Taking the 5-ton CARCRUSHING!!!!

[BFR]

This thread has me really disgusted for two completely different reasons.

1. That car was private property. Had it been your car, or if you had permission of the owner I would have gotten some popcorn and coke and enjoyed the show. It isn't too far of a stretch to see someone who was proud of that car(who here started out in your dream car?) have a flat w/no spare, leave & come back the next day to find the wheels stolen, have to leave it until some tires and rims can be found come back and find it crushed.

2. I am a fan of MV's and believe we should avoid giving ammo to those who would further restrict ownership. Was this good for the hobby?

 

[Elwenil]

I don't know. The fact that I sometimes have redneck tendencies sort of lets me relate to this and see the humor and cool factor, but I do have to admit that technically this was probably illegal in the eyes of authority and if you were caught doing it it would look bad on you and possibly the hobby as a whole. Probably not the sort of thing to cause a media frenzy but it could cause problems with the local government. I guess I'd just have to give this the typical "don;t try this at home" bit and laugh along.

 

[DDoyle]

Just glad when first my pickup, and later my car, were stolen they weren't ditched at your house. My pickup was found on the side of the road, out of gas. My car, on the other hand, was found abandoned with two flats and a flat spare - a week after the landowner reported its "appearance" the police pulled it to the impound lot, and two days later notified me.

Dunno the situation where you are - and don't need to know - just glad mine was recovered reasonably intact.

 

[Djfreema]

I have to agree with BFR. It would be different if the car was an old rusted out abandoned car out in the middle of the desert, but this very well could have been an unreported stolen vehicle that the deputy just red tagged because it was'nt in the system as stolen yet. Probably your typical turd car that was stolen for its 22" spinners on it. Any way it would be considered Felony vandalism in Ca. Looks like it was fun though.

 

[Hoosier]

Hope no one was kidnapped and tied up in the trunk!!

 

[dma251]

Well, consider this - Every month or two a beautiful mid-80's car appears at this PRIVATE PROPERTY turnout by the road. After a couple days the wheels are always the first to go. Then it begins magically getting filled with appliances and garbage from other fine citizens that are looking for free garbage disposal. After about a month the car has been stripped and littered with garbage that spills out all over the ground, so when the power company or the county finally hauls it away, it leaves half it's garbage behind... If this had been the first time I've seen this happen, that's one thing. This has happened with atomic-consistancy for the 6 years I've been living here. In fact of the approx. 35-50 cars I've seen this happen to, I've have yet to see the proverbial "just a flat tire" car show up and then depart in days. Hasn't happened yet. The car has been cleared by the county for at least a week. It's not stolen. It's illegal dumping. Felony illegal dumping.

The property belongs to the Power Company - it is access for the power lines. That makes it private property - I say the citizens have to pay to have it removed, because everyone that pays a power bill is paying for the removal. The fact remains, it is still private property, where the laws are much different. If someone deposits a car in your yard, and you call the sheriff to clear it as not-stolen, and then you decide after two weeks you want to smash it, that's your right. At least here it is. I'm not saying the power company approves of this, I'm sure they don't. Felony Vandalism? Not is this state. You have to have a victim to have this crime. I'm dying to see the guy that comes forward and says -"yeah, I was trying for a little felony-unlawful dumping, when some jerk smashed my beautiful '85 Buick Somerset!@$!" I guess I should just go turn myself in

As for disparaging the hobby of MV's - give me a break... Do you honestly think that someone is going to think poorly on MV's because a car appeared smashed in the morning when the night before it was only in the infancy of it's stripped-out garbage-recepticle future?

Go warm up your Toyota Prius, get a non-fat soy latte, and forget you ever saw this "SHOCKING" thread....

 

[dma251]

Since some people seem a bit offended by this thread, I've decided to include a couple of friendlier pictures to show that the damage really isn't that bad after all.

I really think this is an improvement. Besides, customization is really hot right now.

Flame on....

 

[Towman2277]

I think what most was saying is that this could have been one of the instances an innocent car-owner had there vehicle destoyed for no reason. I'm not sure of the sate laws on abandoned vehicles in your state, but I do know that vehicle is parked on the right of way, on the side of the road, and that would have the local P.D. or State authorities to have the governing power to have it towed away. I own and run a very busy towing company, and I can say the power company wouldn't have to pay the bill to have it removed, the Towing Company removing the vehicle would get paid IF the owner decided to redeem it. Now, to "see the victim" that claims their car was destroyed, you would have to find the owner through your local P.D., and tell them, what you did to get their side of the story, and i'm sure you won't be doing that to find out if they abandoned the vehicle, or merely broke down, due to in fact your not the "landowner" (ie power company), and had no right to damage the vehicle. What would be bad is if it turned up stolen, and was actually being sought after. I'm sure then you wouldn't also want anyone to know it was you who crushed it either. I have ran over several cars with my truck, but all that I legally own of course!!

