Ricers get Steamed then Crushed

[Miasma]

This makes me happy.

[schild]

"That's my girlfriend, the love of my life. The cops can crush my car, but they can't crush my memories."

[SnakeCharmer]

That....is.....awesome.

Ricer tears lubricate my scrotum.

[Chimpy]

They may not be Fast anymore, but I am sure they are probably Furious.

[Lantyssa]

Rice Cakes!

[Paelos]

"If you have to race, take it to a legal venue," Higbee said. "But as long as they keep racing illegally, we keep crushing their cars."

You sir, are my hero for the day. Hell yes!

[WayAbvPar]

That entire story brightened my day considerably.

[Samwise]

Meow meow, we like ricer tears.

[SnakeCharmer]

"If you have to race, take it to a legal venue," Higbee said. "But as long as they keep racing illegally, we keep crushing their cars."

You sir, are my hero for the day. Hell yes!

Definately a big "Can I get a big amen!" to that.

As a former autox'er and drag racer who has *never* lit them up on the street, I wholeheartedly support anything that can done to deter street racing of any sort.  I *have* done many a burnout or donut in an empty parking lot, but never raced.  

Although one of them did have a great point of stripping them down and auctioning off the parts for charity.

[Signe]

I used to love street racing when I was a kid, though I never got to be the driver.  I am sad that my children will never get to enjoy it without fear of a brutal car crushing.

Oh wait.  I don't have any children!  I PWND MYSELF!

[cmlancas]

"It will never go away," Maldonado said. "If it's in your heart, you will continue to do it until you can't anymore."

LOL!

Enough said.

[WayAbvPar]

I used to love street racing when I was a kid, though I never got to be the driver.  I am sad that my children will never get to enjoy it without fear of a brutal car crushing.

Oh wait.  I don't have any children!  I PWND MYSELF!

Some may argue that having children would be a worse pwning of yourself. And Righ. And the poor kids 

[Nija]

If my Galant ever gets crushed I'm going on a shooting spree.

[Paelos]

If my Galant ever gets crushed I'm going on a shooting spree.

Is it sooped up with illegal parts? If so, I'd stock up on rifles soon.

[bhodi]

Only one thing that makes me uneasy about that article.. they crushed some guy's car upon suspicion of having stolen parts, without any sort of due process. Or, it could have been the shitty way the article was written.

[Chimpy]

Only one thing that makes me uneasy about that article.. they crushed some guy's car upon suspicion of having stolen parts, without any sort of due process. Or, it could have been the shitty way the article was written.

It sounds like if the parts had ground off vin# on them they were impounded. And there really is no legitimate reason for a major part (engine, trans) to have the VIN# ground off unless it is hot.

But I would imagine the parts were proven to be not on the up and up as you don't hear anyone suing for wrongful destruction of property.

[bhodi]

The 18-year-old mechanic said a vehicle identification sticker apparently fell off and without it, police suspected some of the parts were stolen. Maldonado stood several feet away from his car as it was pounded into a heap of metal.

Fell off? It doesn't sound like any VIN number I know if, but if it was just a sticker...

[Nija]

Is it sooped up with illegal parts? If so, I'd stock up on rifles soon.

It's not a Honda and I don't really street race, so I don't think I'm at risk.

But the answer to that question is a yes. Nothing stolen or VIN ground off, though. VIN doesn't match on the trans, engine, shell, one door, uhh transfer case, rear diff. List goes on.

[Strazos]

Fuck Yeah, cry more ricer kids.

Gotta love how the one kid laments about how he and HIS MOM spent $10k+ on his car.

And the other kid who thinks that after dumping Only 10k into his Integra, he can beat Corvettes and Ferraris? lolz. Big Lolz.

[Paelos]

It might be able to beat the Corvette, but only the Corvette wouldn't explode after the race.

[Righ]

I wholeheartedly support anything that can done to deter street racing of any sort.

