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Presented with a Chevrolet Corvette which had sheared the spokes off its right front wheel, this Chicago-area tow truck driver gently cradled the 'Vette home. As long as by "gently" we mean "dragged by the rear axle down the Dan Ryan, shooting sparks." More »
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A Cincinnati mother was sitting in the passenger seat of a '90s-era Dodge Caravan being towed by a pickup truck when one of the two ropes pulling the minivan snapped, ripping off her arm below the elbow. More »
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Little Rock, Ark., is a friendly kind of place, where if you get your semi truck and trailer hung up on a side street due to snow, someone will always offer to tow you along — even if their four-wheel-drive Dodge Ram isn't exactly sure-footed. More »
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Need proof the Mazda Miata is the answer to every automotive need? Check out this little guy hauling a disassembled airplane kit. There is nothing a Miata can't do. (H/T to Jagvar!) [ThereIFixedIt] More »
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A Jaguar XFR recently suffered electrical failure while in my care, and its electronic shift lever became locked in Park. When the time came to tow it, the car had to be in neutral. Here's the trick to shifting it. More »
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A Mercury Grand Marquis was recently abandoned in a rush-hour lane less than a mile from the White House and directly in front of the Djibouti Embassy. Amazingly, it took a week to tow. Abandonation without representation? More »
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Thanks to the atrocious economic conditions in Michigan, I've become part-owner of a 1995 Ford CF7000 cabover rollback with meticulous service records and a 12,000lb capacity. Transaction price? $3,000. The bed alone, without hydraulics, was $18,000 new. More »
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We tried hard to think of a situation where we would be in Saudi Arabia with a broken down car in need of a tow. After watching this shaky "Blair Witch Project" style video from Riyadh, we're glad it's not an occasion we're likely to see. If you somehow find yourself needing a tow from a Saudi local, you might be better off just pushing. Wonder if the driver knows he's doing it wrong? [via Neatorama] More »
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Ah, San Francisco, the city where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars... unless they get towed away and auctioned off, of course. The story of the stolen car that racked up 29 parking tickets, yet couldn't be found by police was bad enough, but now a new nadir has been reached. In this case, a missing-person report led to police with cadaver dogs impounding a van that the dogs found very interesting. Then the van sat in a no-doubt-incredibly-crowded impound yard... for a week. Meanwhile, the van owners- perhaps realizing that someone might put two and two together- had time to split town before someone thought to check inside the van. Paging Inspector Callahan! [San Francisco Chronicle] More »
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As if living in South Bend, Indiana hasn't been depressing enough lately, a couple tried to retrieve their 1991 Buick LeSabre from the parking lot of a grocery store only to find that it had been illegally towed away (they had permission to keep the car on the premises). After scouring the area, the owner found out it had been towed by Russell Auto Recycling. Though the company originally denied towing the car, the woman found the car crushed and in a stack of other cars heading for the scrap pile. But justice can't be avoided! More »
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Police officers in Gardena, California and Rocky Mount, North Carolina have taken to setting up roadblocks to check vehicles for illegal tint, registration and drivers for belt usage and license possession. No drunk drivers were busted, but 62 vehicles were impounded during the four-hour California roadblock alone. Police estimate that each seizure is worth around $1,400 in towing, ticketing and impound fees each. Well, it is twenty-three years past 1984, we suppose. This makes us feel a little queasy and a lot mad. After all, they disbanded the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Who told freaking Gardena they could pick up the mantle. We suppose losing those Nissan HQ tax dollars hurt worse than they initially thought. Thanks Carlos. Thanks a lot. – Davey G. Johnson More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=273428&view=rss&microfeed=true In a measure of respect to the almighty Mr. Diddley, we offer up this video of a man towing a Manta 1,110 miles kilometers to the tune of one of a song Bo appeared in a video for, as played by a guy from Delaware and some naval vessels. And what a sweet little Manta it is! '71 Manta A. We would so roll Gaffey Street and Pacific Ave. trolling for the laidies that it's beyond funny, broseph. We'd get takeout calamari, cruise down to the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium and feed it to said chix while our Russian houseboy Vasily cooled them with fans made of the finest grape leaves and Cannoli leather Swedish kroner can buy. Due to the multitude of acquired babes, Vasily would likely have to walk. Remind us to give him a raise. – Davey G. Johnson More »
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Apparently bored driving up and down the same old strip, officer Barry Halpern of Irvington, New Jersey decided that hijacking random items from impounded vehicle was the new way to show the kids he was hip. In collusion with MTS Towing owner Mark Minett, Halpern is accused of pulling out the five-finger discount coupon on CDs, tools, laptop computers and cash conveyances held at the MTS yard. The pair faces third-degree theft charges with sentences as harsh as a decade for Halpern and five years for Minett. Remember, officers. You can make crime pay some of the time, but petty theft involving tow companies? Aim higher, gents. Roll some drug dealers. At least the sleaze factor is lower. – Davey G. Johnson More »
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Residents of the Seabreeze Point apartment complex in Daytona Beach, FL woke up hopping mad when they found out their cars had been towed from their authorized spaces for being backed into their spots. It was apparently a new decree on the part of complex management that hadn't trickled down to the huddled masses taking refuge in the building in exchange for a monthly check. Residents were then told that it was a mix-up, but they were still SOL for the $110 impound fee until they got a local television station involved, at which point they were allowed to retrieve their vehicles at no charge. – Davey G. Johnson More »
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Crikey, Humbert! Golly, Gumpert! Fackin' feck, Q-bert! 51-year-old Mendoza Stewart purchased a '72 Bristol 411 a few years ago. In 2004, he parked it in a legal spot near his home in Kennington, only to find that it had been hauled off by the council and then removed from the flatbed with a mechanical claw, destroying the car's aluminum roof. Although the council admits they were in the wrong, Stewart's yet to see a dime. The value of the car? Right around 30,000 quid. Eep. – Davey G. Johnson More »
