Celica Forums General Discussion General street racers be warned...

i dunno if this is all throughout the US but here in socal
i just saw in the news, last night cops pulled over import cars that are hanging out(souposedly s"street racing"-u know how it is how ppl mentality are "oohhh import cars they must be street racers" )
anyways supposedly if you get caught as a participant and even a spectator they will impound the car and crush it.
now i dont know the whole story i just saw the 10oclock news preview so we'll see

but be warned 818 peeps this was in van nuys

any comments ? thoughts??

Hell ya. There's a story in this month's Import Tuner about how San Diego is cracking down hard on street racing and illegally modified vehicles. They swooped down on Hot Import Daze there a while ago as soon as the event got out with flatbed trucks and towed like a dozen cars...craziness! I don't support street racing at all but realistically, it has been around for decades and it will NEVER completely disappear.

whoa that sucks! nothing happend to the hot import daze over here in the yay!

First off...people shouldn't be street racing anyway. Just take it to the track. But it is those few idiots that make it bad for everyone. I'm surprised that South FL cops aren't cracking down more. Over the weekend some idiot was street racing with his girlfriend and younger brother in the car. He lost control and went into a tree, killing everyone. What moron has their girlfriend and brother in the car when doing something that dangerous?

damn thats pretty stupid. impounding cars and crushing it? not everyone who has a "modified" import is a street racer.

yeah i think thats a scare tatic! Cops cant fucking crush your shit! THats hella bS!

i hate discrimination

I hate to break it to you but it's waaaaaaaay more than just a few. And it's not like that's a good thing but just looking through some threads here you will see quite a number of stories.

lol, they should make a movie that uses domestics as street racing vehicles, then maybe the market will change and domestics will become more of street racing cars, and the cops will not shine there lights on us anymore... F&F american style... with fords and chevys... (only!) and where the import loses, and the ford wins and then people will sell there supras and shit and buy those its just like a fad, like yo'yo's

read it...sounds like they are getting down to business

fuck the cops, let them crush their head. hell then, im debadging my celica and rebadging it to ford mustang. i dont know why IMPORTS, if these ppl are dying while racing in the streets, let them die, they made the stupid choice. if they kill other innocent ppl with them, thats fucked up. but hey, a lot of other innocent ppl die by gunshots and other stupid shit that could be stopped by police. fuck the law, this law not all of them.

lol, legally they cannot crush your car... they cannot confiscate anything of your own as long as its legal... as far as i understand the term private property and taking of it.

Heard the story. Police went through the show, getting lisence plate numbers of cars with illegal parts. When the show ended, tons of police pulled over a lot of cars leaving that were down on "the list." No wonder car shows are no fun around here.

damn...that sucks..

Well i'm not a lawyer but I did sleep in a holiday inn last night and I believe they do not have the right to crush your car (personal property).

some of these laws are just plain stupid. i mean y are underglow illegal???

yep that stuff happen here in Minnesota bout 2 weeks ago. there was a lot of import cars that got tow away.

shit ill be damn if they crush my car, they better buy me a fucking new one, they dont have to right to do that shit anyways, fuck the popo, damn assholes

The way things are going, in another 20 years or so they'll be crushing the cars with the DRIVER STILL IN THEM!!! BOOO-YA!!!!

...

Ah yes, this is true, however...while they may not be able to fully crush it, they may take it off the road because it has been illegally modified for street use (according to state law), they also may confiscate whatever parts they want that aren't allowed to be there (ones that change emissions, or that don't have a carb sticker (for the cali crew)...or if it has been deemed unsafe equipment to have on your car. They take the car, impound it, confiscate the parts (giving you full receipt) fine your ass, and then you have to have a lawyer to help you through the whole process...so be careful...

I never read any racing threads...not my thing, so I just don't care. I'm talking about in general...

damn thats crazy.

Fuck it...I say let them confiscate and crash car. Get a good lawyer and take them to court...file lawsuit against the city. Fuckers...they can't confiscate or crash your car just coz you a spectator or so-called "street racer" because you have mods on your import car. It's a violation of your rights and privacy.

well i always thought it would be cool to get a police scanner in the car. I guess now its worth it if you cant even be seen in an import anymore

I hate all this reactionary bullshit. The police don't know how to stop actual street racing, so they crack down on the LEGAL import scene to compensate. Really, is Hot Import Nights the BIGGEST problem the state has for crime? In the first place, how many cars from HIN could even be legit street racers... those are mostly show cars.