Eh? Not of any sort surely?

http://www.lemans.org/24heuresdumans/pages/accueil_gb.html

http://www.iomtt.com/

http://www.acm.mc/gpm/gpm_main.php

[SnakeCharmer]

Only one thing that makes me uneasy about that article.. they crushed some guy's car upon suspicion of having stolen parts, without any sort of due process. Or, it could have been the shitty way the article was written.

I think it was people that had been arrested for street racing who were *also* suspected of receiving stolen parts (or stole it themselves).  I'd have to reread the article.

[CmdrSlack]

Only one thing that makes me uneasy about that article.. they crushed some guy's car upon suspicion of having stolen parts, without any sort of due process. Or, it could have been the shitty way the article was written.

I think it was people that had been arrested for street racing who were *also* suspected of receiving stolen parts (or stole it themselves).  I'd have to reread the article.

The article specifically mentions removed VINs and whatnot on the parts.

Police need a court order to destroy the cars. They must prove that the serial or identification numbers on a vehicle or its parts are removed, altered or destroyed.

So, basically, in order to get the court order to make rice pudding, they had to meet a burden of proof that demonstrates the stuff is hot.

[NiX]

Blue car with red rims? Thank god they crushed all that shit. Nasty. If you're going to spend like 15K on a car you might as well just import a god damned RX-7. At least then you'd be racing a car worth having crushed. Not just another integra or civic.

[Selby]

Just law enforcement grandstanding trying to make a point.

I don't condone street racing and hate ricers with a passion, but I do not support any form of property forfeiture.  I also do not trust the police to know the little nuances of my cars (like where the VIN partials are or are not) and then try and give me a lecture about "illegal modifications" to my vehicles.  A previous owner had the transmission replaced at AAMCO and now the transmission has a different VIN.  Are they going to impound my car over a busted tail light and then disassemble the car to find out the origins of all of the parts?  Surely the cops have better things to do.

[Furiously]

But I bought it from my dad and here is the receipt!!!!!

[Lantyssa]

Thanks for the tip.  We're gonna bust your old man for dealing in illegal parts.

[Roac]

I don't condone street racing and hate ricers with a passion, but I do not support any form of property forfeiture.

You do not own anything that has been stolen.  If you buy stolen goods, it's still not yours.  It's a needed practice in order to 1) reimburse the actual owner where possible and 2) make the black market a no-win for everyone involved, at least as much as it can be.  When you put pressure on buyers, you reduce the demand for stolen goods, which makes it less profitable to fence crap, so less stuff gets stolen. 

Are they going to impound my car over a busted tail light and then disassemble the car to find out the origins of all of the parts?

If there is reason to suspect you're filling your car up with illegal shit, yes.  Dropping a rebuilt engine in a worn out car isn't unheard of (hell, I've done it).  Putting $10k into a car to make it an obvious rice racer is a different category. 

[Selby]

You do not own anything that has been stolen.  If you buy stolen goods, it's still not yours.  It's a needed practice in order to 1) reimburse the actual owner where possible and 2) make the black market a no-win for everyone involved, at least as much as it can be.  When you put pressure on buyers, you reduce the demand for stolen goods, which makes it less profitable to fence crap, so less stuff gets stolen.

How exactly am I supposed to prove everything on my car wasn't stolen?  Is it assumed that everything on a car is stolen and the onus is on the owner to carry documentation stating it isn't?  I have to keep receipts from all of the shops who have worked on my cars over the last 35 years to prove they didn't fence someone's engine when I was trusting them to get the engine through lawful sources?  My cars don't have full VINs stamped anywhere on them (just a partial, plant code & the last 6 digits).  I also have cars that have VINs in the door jam as opposed to on the dash (which younger law enforcement officers are not always aware of).  Am I required to keep a receipt and do a title search on every car in the salvage yard I pull a motor, transmission, or rear end out of to make sure it isn't stolen?  I personally don't want some jerk who is having a bad day seizing my car because he wants to make an example out of me or get a good photo opportunity of another "illegal race car" getting crushed.

