PA, after visiting the in-laws. Had to be back at Langley the next day, Monday, and the clock was at 2000 Sunday eve just as it was getting dark. Left using RT-100 to get to the Interstate further south. JUST as we get to the "village" area with stop signs and cross streets a GTO roars up on the bumper of the Elan. He was being an aggressive jerk, revving that monster and dumping the clutch, stomping the brakes to bring the front-end down just short of impacting my bumper, repeatedly. He did this a few times at every stop sign, headlamps on high-beam. I knew this piece of blacktop well enough, knew there was an uphill (off-camber, too) left-right 90° switchback coming up, it had a ten-foot stone retaining wall to the right shoring up a churchyard, the church graveyard to the left. He knew it too, methinks. I'd squirt away from the stopsigns quicker each time 'til I was at the last one before heading the quarter mile or so to the church. That's when I HAMMERED out and trolled him up to speed... went into that left a bit faster than normal, snapped the Elan thru the right-hander twenty yards further. The GTO managed to wallow thru the first turn only scraping the right rear on the rocks a bit. But made a poorly judged overcorrection for the next turn and careened off, did a 360 in the grass and went CLANKING through the headstones of the graveyard. It stopped about forty or fifty feet into the "yard", reefed on a stone. I stopped to see if we should help. Naaah... he was a bit peeved apparently, screaming something about beating the *stuff* outta me. His car was hemorrhaging oil and water, no longer running. I jumped back in the Elan and we motored off to return to Virginia.

I learned something that evening: A bit of adrenaline makes a long drive seem much shorter.

 

[bill_powell]

Good story! Puts me in the mood to head off to work. :laugh:

I hate to say it, but more than a few of those old GTOs (and other great old muscular cars...) were lost in similar, um, incidents.

And having had a couple of them, I have to agree that 'wallow' is exactly the right word. In my GTO, not only that, but I had drum brakes all around, too...

Back in my Mulholland days, there was <span style="font-style: italic">one</span> guy up there w/ a 'Cuda, however, that we wouldn't touch. The thing was so low to the ground that it did not seem possible. Closer examination and we discovered it was a tube-frame road-race car, <span style="font-style: italic">disguised</span> as a 'Cuda. It really was beautifully done, and jet-black.

We always gave him proper respect, and left him to quicker cars than ours.

 

[nomad]

Had a navy friend from Glendale who raced trans-am fords and drove a 65 fastback mustang that you probably would'nt have wanted to toy with in those days as well!

Kurt.