People wonder why we all hate the police... THIS is why. 99.5% of all police take the job because they are assholes who want power to abuse.

Hmmm... Azzkikr, couldn't someone so due to missuse of police resources or something like that? There's got to be something there. They wasted all that time and money by impounding a few cars. How many men would that have taken? A lot I'm thinking, and those resources could've gone to better projects.

of course it is...why crack down on those malibu/ laguna livin spoiled teeny kids with BMWs and porches racing up and down PCH when they can go to the local in-n-out burger stand and ticket people for illegal exhausts.

haha yu from torrance? Crossroads

wow now that is Fkd up. dont they have anything better to do?

they don't have enough ricers around here to enforce the laws that much...which is one of the few upsides to living here.

in some other states though they are reporting ANY modifications to insurance companies..which then raise the driver's rates. whether it be a bodykit, exhaust, etc..

impounded and crushed? they must be fucking stupid, California is already the highspeed chase capitol of the world, i have a feeling their going to run into a lot more runners with this new policy/law/bullshit thing they have enstated in cali, i feel sorry for you guys hehe

that's gay...

they can crush ur car. they crushed 2 mustangs last week.

Sorry for it being so long, but I think that it relates to the thread:

First off the cops are doing this to protect us. Many of us are in the twenties and up category and we know how to deal with people who come up to us at meets (marco/isaac conversation w/ ricer kids) and ask us stupid questions about our cars so that they can turn around and ask to race us. It's our juvenile brothers and there friends that are the ones that are getting into the races now that are messing up the scene for everyone. I personally couldn't stand my brothers friends when they come over and asked me the same questions about my car over and over again. Lately however I have taken the time to educate them on what to do and not do at the meets/races. The one thing that they always qoute is the F&F movie franchise. I tell them that, that is just a movie and that what they do on screen is just stunt work and visual effects used to make it seem as if they were actually racing, and that actual racing is very dangerous not only to themselves, but to other people around them. I tell them that racing is for immature idiots that think they are tough and want to impress their friends/girlfriends. I go on to tell them that its better to be safe than to be wrapped around a pole.

I can relate to why the cops are doing this because about a year ago I passed by the scene of an accident that was caused by street racing. At the time that I was passing the accident, I had no clue that one of my best friends from high school (he was 21 at the time) had died in that very accident. When I did find out, a couple of days later, it turned out that the person in the other car (16 year old in a mustang) had lost control and made my friend crash into a steel light post. It was at that moment that I realized not only how precious life was, but also the dangers of taking risks like street racing. I also decided at that time that my car would only be used for shows, and only lately have I been thinking about converting it to full race car/trailer queen.

I know that it is an inconvenience that we get hassled a lot by police because of the types of cars that we drive. I can still remember a few years back before the F&F/JDM/Street Racing craze happened that the cops were pulling over Mustangs and Camaro's because they were illegaly modified. At the time the owners of these cars were bitching about how come none of the tricked out civics were being pulled over. It seems to me, that when the next big car craze happens we will se a decline in how many import car drivers are being pulled over/harrased. Many of you had already left when the polce showed up at the Filipino/Islands celica meet 2 weeks ago. And Isaac, I might say handled it very professionally.

HISTORY:

If the late 50's/60's was the golden age of street rods than I believe that the 90's/2000's is the silver age of street rods. Street rods are by definition modified stock cars. It seems that they both ages share one thing in common and that is the fact that oil prices are the main cause for the end of the trend. I think that in the coming year or two we will be seeing a decline in high displacement engines, this is obviously clear, especially to you Toyota guys since the Celica did go from a 2.0+ litre app to a 1.8 litre app. Also with the introduction of the Scion brand Toyota has sucessfully put the nail in the coffin for many sport compacts. A recent article in Super Street (Nov. 04) says that we will finally see the introduction of the the Honda Fit, Toyota Vitz, and that Nissan has also decided to bring over the Cube and they are seriously thinking about bringing over the Micra. All of the fore mentioned cars displacement is in the range of 1.3-1.5 litres. Also with gas at $2.50 (91 octane) it is going to get really expensive in the coming year just to be able to cruise in our cars and take road trips in them.