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In the great state of California, when one goes to pay one's registration, any past-due parking tickets must be taken care of before the state issues its citizes the little colored sticker for the plate. It's all organized by VIN and networked by computer. Apparently, things in the UK aren't quite as sophisticated, which we find rather nutso because the DMV is far from the most efficient organization in the nation. But new legislation has some folks up in arms because it could affect people who've purchased vehicles secondhand and are unaware their car is on a hit list, leaving them to produce proof while coughing up towing and storage fees to recover their vehicles. We're calling government scam on this one. Scam, scam, scam. – Davey G. Johnson More »
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Scotto just hipped us to this, and we have to say, although this isn't the first bike-based tow truck we've seen, the concept simply doesn't stop completely ruling. We totally want one. We also think you should listen to "Drownded" by the Wynona Riders. No, we're not trying to be Idolator. We're just still suffering from yesterday's "Maximum East Bay Day" hangover. Now go forth and tow! – Davey G. Johnson More »
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Buddy Frazier, Jr., owner of of Chattanooga, TN's Absolute Towing and Recovery, has been busted on numerous counts of auto theft as well as charges relating to running "a shady business," according to Chattanooga authorities. Frankly, every tow yard we've ever dealt with seemed like a shady business to us. We hope they convict you and throw away the key, Frazier. It's punks like you who've ruined it for reputable, fair and decent tow-yard operators everywhere. Then again, we've never met one of those, so we're not quite sure they exist. More »
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Pity the Bourgeois. No, really, pity him, for David Bourgeois' Mini Cooper was towed from his Brooklyn street after somebody put up a fake "No Parking" sign. Bourgeois got dinged $205 just to get his car back (Wow! NYC's even more of scam than San Francisco!) and then still has a $60 dollar parking ticket to deal with. Officials say they'll try to dismiss the tickets, but somehow we don't think the tow yard will be so lenient. More »
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This crap makes our blood boil. We've been wrongfully towed, but due to lack of funds and time, we never pursued the issue. We were once rightfully towed as well, due to confusion about street signage. And we've been towed twice due to our vehicle being stolen. And let us tell you this: regardless of circumstances, it's a goddamn scam rife with collusion between municipalities and tow yards. A local Houston TV station dug into the corruption and found that despite court orders, tow yards aren't paying victims of wrongfully-towed vehicles. A new ordinance is in the works in the city saying that if tow yards don't pay illegally-towed citizens, their license could be revoked. What it should say is that the city is liable for the money owed. More »
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The mayor of our fair city of Los Angeles has earmarked a million bucks to test the Tiger Team. Tiger, which is a dorky acronym that stands for Totally Integrated Gridlock Enforcement Resources (we'd be worried if they were only Lightly Integrated) and consists of a fleet of tow trucks that descend on Wilshire Blvd when cars aren't supposed to be parked along it. If it works on Wilshire, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says he'll expand the program to other bottlenecked thoroughfares around the city. More »
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Well, the way we see it, if you're gonna build a towing boom into a passenger car, why not do it in style? And that's exactly what this gentleman from the Pacific Northwest did, converting his Northern Irish gullwing white elephant into an honest-to-McFly tow truck, suitable for hauling around busted DMCs, or in one instance, apparently, a 35' Airstream motorhome. Any bets on what that did to the trans? [Thanks to Marc for the tip.] More »
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While we're sitting here on the Left Coast basking in warm, sunny days (a dramatic difference from the storms of a year ago which is a bigger problem than one might think because Angelenos have no clue how to drive in the rain), the kids back East got hit with some stormage, and the City of Boston, determined to keep the roads clear, towed a while mess of cars. Some folks are calling foul. After the jump, a somewhat telling paragraph from the Boston Globe. More »
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Malcolm MacIntyre-Read, Much Wenlock, Shropshire s Neighbourhood Watch coordinator is fed up with the national mandated that motorists whose vehicles have been stolen have to pay recovery fees, and frankly, we're right with him here in the USA. It's one thing if you get towed due to your own negligence. It's quite another when somebody steals your property and the government that your taxes support charges you to get said vehicle back. More »
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If convicted, the following people should be forced to make like Sisyphus and push a Ford F-250 with near-frozen wheel bearings up a mild incline for all eternity: Marianne Thanhminh Lai, Jaime Abel Chan Ramirez, and Jose Rodrigo Torres-Diaz. Why? Because they allegedly towed over 200 vehicles from a private Orange County parking lot without the owner's orders and then charged the vehicles' owners to get them back. Have we mentioned that we hate tow yards? More »
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Our friend Jimi played bass in the late, lamented Screw 32, and whenever we'd see him, instead of a standard hello, we'd greet him with a vocal rendition of his lift of the Circle Jerks' memorable bass lick in "Coup d'Etat," which, of course, was on the Repo Man soundtrack. Speaking of repo men, the Cleveland Plain Dealer (CTE's favorite title for any newspaper, ever) has a bit on what the men who come for your auto find after they arrive to take it away. Our favorite is the hubcap barbeque. More »
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Prior to moving to LA over the weekend, it stood as the city where we'd received the most parking/traffic tickets that we'd never lived in or near. And of course, our first night in our new place, we managed to get two parking tickets. Back in 1995, we and our erstwhile friend Jeff trekked down from the East Bay to catch All at the Whisky on a school night. We parked up a side street from the club. When we returned, Jeff's truck was gone, having fallen victim to a blocked no parking sign and the whims of the LA County Sheriff's tow-truck toolin' goon squad, seemingly stranding us in the wilds of West Hollywood some 400 miles from the next morning's class. More »
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