 

[Towman2277]

I did a little research...called a friend with a local towing company not far from you. He said the sheriff would have marked it with a sticker, so if the owner drove by, they could see that they had so many days to remove the car from the right of way of the road, or it would be towed at the owner's expense. So, with the sheriff being involved and marking it, that clearly shows that it IS NOT private property, otherwise the sheriff would have never marked it.

 

[Towman2277]

Sorry for the double post!

 

[derby]

In fact of the approx. 35-50 cars I've seen this happen to, You have done this before? he..he.. just kidding

 

[builder77]

No matter which way this should have gone that is one compact car

 

[colyork]

very cool!

 

[dma251]

When I bought my house the previous owner left a car in my driveway and moved to Minnesota. I called the local towing company to see about removing it. They said I had to have the local sheriff clear it, and then after I paid them $75, they would take it away and attempt to collect some more from the legal owners. The Sheriff came out a day or two later, and put the same reflective sticker, and the same pink check mark on the fender right in my driveway. I paid the money, and they took it away. Thats how it works here. Our local tow truck companies are plenty used to this illegal-dumping deal. They aren't going to take a car, unless they are getting something for it, because the real owner's are never gonna pay. Remember the type of guy that is doing this - they don't care about a judgement against them for storage fees and towing. This is a way of life for many people - dump their trash off on someone else and walk away in a cloud of collection calls and unpaid bills.

Whatever. The car will be gone in a few weeks after the rest of the low-lifes put some trash and old dishwashers in/on it.

Hope I didn't cause too much stress for some of you.

 

[Towman2277]

I bet the power company doesn't foot the bill. If so, they would have already fenced the area off for no more dumping, but they can't, it's the legal right of way. And I KNOW FOR A FACT the sheriff's dept doesn't pay the bill!! Like I said, the towing company will get paid if the owner claims it (highly unlikely now), or when they sell it for scrap or parts. Did it climb up easily without the frontend locked? Most mine have tires when I run them over, so I have to have the front locked to pull up on top.

 

[dma251]

I never said the Sheriff would pay anything. They clear it, and the tow truck takes it. Land owner pays that is stuck with the car pays. It used to be much worse there for the power company, there used to be 4-5 cars there, stuffed down the access road to the towers, but they put the concrete blocks up in front of the access road. When they want to service to lines, they pull the blocks out of the way. The power company has a contract with the local towing company to remove the cars there for a set fee each year. I think that's why sometimes they sit there for a few weeks. It's pretty rural, and the power company doesn't come out there every week. I'm sure the towing company is real excited about rushing out there to get them too... Whatever. You've made your point. My point is this - I don't care. I live here. I deal with this. I see it every day. When I have friends come to visit, they drive by this and it reflects badly. I, after I deal with this day in, day out, I decide to drive over one of these fine automobiles, so be it. Come get me. As you can see, I'm not exactly bashful about it.

As for the truck, it pulled up really easy. I had a little rear wheel hopping when I was getting started, and the car wanted to slide around until I got is wedged into the blocks. My sprag unit is only giving me front axle engagement while in reverse for some reason. I have another transfercase/sprag I am going to fix the problem with, but it is doing so well right now it's taking a low priority.

No hard feelings, by the way. I respect all your opinions.

 

[Towman2277]

Have you tried to possibly adjust it? I have little experience with adjustment, but have seen an earlier thread with the same problem? Seems like adjustment fixed the problem.

 

[CUCVFAN]

Hopefully, it was not used in the commission of a crime and the evidence in now destroyed and useless...

I have redneck tendencies and I did smile at the pics, but that does not mean I would have done it myself. Is it less of an eyesore now or does it reflect well now? No, you certainly didn't improve the situation, and you trespassed on private property to do it. That's not much better than the dumper, is it?? If someone dumped a car on my yard, I would not be thrilled, but if someone smashed it to bits before it was removed, I'd be pissed. Maybe the power company doesn't care, maybe they do.

But no matter what "always happens" at that location, you have no idea who owned the car. The owner of this car could have been looking for it and now it's crushed. You really had no right.

It would have been acceptable if it was your own junk car on your property. Impressive? Yes... Justifiable? That's a totally different issue.

I totally understand your frustration with the problem, but I don't think you really helped anything. It obviously felt good to vent on this car, and I'm sure you enjoyed it. I would have too had it been my own junk car...

 

[dma251]

You don't seem to understand - I wasn't trying to better anything. I wasnt' trying to clean anything up. I was not trying to make it enormously worse, and I don't think I did - just a little lower to the ground. Send me your email address and I'll start sending you pictures of all the cars that show up in this gravel turn-off. I bet you'll ask me to stop well before 6 months go by.

One thing I sure wasnt' trying to do was get preached to about right/wrong. I, like most folks, dance around the middle of that line all the time.

Alright, I want to make friends here, so I'll just leave it alone now. No more carcrushing pics.

 

[builder77]

No more carcrushing pics.

Videos would be cool