I still think about my first car, the 1976 MGB, from time to time. There is an equal balance of nostalgia and relief that I am not still trying to keep it running. Last time I mentioned it I promised I would tell the story of what happened when I installed the radio in it. So here it is:
The car was mostly in running condition when I bought it. When you are a young man with his first car you look past a lot of reality to see the potential. Once some of the basic necessities were fixed, like re-attaching the bumper and putting in a working fuel pump, I was able to move on to some of the nice to haves, like a top without big rips and a radio.
In reality, the radio was also a necessity. I was about to drive the car from Vancouver to Ottawa and 4000 km is a long way to drive with no radio. I was also doing it with a 20 year old single page map. You can make some interesting choices in your early 20’s.
I purchased the cheapest new car stereo that you could get from an actual store and set about installing it.
My job that summer was to process film from security cameras. Our office was one room in an industrial park and the processing equipment was loud and hot. I figured I could run the equipment while I installed the radio in the parking lot right outside the office.
Industrial parks, like strip malls without the whimsy
Pic borrowed from: http://www.copansindustrialpark.com/
It was about 7 pm, so the industrial park was practically abandoned. I say practically because there was a police car sitting in the next parking lot. It was the only other car in the whole facility.
Ever so subtle
Pic borrowed from: http://www.newson6.com/story/15416821/shots-fired-at-tulsa-police-patrol-car-late-wednesday
I spent my time running from inside the office to check the film processer and in the parking lot cursing the engineers at MG. I swear they must have hired children to put these things together. I am 6’ 2”. For me to install the radio, I had to put myself upside down in the driver’s seat and snake my arms through the dashboard.
And you thought I was exaggerating
Pic borrowed from: http://www.britishv8.org/MG/BrianMcCullough.htm
While I was starting to wrap things up the police car came screaming in to my parking lot. It pulled to a stop in a cool Starsky and Hutch inspired angle. The high beams were on and the door flew open.
It looked a little like this
Pic borrowed from: http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=police+car,+door+open&um=1&hl=en&tbm=i
sch&tbnid=ZbXEm1bZLXPbhM:&imgrefurl=http://www.yumaaz.gov/17822.htm&docid=rLVDPgB0
G331gM&w=300&h=243&ei=AM5qTpOrEczegQeVr93pBQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=418&vpy=1
57&dur=1755&hovh=194&hovw=240&tx=127&ty=97&page=1&tbnh=153&tbnw=189&start=0&nds
=9&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0&biw=1198&bih=536
Maybe I was just a little too naive. I saw a police car. The police are our friends. I took about two steps towards the car before I heard “Stay right where you are, keep your hands where I can see them”. This was not good.
A second police car came flying in to the parking lot. The second officer jumped out of the car and the first officer yelled “Cover me! I’m going in”. He came towards me demanding “How many people are here?” I must have told him six times that I was alone. Right after that I received my first frisking. I can’t recommend them. I was still being “covered” by the second officer when the first officer said he was going to search my car and wanted to know if he was going to find anything he didn’t like. I told him that there was a knife in my tool kit that I had been using to strip wire. It was about this time when the third police car arrived on the scene. The third officer seemed to be higher ranking and while he was chatting with the second officer the first officer finished searching my car. He then asked me for my licence and registration. I told him that they were in my wallet which was in my right rear pocket. I still had my hands over my head. Nobody had said I could put them down and I figured that I was playing a very serious game of Simon Says.
Simon says he has an itchy trigger finger
Pic borrowed from: http://www.thegamegal.com/2011/01/30/simon-says/
They ran my information through the computer. After everything came back saying that I was ok I overheard the second officer explaining that I was suspicious because the windows of the office were covered in tinfoil. I invited them in to the office. As soon as they saw the pictures of robberies and frauds their faces dropped a little. I guess it destroyed their fantasy of taking down a drug kingpin.
They thanked me for my time and proceeded to have a little conference over by their cruisers. I finished the installation, put away my tools and finished up my work in the office.
Now this is where things get interesting. The police had left ..... well they almost left. One of the cruisers pulled in to the next parking lot and sat there with its lights off. Now keep in mind we are in a huge industrial park, at about nine in the evening. There are exactly two cars in the whole complex and one of the cars is mine.
I decided that the best course of action was to follow every traffic rule I could remember. So I started the car, put on my seatbelt, set my radio to a quiet level, signalled and checked all directions and slowly pulled out of the parking spot. I drove to the parking lot exit and stopped at the stop line. My friend in the next parking lot pulled up to his parking lot exit.
There was no other traffic but I still checked all directions before pulling in to the road. The police officer followed at a very discreet distance, about five car lengths. He followed me for about twenty minutes. I drove calmly and safely until he got board.
I waited five minutes before I cranked the radio over to eleven and put the pedal to the floor.