If there is reason to suspect you're filling your car up with illegal shit, yes.  Dropping a rebuilt engine in a worn out car isn't unheard of (hell, I've done it).  Putting $10k into a car to make it an obvious rice racer is a different category. 

How is it different?  Rice rockets usually just add a stupid coffee can fart pipe on the end, ground effects that are rarely ever matched, and maybe adjust the computer.  Others come from the factory that way.  And we expect the police to be able to know?

The People's Republic of California states that ANY engine modification is a violation of smog ordinances and illegal (even if it makes the car run cleaner).  Where is the line drawn?  I re-jet my carb to get it to run slightly richer and perform better on todays shitty gas, is that illegal?  What about adjusting the distributor timing?  I put a hotter camshaft in, put in a forged bottom end, etc all of which make it perform better than it did in 1972 AND run cleaner.  Where is the line drawn?  I dumped 10k into one car with a rebuilt engine, transmission, working AC, etc.  Does that put me in the rice racer "hot rod" category and I deserve to be pulled over and harassed because I am suspected of filling up the car with illegal shit?  Is it dollar amount or is it how clean and shiny the car is based on age?  How can they tell short of getting impounding the car and taking it in "for inspection" at their facility?  You can't see any of the VIN locations on my car without jacking it up and cleaning off areas that are normally dirty, hardly a quick inspection on the side of the road.

Like I said, I don't support forfeiture of assets based on suspicions of the officer who pulls me over for an out tail light or out license plate lamp.  And I don't carry a folder full of documentation stating the origins of every part in the car either.

[Merusk]

You're acting like they're pulling people over, towing the cars and crushing them inside a few hours. How about examining it in reality, instead of the "rar rar, gub'ment suxorz" mentality.

[Selby]

How about examining it in reality, instead of the "rar rar, gub'ment suxorz" mentality.

No!  ;-)

[CmdrSlack]

How exactly am I supposed to prove everything on my car wasn't stolen?  Is it assumed that everything on a car is stolen and the onus is on the owner to carry documentation stating it isn't?  I have to keep receipts from all of the shops who have worked on my cars over the last 35 years to prove they didn't fence someone's engine when I was trusting them to get the engine through lawful sources?

Quite honestly, if you're not doing street races, you have nothing to fear. I know it's fun to assume the worst, but in some situations, it's not even that bad. Given this specific instance, you don't really have much, if anything, to worry about. Cops will be cops, but I highly doubt that without cause to  believe that you're street racing, you'll ever see your car crushed.

Besides, partial VINs are wayyyy different than shit missing a VIN, etc.

Believe it or not, cops are a bit more sophisticated these days. 

[Signe]

Believe it or not, cops are a bit more sophisticated these days. 

Not in Connecticut!

[sinij]

I think crushing cars is stupid, its wasteful and ineffective. This won't stop street racers, they will simply get new car and will start over. If you really get good at identifying moded cars racers will drive stock cars that do not require any major mods... Go after street racers while they street race and stop nailing people that just like to fiddle with their cars.

With enough money you can get cars that are way past anything street racers mod out of their cars, and it will be 100% OEM street legal. So why single out aftermarket mods?

Last but not least - none of the crushed cars in the story were confiscated as a direct result of street racing, police suspect they did it and used loopholes to crush their cars.

[Strazos]

Sinij, I don't think you understand how it works for these kids. Hell, a good portion of them are getting the car and money for mods from their parents, so the kid may not simply be able to go out and start over.

These are not simply people that like to "fiddle with their cars." These are the kind of idiots that race streetlight to streetlight in the cars their parents bought, with all kinds of stupid mods that hurt more than help the car's performance.

Also, these kids will not drive stock; it's not "street" at all to drive a car that looks stock.

Lastly, California is pretty infamous for its strict car mod laws; these kids are knowingly breaking the law, so they have no reason to cry when their little shitboxes get crushed.