In the end I think that the cops ARE DOING THE RIGHT THING. They are doing there job and are preventing people from breaking the law and protecting people from possible death. It does at time seem as if they nitpick a lot about the stuff we have on our cars, but if we stay level headed and keep our cool they WILL treat us with RESPECT.

A couple of tips for if you are ever pulled over.

1. ALWAYS be nice to the officer, they don't need another asshole to dealwith they see them and deal with them everyay.

2. ALWAYS have your CARB stickers in plain view if they ask you to pop your hood.

3. ALWAYS be ready to answer any technical questions that they might ask you about what the part does.

4. For those of you with Carbon Fiber hoods: make sure that the stickers from the metal hood are moved to the Carbon Fiber hood. The reason for this is because it prevents tthe cops and other local authorities from seeing the emission standards for your car. Also they may give you a fix it ticket for it and may confiscate your $400+ hood because you illegaly modded one of the emission points on the car.

5. REMEMBER that the best way to avoid getting your car impounded is to avoid getting a ticket in the first place. And the best way of doing that is to OBEY ALL LAWS IN THE FIRST PLACE

I'd LOVE to see a cop try to impound my car and crush it.

I'd have his badge by the close of business.

about the crushing part i believe that if you have a case the ACLU may be able to help in getting it back/ sue the city.

They can't crush (or even take) your car if you're only a spectator.

I'm sure they can impound your car if you're actually racing, but again, they wouldn't be allowed to crush it.

hahahaha


CRUSH IT???? <---------- HAHAHAH bullshit

Good, I predict many hondas will be destroyed. I would love to do the destroying. I wonder where I can apply for that job.

AHAHAH I HEARD ABOUT IT TOO!! my dad got mad at me cause i got a sound system and a couple of neons in my 88camry ahhha!

gets harder for us to mod our car now with more laws and now the crushing?? what's will the come up with next?

yup it sucks. i was caught in one of there "raids" about 2 years ago. basically they hold up traffic for 2 hrs and pop everyones hood. then they go one by one to see who has the illgal mods. if you refuse they say "we have probable cause" and if you still refuse they tow the car and wait for a search warrent to clear and then theyll pop your hood .

its good that they are doing this to keep the guys/gals off the streets but what is bad about this is that they profile everyone who has a modified vehicle doesnt matter if your white black or asain if it looks modified expect a ticket or a bull shit excuse for pulling you over.

OH and how about that bullshit spectator ordinance law if spotted at a known street racing function all spectators reiceve a fine?!?! dont most street races happen at the spur of the moment. like in a desereted freeway or a desereted street light?

i was at a motorcycle event (the illegal kind) about a month ago. bikes were doing wheelies and all kinds of tricks when the cops rolled up like it was a sting or something. they had like 3 guys on bikes, and 2 or 3 cars. they blocked the street and the parking lot that we were all in. they had everyone gather around and they lectured us. they had all the spectators sign some paperwork. i asked the cop what it meant. he said that its basically a warning, the next time they catch me at something like that again they would arrest me. all they have to do is run my name in the computer.

but anyways back to the subject, i think the cops will enforce the taking of the cars on the people doing the racing. as for the spectators, from my prior experience i think they can arrest u, but i dont know if they can take your car.

yes, they could have used their time and energy for a lot better uses (totally unbiased to the import scene), however, they had full right to tow a car if it had modifications that weren't carb approved or hazardous to the road (I.E. a nitrous system, or being lowered to the point where your headlights are lower than 22" off the ground, which doesn't take much (CALI LAWS BLOW)...the only way someone could sue would be filing a lawsuit against the city due to confiscation of private property without due cause (You had legal mods and got towed for being there)...The california state legislature puts laws in to action that are seriously against the import scene...if you honestly want to be heard get as many people as you can to write letters, send phone calls, and sign petitions against this kind of action...and send them to your state representative...or even worse the newspaper...cops abuse power because people don't really know their rights in a certain situation...and they think the kids that are part of the import scene are not intellgent (which is totally untrue because it takes quite a decent amount of intelligence to perform certain mods, and to build a great running car)...Lastly, the long and the short of it is this...by cracking down on that show it was an easy outlet for the police to generate revenue for the city...kinda like robbing a bank without anyone being able to stop them