At 10:01 AM 7/13/98 -0500, Bill Eastman wrote:
==snip==
>Friday I was driving home from work and there was one of Fridley's finest
>following me. He was going to turn right at a corner where I was going
>straight. Suddenly he changed his mind and closed right up behind me.
==snip==
>restoring it while he kept driving his Mk II tourer. I tried to hide my
>relief as we talked MG for a few minutes then we waved and parted. He
>never even mentioned the collector's plate so I didn't bring it up either.
Now that you mention it, Bill, Darlin' and I had two encounters over
antique license plates in two weeks. Weird! Never before.... then twice...
The first time we were out on in adjacent county on a Farm to Market road.
County sherrif pulls us over for a tail light being out. [Sure! It hasn't
been out since, nor was it not burning when I got out of the car that
night!] This guy was a real "dim bulb" sorta' guy -- if anybody remembers
THAT thread... He ran a check on the plates. HC3993 - Texas 1961. There is
a small, but plainly visible, tag that bolts to the top of the plate. This
tag has another ID number and an expiration date which happened to be
3/31/98. (This was now June, and I didn't realize the little tag had
expired.)
Dim Bulb asked for my license. I told him I needed to get the proof of
insurance from the trunk. "Oh, these old cars don't have to have
insurance." SINCE WHEN?!! I got it anyway. He went back to the patrol car,
then came back to me. Puzzled he said "I don't understand this. The license
plates belong on a 1993 Ford pickup."
I explained THREE times that they were 1961 plates that had come off my
1953 Studebaker Starliner coupe. He went back and radioed in for a check on
the plates again. Walks back to me, still scratching his head. I was soooo
impressed at my tax dollars at work! Oh yeah! I sorta' prayed over the
little tag when I realized it had expired. I kept repeating myself and
pointing at the date on the plates: "These are Nineteen-SIXTY-ONE plates."
Poor dimwit never did get it. And he never looked at the expired little
tag. He even forgot to write the ticket for the supposed tail light being
out. He didn't stop me to talk MGs because I'm not sure he even knew what
he stopped! And probably had even forgotten why...!
I wish I'd felt that the car was safer with this deputy on the road. But he
never did verify the plates, so it still "could" have been stolen...
Fast forward... New day... different county... different county cop. Inside
SA city limits. I was taking some hitch parts to see about having a hybrid
of Barney's hitch put together for Darlin'. We were on a a major
throughway, and this deputy sheriff pulls past me at a light, then holds
back for me to pull up in the other lane. I didn't do it, BECAUSE now I
KNOW that little tag is expired. Light changes. He holds back, I hold
back.. discretely. He pulls off into a parking lot. I KNOW I'm snagged.
Sho' nuff! Light show!
His bulb isn't quite as dim as the rural guy's was. He spotted that itty
bitty number on the tag! Good eyes. I fumbled my way through the expired
tag.
"Why, I only got that tag last year and I was told it was good for five
years!" All true, and I really was surprised when I saw the expiraton date
during the previous encounter. I still don't understand the early
expiration. BTW, the tag had been ordered by this time, but it takes a
month to arrive I figured if I hadn't been stopped from March to June, I
could make a trip to the hitch place. But, nooooooo.... And I wasn't about
to voluntarily tell him that I already knew it was expired. I did deserve
a ticket for the expired tag... no question about it.
THEN he started preaching about how using those tags is a privilege and
that I was abusing that privilege.
Know this: when that MGA goes on the road, it's out there for a reason.
Maybe we stop to check the air in the tires, maybe we need to locate a
whatzitworth nut and bolt, maybe we have to see about getting a can of oil
in Houston, maybe we need the Fredericksburg Sunday paper newsprint to trap
the dripping oil from the engine, BUT we never, NEVER joy ride in that
car!! >:-)
Besides it was 100 degrees in the shade, and driving in town "for fun" in a
roadster on days like that is borderline insane. (Highway is ok, though!)
That was the first time I've even heard of anybody around here getting a
sermon on driving the cars with classic or antique plates. Most officers
don't bother with people who keep up old cars. This guy believed in equal
justice and in staying busy. When I showed him the hitch pieces -- which
were quite obvious when I got the insurance out of the trunk -- he eased
off and sought a graceful exit. He never said a word about MGs, so he
didn't pull me over to talk about cars. And he never said another word
about a ticket, not even a warning.
As I was getting ready to leave the scene of the crime, I happened to
glance next door and there was a group of about 7 people watching the
"bust". They smiled and waved and gave me thumbs up as I left.
So there you have both ends of the spectrum ... dumb as a post and
over-zealous.... in two weeks! And both times I deserved a ticket, and
both times I was spared... Thank you, God! :-)
Carol
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