I lived in Denver Colorado from 1970-1976. I turned 13 the year we moved there, I was 19 when I moved to Omaha. I guess you could say that Denver was the town where “I came of age.”
When I was old enough to drive, and after I went through the obligatory slasher duty in my first 18 months of learning to drive, I graduated to real car status. I was 17 and a half, and had saved until I was able to buy my first real car. The car I truly wanted,….no,..... lusted after…….a 1969 mach 1.
I bought it from a dealership, off of their used lot for the then “reasonable” sum of $1750.00. . It was some pale shade of yellow, kind of a cream color,…(Ford called it Meadow Lark Yellow) It had black reflective stripes, w/ a black hood. It had a 4 bbl 351w, an FMX auto trans, and of course a 9” rear, all w/ only 44k on the speedo.
It was in great shape, and had no rust, no dents. I was also the second owner of that car, and at the time…….the envy of my group of gearhead wannabe friends.
Of the said group , two of them were so inspired by my car, that they had to have their very own versions of the same,…Joe Torpey had a Candy Apple Red 351 car,…..and Erik Skramstead was fortunate enough to come upon a Anti-Establish Mint Green 390/C-6 car when it came time for his.
Now that we all had three mach 1’s, we decided that it was only appropriate to show them off at the cruise circuit,….maybe check out the local illegal street racing scene later that night.
We all lived in Aurora actually, a suburb of Denver. Joe lived out in the sticks in east Aurora, it was so far out there,...it probably was not even in the city limits,…..but for whatever reason on this night,…we decided that we would meet out there, and go from his house, to downtown Denver to participate in the cruise we had heard about.
At 9 PM the three of us were all grouped up, and we headed out. I led the procession, and turned from his driveway, out onto Chambers road. Since it was a right turn,…I took advantage of the fact that I had an open differential,…and lit the right rear tire when turning out of his dad’s drive way. Joe in turn did the same,…and Erik followed suit. We turned onto the entrance ramp of I-70 west, nailed the gas, and ran all three cars up to about 100 mph before we finally slowed down to the then legal speed limit of 55 MPH for the remainder of the 20 mile drive to get into downtown Denver city center. I looked in my rearview to see the other two Mach’s right behind me………….. I just knew it was gonna be a great night.
Unfortunately there were two things that I didn’t know at that time:
#1. A car resembling mine had been reported stolen some time ago.
#2. There were two Aurora police cars sitting in a darkened side street w/ full view of all three cars smoking their right rear tires when turning onto Chambers road, then flying down the interstate at what had to be close to double the speed limit.
The next time I checked my rear view,…I was spooked by the sight of three A.P.D. cruisers flying up right behind us. Simultaneously they came around, and all three cruisers slid in behind us, each of our cars now being tailed by it’s own respective cop car,… seconds later, the red flashing lights came on.
We all pulled over, and as soon as we were stopped…. I opened my door to get out…, No sooner had I put one foot on the ground, I get blasted by the cop car PA: “DRIVER!!!! EXIT THE VEHICLE,….PUT YOUR HANDS ON TOP OF YOUR HEAD…AND WALK TO THE REAR OF THE VEHICLE!!!”
I gotta tell you,….I was pi ssing all over myself.
“DRIVER!!! PLACE YOUR HANDS ON THE TRUNK OF THE VEHICLE, AND SPREAD YOU LEGS!!!!”
Now I’m panicked,…they do this to you for going 100 MPH?
When I was “in position”,…. two officers emerged,…..cautiously approaching my bad self. I choked out the question and asked what I had done, and they responded w/ the typical request for my license and registration. I was so shook up by now , I was blabbering,…HHHeeerrres my LLLIcense and my RRRRegistraaasionnn………………….
Was in the trunk,…in a green plastic zippered bag my parents wanted me to carry all my “important papers” in.
It was like I was on autopilot,…..w/o thinking, the key to open the trunk was already in the lock, and once turned the trunk sprung up like it was a jack in the box.
You can probably imagine that this in turn startled the two cops as well:
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING????“The one cop yells,…the other has upholstered his gun now, and it is pointed straight at me….“I’m getting my registration sir” I responded, now on the verge of tears. “WHY IS IT IN THE TRUNK??” he yells
“Because that’s where my dad wants me to keep it” I replied, in full panic mode by now. Once we get past the surprise my overly sprung trunklid had in store for Auroras' finest,.Cop #1 tells me they were witness to our little escapade on Chambers road, and asked if we had seen them sitting back in the parking lot of the closed office building? “NO SIR,…..I didn’t, I said,….I certainly wouldn’t have smoked the tire if I knew you were there” I assured the cop
He takes my license and the registration, and he and his partner move back to their ”office” and proceed to check me out. “DON’T MOVE!” was the last set of instructions he barked at me before he turned and walked back to his car.
I was positive I was gonna be the victim of some mutated form of justice gone seriously wrong,and was starting to come to terms that I may go to jail this night…..After what seems like forever the cop car door opens, and he and his partner walk back up to me,…only this time they have a much more human look on their faces.
“We pulled you over because we thought you had seen our cars back there and were trying to run,……..A car matching this car’s description was reported stolen last week." He informs me. "I’m sure you can understand our concern that this might be that car“. The officer explained. “Where are you going in such a hurry?” he added.
“We were just messing around sir. We all have plans to check out the downtown cruise circuit.”. This was followed by each of the two officers looking at one another,….a significant silent period,…and officer #1 says:
“Look,……Here’s the deal. We’re gonna let all three of you go tonight, because we realize we probably caused you all a good bit of anguish. Do yourselves’ a favor and don’t let me catch any of you doing anything stupid tonight,..or I’m gonna remember all of this.”
