OUCH!!!
On Aug 12, 92, I bought my first car, a light blue, almost grey 83 2.8L Firebird. It came with 3.42 gears, tilt steering, and a Borg Warner T-5 Manual tranny. Recent Mods since these pics? Well I finally got NICE rims for it, a paint job, another paint job (Medium Quasar Blue Metallic this time), power hatch, and installed factory cruise control, A/C, and finally did 2 actual,.. fer real, performance mods =) Added a high-flow "tuned" exhaust system (the same as they put on the small block T/A in the same years =), and Monroe Sensa-Trac rear shocks, I plan on m/b doin the struts in the new year.
'83 2.8L FireTURTLE - Recently Self installed A/C w/ a leaky compressor, newly self-installed factory cruise, 3yr old factory power hatch, monroe sensatrac shocks, no EGR, no cat, 3" intermediate, Walker high flow performance 2.5" in and dual out muffler,15x7 Trans Am Rims, 3.42 gears, 4 gallons to the mile, mean soundin, radar ticket magnet, milage of an 8Cyl and jam of a 6Cyl, performance machine! =) and soon to have a bath and tuneup =)
OUCH!!!
After that, I was pretty sure I'd never drive again. Ya see, I didn't know what happened in that accident, why it had happened. I lost control of my vehicle doing 40Kph (not too fast!) and ended up in oncoming traffic which is where I met the mustang nose to rib!(in lieu of rolling my car down a -very- large hill!)
The day I went to pick my car up from the body shop where it had been towed, I openned the door and it was like greeting an old friend, almost as if he said, welcome,... please hop in and take me outta this -awful- place. The second I sat inside, it was like he wrapped his arms around me and said I forgive you. I knew then that I -had- to fix him.
When I got the estimate, I thought it was hopeless. $2500 damage, -if- they could find -used- parts for it! -Used- parts?? If I was going to use -used- parts, I was gonna bloody well do it on my own, nevermind that I knew -nothing- about bodywork. I learned as I went.
Since that day, more than 5 yrs have come and gone. In that time, I've developed a fascination for all things firebird. I try to do all of his work - body or mechanical, if I can't,... I have 2 ppl who work on him, only. I have done a clutch and a transmission, shocks, front end, and I've become especially familiar w/ the steering column.
Oct 20, 97 could very possibly be -the- worst day of my life (so far!), It was a regular day, I went to school, came home, and parked the car where I always did, under my apt. window, then went into my apartment.
A few hours later, while a friend was visiting,…we heard a car start up, ... boy, was that jack@ss ever winding that engine up hard!!! He's doing -so- much damage to his engine, I thought to myself!! Little did I realize!! My next thought and one I shared w/ my friend, was ya know,.. that kinda sounds like Baz!! But no,.. I didn't think to look I mean,... it was a given that Baz didn't go anywhere w/o me,... wasn't it?
A few minutes later, my friend left, only to go on an amazing little adventure of his own. As he was driving down a street not too far from my apartment, he spotted my car, wondering how I could -possibly- have gotten out to the intersection b4 him,.. he pulled up behind Baz, and noticed that he was stalled. I almost -never- stall my car, and I -never- flood it,... but sure enuf,.. the car was indeed being cranked over pretty hard.
He got out of his truck and walked up to the car, he got as far as the back bumper when suddenly the engine roared to life and shot thru the intersection. At this point my friend -knew- it wasn't me in the car and gave chase.
I'm really glad I wasn't there to see what was relayed to me about what occurred next. Baz took a hard left and traveled down the road for a few blocks then a very sharp right,.... too sharp, the driver smashed a rear-wheel up and over the curb,... all the way into the grass,.. then back down onto the road.
Sebastian reached speeds on the city streets that a car should only reach on the highways when there's no traffic. Travelling more than 75 mph, my friend gave chase,.. his vehicle, a 97 F-150 supercab. Into the industrial park, thru a 4-way stop, then out onto an open stretch of road. Traffic as an obstacle, Baz's driver dodged in and out. My friend was struggling to keep up,.. then,... suddenly ,.. was cut off and Baz was gone.
