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So, there’s an apartment building parking lot I pass every day in town. I can’t help but notice what’s parked in it because I have to slow down and take the turn at the adjacent intersection. As a consequence, I know the one car that sits on the end of the row as it’s always in the same spot whenever I’m driving by.
This afternoon, I got a call to remove an abandoned vehicle from that very lot. This isn’t at all unusual, at the end of every school semester we get dozens and dozens of cars that are called in by apartments as the graduating students leave their beater cars behind and take off. Apparently in the misguided belief that the clunkers will be towed away free of charge eventually. They’re half-right, we’ll tow em’ away, and then run the VIN through the DMV, find them, and bill them for it.
Well, when dispatch hands me the slip for this abandoned , I recognize it immediately as the car that sits on the end of the row up there, and I also note that the vehicle is described as having “no tires” Huh? No tires? When I last saw it yesterday, it had tires. Maybe they just mean it has flats? Like someone slashed his tires?
Upon arriving, I realize that they were NOT kidding, the car has no tires, it has no rims either, the whole thing is sitting up on cinder blocks. Now, you can tow a car with no tires, the truck has equipment that allows you to pick a car up by it’s frame/suspension/axle if a wheel is knocked off, a common problem in wrecks, but as I’m trying to devise a strategy for moving the car, a pickup pulls up next to me and a guy gets out waving his arms.
“Woah, woah! That’s my car! I live here!” he says.
“I think you better call the apartment office” I suggest, “They called this car into me because they think it’s abandoned, probably because the wheels are off”
“Yeah” he says “They just got stolen last night”
Wow, this is one of those things that happens in cartoons or movies, or cartoons based on movies, but never ever in real life ™ right? Someone has actually stolen the wheels and tires off this car and left it up on blocks. And they weren’t even fancy-schmancy 21’’ custom rims or something like that, they were just 15'' rims, who'd risk theft charges over that? Someone apparently….. at least they were a generous thief and left the blocks.
The guy pulls a cellphone out and calls management and has a brief chat, at the end of which he tells me that they’ve agreed to give him 48 hours in which to find a way to get the car off of the lot or they’ll have it towed for real this time.
“Hey” he says “This isn’t really my car, It belongs to my friend who used to go to school here, he moved out of town and wanted me to try and sell it for him, that’s why it’s in my spot, do you know where he could get a cheap set of rims quick?”
I can’t think of any suggestion except a junkyard, and there’s no guarantee that would be possible on short notice, as the clock is now ticking on the car.
“Darn” he says, “Hey, know anyone who’d want to buy it? Cheap? Quick?”
“Eh, not off the top of my head” I say,
“Well, he only wants $500 for it”
“$500?, Sold!"
So the next day we went down to the DMV with his friend and transfered the title, and I am now the proud owner of a 1988 Chevrolet Camaro with very little rust and maybe a dent or two.
The only reason it wouldn't run? Carbureator had a stuck float, if he would've banged on it with a screwdriver handle, it probably would've started. But it also had a bad thermostat (overheating) and a lot of questionable wiring decisisons that I'm slowly working on.
I never thought I'd say it, but thank God for larceny!
This afternoon, I got a call to remove an abandoned vehicle from that very lot. This isn’t at all unusual, at the end of every school semester we get dozens and dozens of cars that are called in by apartments as the graduating students leave their beater cars behind and take off. Apparently in the misguided belief that the clunkers will be towed away free of charge eventually. They’re half-right, we’ll tow em’ away, and then run the VIN through the DMV, find them, and bill them for it.
Well, when dispatch hands me the slip for this abandoned , I recognize it immediately as the car that sits on the end of the row up there, and I also note that the vehicle is described as having “no tires” Huh? No tires? When I last saw it yesterday, it had tires. Maybe they just mean it has flats? Like someone slashed his tires?
Upon arriving, I realize that they were NOT kidding, the car has no tires, it has no rims either, the whole thing is sitting up on cinder blocks. Now, you can tow a car with no tires, the truck has equipment that allows you to pick a car up by it’s frame/suspension/axle if a wheel is knocked off, a common problem in wrecks, but as I’m trying to devise a strategy for moving the car, a pickup pulls up next to me and a guy gets out waving his arms.
“Woah, woah! That’s my car! I live here!” he says.
“I think you better call the apartment office” I suggest, “They called this car into me because they think it’s abandoned, probably because the wheels are off”
“Yeah” he says “They just got stolen last night”
Wow, this is one of those things that happens in cartoons or movies, or cartoons based on movies, but never ever in real life ™ right? Someone has actually stolen the wheels and tires off this car and left it up on blocks. And they weren’t even fancy-schmancy 21’’ custom rims or something like that, they were just 15'' rims, who'd risk theft charges over that? Someone apparently….. at least they were a generous thief and left the blocks.
The guy pulls a cellphone out and calls management and has a brief chat, at the end of which he tells me that they’ve agreed to give him 48 hours in which to find a way to get the car off of the lot or they’ll have it towed for real this time.
“Hey” he says “This isn’t really my car, It belongs to my friend who used to go to school here, he moved out of town and wanted me to try and sell it for him, that’s why it’s in my spot, do you know where he could get a cheap set of rims quick?”
I can’t think of any suggestion except a junkyard, and there’s no guarantee that would be possible on short notice, as the clock is now ticking on the car.
“Darn” he says, “Hey, know anyone who’d want to buy it? Cheap? Quick?”
“Eh, not off the top of my head” I say,
“Well, he only wants $500 for it”
“$500?, Sold!"
So the next day we went down to the DMV with his friend and transfered the title, and I am now the proud owner of a 1988 Chevrolet Camaro with very little rust and maybe a dent or two.
The only reason it wouldn't run? Carbureator had a stuck float, if he would've banged on it with a screwdriver handle, it probably would've started. But it also had a bad thermostat (overheating) and a lot of questionable wiring decisisons that I'm slowly working on.
I never thought I'd say it, but thank God for larceny!
which was the deal-maker at the end of the day. It just needs the wiring un-FUBAR'd, a new thermostat and some all-around TLC and it's good to go
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