Tuesday, April 12, 2016

First Escapade with the Porsche

So, as some of you know, I bought a house in Hiram that needed some rehab. In one of the 3 garages was an '85 Olds Cutlass 442, which I gave to Jimmy Peacock for parts. In another garage was a pretty nice 1980 Porsche, which I essentially got for free.

After getting the turbo rebuilt and making sure it was 100%, mechanically, I registered it as an antique, with a vanity plate. Naturally, being a new vanity plate they had to give me a temporary paper plate. And here's where is gets a bit crazy...

The mechanic said I had to drive it a few hundred miles in order to break in the new turbo, so I decided to drive it up to the house being rehabbed. I pulled into Ace hardware in Cornish to the sound of sirens. Two state troopers - one from each direction - came literally screeching over the curb and into the parking lot behind me. As I got out, they hopped out of their cars, hands on guns, and told me to stop.

"What the heck is this," I thought. Of course, those thoughts were in a different vernacular - I'm keeping this post clean. But I was sincerely confused - this was one of the very rare times when I was not speeding or anything.

Trooper #1 asked if I owned the car. "Of course - that's why I'm driving it," said I. He then asked for my license and registration, which I produced. Meanwhile, Trooper #2 was looking over the paper plate.

Trooper #1 then said, "Sorry, sir - I thought your plate was a fake. There's a lot of that going around." To which I replied, "Of course it's looks fake - it was made by the state of Maine, and doesn't have any duct tape on it." (Mainers understand that reference)

Trooper #1 looked confused; Trooper #2 looked amused. They left.

As I walked toward Ace, I noticed several people in the window. As I entered, the owner asked, "What was that all about? By the way they rolled in, we thought they had cornered a murderer or something." To which I smiled and said, "Nah - I just knocked over a couple hardware stores."

They all had a good laugh, but we all wondered how something as minor as a paper plate could result in such a reaction from the law.

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