About 10 mins after this all unfolded, I heard a pounding on my door. My friend is panicked and says he has something to show me, so panicked that I think he must have been in an accident, and expect to be pulled out my front door.... I was wrong. He grabbed my hand and tried to lead me to my patio window. I dug my feet into the carpet and refused to move. At this point, I understood... and screamed at him, "DON'T YOU SHOW ME THIS! I DON'T WANT TO SEE THIS! IT'S NOT TRUE!" truly at this point believing that if I didn't see the empty parking spot,.. it wouldn't be true. Too bad life doesn't work that way, eh?
He called the police and reported a stolen car lost in the vicinity of 156st and 137Ave at approximately 10:00 pm. Sebastian, my pride and joy, had just become a statistic.
But it doesn't end here, it only got worse.
The person at 911, took the statement after making this friend repeat the details 3 times, and did,... something w/ it. What it was that they did? Your guess is as good as mine. M/b the dispatch operator got hungry and my report was the first thing she saw. Not only did the city police not even know to be on the lookout for this car,.. it coulda rolled right past numerous police officers and they’d not have even looked twice at it. In fact, when I went to the police station early the next morning after searching high and low for him on my own, they had –no- record whatsoever of a 911 call ever being placed. In Fact, they even went so far as to tell me there –was- no call placed. So I filed the paperwork beginning to end, and hoped for the best.
While I was there I asked for statistics on stolen cars. The officer told me that if in a week you haven’t heard anything about your car, chances are, it’s not coming back. At least w/ a car like Baz.
A week came and went, I heard nothing about Sebastian, .. but I did get a lovely letter in the mail from the Edmonton Police Service, Operation Lookout Division telling me that I drive like a jack@ss. Now what “Operation Lookout” is, is a way for the ppl to be the eyes and ears of the Edmonton City Police, so they can sit on their ever widening @sses and eat doughnuts.
Now you might ask me,… why do I seem to have such an aversion to the City police?? What happened in this situation disgusted me, and keep reading,.. cos It doesn’t end here.
It sure was nice to see -one- part of the police service was working efficiently! =( *rolls her eyes* Of course, less than impressed about this situation,… I called Operation Lookout and asked to speak to the person in charge of sending those letters out. They must have sensed that I was unhappy, because I got to talk to the head of the department,... After 2 weeks of leaving message after message. When I finally did talk to him,... I very politely asked him,... if they didn’t think to check to see if a vehicle was stolen before they deemed it necessary to send a letter such as this out to an owner. He told me, in no uncertain terms, that it wasn’t worth their time.
WHAT?? If you were an owner of a vehicle,… never mind whether you were as attached to it as I am to Baz (-if- that’s even possible! =P ) And your car was stolen, you made a phone call to report it stolen,...and it didn’t show up anywhere in the system, then a week later received a letter in the mail saying that (approx. 45 mins after your car is stolen and at the –exact- time that you placed a call that never made it past Dispatch), it was being driven in a manner that led ppl to believe that you were drunk, how do ya s’pose ya’d feel? Damn straight! I was pretty pissed off! =) I told the officer that it really was insult to injury. He said he disagreed. At this point I asked him, “...Have you ever had a car stolen and received a letter such as this in the mail?” Not surprisingly, he answered no. “So,.. if it’s never –happened- to you” , I asked him, “how the hell would you know if it’s insult to injury??” “Also”, I asked him,”why is it that a call made at –exactly- the same time as the one that my friend made, reporting to the police an erratic driver, could make it through the system, when the phone call placed about a –stolen- car didn’t??
Was it possible for the call made from my apartment, was mistakenly sent to Operation Lookout ?? Oh no no no I was told,.. that -can’t- happen. So I then politely asked him WTF –did- happen. He skirted the issue for about 20 mins, during which time I was getting more and more irrate. Then he comes up w/ a possibility, -all- on his own!!! Geez, why didn’t he think of it sooner!! M/b the call that –I- made, … somehow got re-routed to Operation Lookout, … Isn’t that what I had asked him 20 mins ago?? He said he’d go find out, and call me back. I was late for school by this time and asked him to leave me a message. When I got home there was a message on my machine, yes that was what had happened, and having thought about the situation,.. perhaps it could be construed as insult to injury, if one was to end up in this situation. And he apologized for the inconvenience that the whole situation had caused.
