Cars crushed in street racing crackdown

[WingZr0]

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.

I don't know, some those police inspections sound a little shady.

Besides like that one kid said, why not jus take off all the good suiff and sell it for charity. Some of those rims alone are worth $400 to $1,000.

Body kits aswell especially if they're Veilside body kits

[Carl Beck]

Yeah, and why bother sinking 10 grand into a old "POS" beater Datsun....

.....snipped....

Why bother with a crusty slow Z when you can get something much better looking or .......

"Much better looking"!!... now wait a minute, lets not get carried away... vbg -

Just too funny,

Carl B.

[jmortensen]

I'm the last person to defend street racing, believe me. That aside, is anyone else have a problem with the police confiscating citizens' property and destroying it, or is that just me??? If it were contraband I could see it, but these are cars. Stolen parts might be confiscated, but crushing a whole car???

As Mr Horse would say: "No sir, I don't like it."

[AndysPlit]

There is definately something a little extreme (perhaps fascist?) about the penalty. I understand that street racing is a problem that has costed lives. However you can cite the exploitive nature of the punishment when it is done publicly or has been in the news. The whole "setting an example" mentality comes to mind, much like wearing the Scarlet Letter in a way.

I'm the last person to defend street racing, believe me. That aside, is anyone else have a problem with the police confiscating citizens' property and destroying it, or is that just me??? If it were contraband I could see it, but these are cars. Stolen parts might be confiscated, but crushing a whole car???

As Mr Horse would say: "No sir, I don't like it."

[ChrisA]

...SNIP...responsible for screwing up the Amkerican economy...SNIP...

"Amkerican"

ROFLMAO!!!!!! I wonder how many "Japanese" actually laid their hands on my Xterra in Tennesee as it was being built?

Its the best American made vehicle I've ever spent money on.

Chris

[deadflo]

Did all the confiscasted cars have stiolen parts? If they didnt', to me it smacks of a fascist state when cars are taken from their owners to be scrapped. Maybe we didnt get the whole story in the news report. Was the "due process of law" undertaken before all the vehicles were scrapped?

The street racing issue aside,I find the attitude of getting down on kids for simply hopping up cars, whatever type of car, to be something you would expect from an old granny.

[BRE-240Z]

In North Carolina, street racing means hard time. For example, a teenager in Charlotte who recently lost control of his car while racing another car and crashed into a restaurant will get to think about it for the next eight years.

The only situation that I'm aware of where they confiscate the vehicle (and later, sell it at auction) is when the vehicle was used in the commission of a major felony (selling drugs out of the trunk, for example)

[ta240]

"Amkerican"

ROFLMAO!!!!!! I wonder how many "Japanese" actually laid their hands on my Xterra in Tennesee as it was being built?

Its the best American made vehicle I've ever spent money on.

Chris

Interesting writeup on the whole US vs Non-US cars:

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114731076341249773-vC7NDlPLXotsdDHpLbpm5Ewbo9E_20060610.html?mod=tff_article

> "What's better for the American economy?" Mr. Doyle asks. A GM car "built in Mexico with 147,000 jobs back here in America or a Honda built in Alabama with 4,000 or 5,000 jobs in America?"

> Farmington Hills, Mich., research company CSM Worldwide, show only 65% of the content of a Ford Mustang comes from the U.S. or Canada. Ford Motor Co. buys the rest of the Mustang's parts abroad. By contrast, the Sienna, sold by Japan's Toyota Motor Corp., is assembled in Indiana with 90% local components.

All I know is my Z keeps a fair amount of american parts counter guys working

[Fun_in_my_z]

I'm the last person to defend street racing, believe me. That aside, is anyone else have a problem with the police confiscating citizens' property and destroying it, or is that just me??? If it were contraband I could see it, but these are cars. Stolen parts might be confiscated, but crushing a whole car???

As Mr Horse would say: "No sir, I don't like it."

Your attitude would be different if you or someone you know go hit by one of these dipshits.

Street racing is foolish anyone that dose it is a fool and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent

[Pennyman]

Hey, who says I wouldn't ditch my Z for a nice SS Chevelle or early Camaro? The point I am making is not that these cars are japanese beaters. What these kids are trying to do makes no logical sense to me. They are taking cars that were built as daily drviers for the purpose of being cheap to buy and good on gas, and trying to turn them into drag racing cars for summer nights on neighborhood streets. Restoring a Z into a show car makes sense because it is a 30 year old classic that started an era for Japanese cars in America. Making a Z into a race car makes sense because it was built as a performace car to start with. I'm not saying the Z makes much of a better drag car, because it really doesn't. What I'm saying is if you want a drag racing car, buy a drag car. If you want a handling car for autox or circut racing, buy a car that can do that (like our Z's or maybe a Porsche). and if you want a car to get you from A to B getting 30mpg and serves as a reliable and inexpensive daily driver, you buy an Acura or Honda. I can't think of many people who save up to buy a brand new Z06 so they can get the kids to soccer practice and pick up the groceries. Trying to make an econobox into a perfomance car makes just about as much sense to me. If I wanted to run low 1/4 mile times I would buy myself a 91 Camaro and swap in a supercharged 383 stroker. Costs less than what these Honda kids are making and does better times.

Seems to me that a lot of what's being said is out of lack of knowledge of the sport compact scene. As economical as a Honda is on gas, I'm sure the more knowledgeable ones out there will realize that most of them do engine swaps to get the faster 1/4 mile times, much like some of us Z car guys do. Swaps like the B16 or B18 are commonplace, even the K20 engine now. You guys say they're econoboxes like they've kept the stock mill, but these aformentioned engines spank most of todays engines in terms of power vs price. Realistically, our stock Z engines have no higher compression than the econoboxes of today, because these newer engines are designed so well. I wouldn't call a civic with a B18 that revs to 9K an econobox.

You guys don't think it makes sence because we're Z guys, not Honda guys. The Honda guys probably think the same thing about us. The Muscle car guys think that way about all Japanese car owners.

And it doesn't help when local racetracks are shut down either...Just look at Altamont motorsports park in Tracy. Shut down because of some bitchy neighbors. I say keep it on the track, but when the tracks close down, what do the kids do for fun?

[jmortensen]

Your attitude would be different if you or someone you know go hit by one of these dipshits.

Street racing is foolish anyone that dose it is a fool and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent

No it wouldn't. I moved here from SoCal, pretty much the dumbass ricer Mecca. I've had plenty of exposure to the jackassery surrounding it. I'm all for giving them harsher jail sentences. I don't like the idea of the gov't taking a person's property and destroying it to protect the rest of the population. Too many things that I own could be considered dangerous or could be used as weapons (or actually are weapons).

[ChrisA]

Come on guys, quit it with this line of discussion.

I want to hear some more from TomoHawk about how Japanese cars are ruining the economy.

Maybe our Chinese members will chime in about how Buick is ruining theirs!

Oh wait, we don't have any members in China. Do we?

Chris