In the 2 weeks that it took to get ahold of this officer, Baz had finally shown up. Devil's Night, I got a letter in the mail (another f*ckin letter)I was almost scared to open it, I wondered if they might be looking for a donation to the policeman's ball or something. Or, if maybe, it could be possible that they had found Baz, and he'd been demolished, or worse, hurt an innocent person. This one said that as far as the Edmonton Police have been able to determine, that I was the last registered owner of this vehicle, and that if I didn’t come and spring him from jail in the next 3 weeks that he would be disposed of in a public auction. This is the letter they send when your car is considered to have been abandoned. Now I dunno about you, but I don’t –generally- smash my own steering column and rip apart a console to drive my own car, then leave it w/ it’s windows rolled down, in the middle of a residential street.
The last thing a school chum heard over the phone, before it hit the floor, was an angry scream. I had just seen the date that Baz was recovered. Not even 24 hrs after he had been stolen.
Sebastian had been sitting in the impound lot, for 2 weeks, even though I had called there periodically to see if he was there, and repeatedly been told no. Baz was recovered as stolen but the proper procedure was never carried out. Proper procedure being: that when a stolen car is recovered, the owner is supposed to be notified –immediately- if they know who it is. Having checked my mail too late to arrange to have him removed from the lot that night,… I had to wait until I finished work the next day, then I went to see how much damage. But also to find out WTF happened and why I was never notified when he was recovered. I had even left instructions on the police report that if he was recovered that they were to notify me immediately, I didn’t even care if it was 3:30 in the morning, just call me.
I was a woman on a mission and I was pissed.
As soon as I could, I grabbed a friend and we went to the impound lot, to see if we could see Baz. He was parked about 3 rows back from the street and I could only see one side of him. I had no idea as to the extent of the damage,... but he was sitting straight and didn't appear damaged on the side that I could see. That was a good sign, right? I went home to bed, a little more comfortable that I might be reunited w/ My Pride and Joy.
So here it was, Halloween, I had to work in the morning, but I was finished by around 12:30, and headed to the impound lot. I got there, and someone must have seen that I was upset, I asked to see the Lot manager, and he was promptly delivered to me. When I asked him why I hadn't been notified, he used the ever intelligent answer,... "I dunno", I asked who was responsible for this, and was told that it was the investigating officer.I asked for his badge number and name. I next informed the manager that neither myself nor my insurance company would be responsible for their little oversight. That I was willing to authorize the insurance company to pay the towing charges, and for one day of storage, everything else the lot had to swallow. It wasn't my fault, nor my insurance company's fault that the car was there as long as it was. Then I asked to see my baby. Walking across the lot, I was almost afraid to see what I was sure I was going to see. I wasn't disappointed.
He was intact, but certainly VERY violated, =( worse yet,... I couldn't start him to see how he was. The person who'd stolen him had yanked on the actuator rod for the ignition, so hard and so many times,... that it was snapped in 2 pieces and there was nothing that could be done to start him as he sat. The police officer that had accompanied me to him wouldn't allow me to lift the hood and do more. I slowly surveyed the damage,... steering column destroyed, console destroyed, bent and warped metal support that usually resides behind the dash pulled out and twisted to relieve the stereo of it's confines, the glovebox had been rifled and pillaged,... visa receipts and such gone. Not only had this guy violated the one thing that I cherished,... but now knew -exactly- which apartment I lived in. Safety had never seemed like an issue, but now suddenly it was first and foremost on my mind. I braced myself for what I was likely to find,.. or rather NOT find when I opened the hatch. It was worse than I had expected. Not only were -all- of the tools that I owned gone(all the stuff I'd accumulated in working on Baz in the previous 5+ years), but a can of Rust inhibitor that I had laying in the cubby hole for future use was empty,... but the carpet had soaked up all that the guy had sprayed into it. A whole can of this stuff. Prospects were not good.
I made arrangements for the car to be towed to the Dealership that I'd made the arrangements w/. I waited patiently for a few days, ... at least I knew where he was. They took 5 days to get to the inspection,... and I was told that they would know nothing until the adjuster came out to look at it. 10 days later, the adjuster had come and gone,and I was still waiting. The time that I had told the Rental company that I would need the car for was almost up. I called them and said I would need to keep it a little longer, and they said that they had it on record that I would have it until the day after next, then I'd be returning it. This was news to me, so I called my insurance company to ask what was going on, and they told me that Baz would be ready the next day. Communication never was great w/ that company,.. but in retrospect, dealing w/ the insurance company was certainly more enjoyable than dealing w/ the Edmonton City Police.
I wish this had been where it all ended... 2b Cont.)
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