I was so thankful, I woulda hugged the cop, but thought better of it. Instead I relegated myself to just shaking their hands,….and repeating over and over how I appreciated the break,…and assured them that they would not be seeing anymore of me that night. Thankful for the break, as well as not having to toss anybodies salad in the county jail that night,….I got back in my car,…and headed on towards the downtown cruise festivities.
Once back up to speed,….Erik pulls up alongside,…rolls down his window and yells…….. “What a bunch of Dicks”………I just rolled my eyes……smiled at him and thought “Dumb Phucker…..but for the graces of three sets of decent cops, he doesn’t know he narrowly missed being somebody’s b itch for the night“.
Once we get to our destination however, our imagined perfect world “American Graffitti” style cruise scene was soon smashed into oblivion as we become witness to what could only be described as a traffic jam, 10 blocks long.
The “cruise night” in downtown Denver was 6 lanes wide, bumper to bumper, and filled w/ carloads of teenagers in mommies’ cars and daddies’ cars. Peppered in between the multitude of pick ups, sedans and wagons were the stuff of legends,…Camaros, Chevelles, Chargers, and Cudas, Fairlanes, Cyclones, and of course,……..Mustangs. The “cruisers” would creep along,….going from stop light to stop light for the equivalent of about one mile on 15th street, cross over one block,….and return the exact same way down 16th. All of the Parking lots that lined the streets were jammed w/ even more cars that had decided to take a break from the slow motion cruise,….either because they chose to,…or the car forced them to because of overheating.
It took exactly one trip up and down the “circuit” before the three of us decided to pull into one of those lots to take a break from the “excitement”. The decision to do so, yielded huge benefits, as far as people watching goes,..because after parking the cars, and getting out,….standing in that parking lot was equivalent to front row seats at the circus.
What happened over the next 90 minutes in that parking lot is a whole ‘nother story,….one I’ll pick up next time when I continue. Suffice it to say that what had happened to us up to this point was mediocre by comparison, considering it was about 10 PM at this point,... and on this night my head wouldn’t hit the pillow till after 3AM. But like I said,…..I’ll leave that for another time.
When I was old enough to drive, and after I went through the obligatory slasher duty in my first 18 months of learning to drive, I graduated to real car status. I was 17 and a half, and had saved until I was able to buy my first real car. The car I truly wanted,….no,..... lusted after…….a 1969 mach 1.
I bought it from a dealership, off of their used lot for the then “reasonable” sum of $1750.00. . It was some pale shade of yellow, kind of a cream color,…(Ford called it Meadow Lark Yellow) It had black reflective stripes, w/ a black hood. It had a 4 bbl 351w, an FMX auto trans, and of course a 9” rear, all w/ only 44k on the speedo.
It was in great shape, and had no rust, no dents. I was also the second owner of that car, and at the time…….the envy of my group of gearhead wannabe friends.
Of the said group , two of them were so inspired by my car, that they had to have their very own versions of the same,…Joe Torpey had a Candy Apple Red 351 car,…..and Erik Skramstead was fortunate enough to come upon a Anti-Establish Mint Green 390/C-6 car when it came time for his.
Now that we all had three mach 1’s, we decided that it was only appropriate to show them off at the cruise circuit,….maybe check out the local illegal street racing scene later that night.
We all lived in Aurora actually, a suburb of Denver. Joe lived out in the sticks in east Aurora, it was so far out there,...it probably was not even in the city limits,…..but for whatever reason on this night,…we decided that we would meet out there, and go from his house, to downtown Denver to participate in the cruise we had heard about.
At 9 PM the three of us were all grouped up, and we headed out. I led the procession, and turned from his driveway, out onto Chambers road. Since it was a right turn,…I took advantage of the fact that I had an open differential,…and lit the right rear tire when turning out of his dad’s drive way. Joe in turn did the same,…and Erik followed suit. We turned onto the entrance ramp of I-70 west, nailed the gas, and ran all three cars up to about 100 mph before we finally slowed down to the then legal speed limit of 55 MPH for the remainder of the 20 mile drive to get into downtown Denver city center. I looked in my rearview to see the other two Mach’s right behind me………….. I just knew it was gonna be a great night.
Unfortunately there were two things that I didn’t know at that time:
#1. A car resembling mine had been reported stolen some time ago.
#2. There were two Aurora police cars sitting in a darkened side street w/ full view of all three cars smoking their right rear tires when turning onto Chambers road, then flying down the interstate at what had to be close to double the speed limit.
The next time I checked my rear view,…I was spooked by the sight of three A.P.D. cruisers flying up right behind us. Simultaneously they came around, and all three cruisers slid in behind us, each of our cars now being tailed by it’s own respective cop car,… seconds later, the red flashing lights came on.
We all pulled over, and as soon as we were stopped…. I opened my door to get out…, No sooner had I put one foot on the ground, I get blasted by the cop car PA: “DRIVER!!!! EXIT THE VEHICLE,….PUT YOUR HANDS ON TOP OF YOUR HEAD…AND WALK TO THE REAR OF THE VEHICLE!!!”
I gotta tell you,….I was pi ssing all over myself.
“DRIVER!!! PLACE YOUR HANDS ON THE TRUNK OF THE VEHICLE, AND SPREAD YOU LEGS!!!!”
Now I’m panicked,…they do this to you for going 100 MPH?
When I was “in position”,…. two officers emerged,…..cautiously approaching my bad self. I choked out the question and asked what I had done, and they responded w/ the typical request for my license and registration. I was so shook up by now , I was blabbering,…HHHeeerrres my LLLIcense and my RRRRegistraaasionnn………………….
Was in the trunk,…in a green plastic zippered bag my parents wanted me to carry all my “important papers” in.
It was like I was on autopilot,…..w/o thinking, the key to open the trunk was already in the lock, and once turned the trunk sprung up like it was a jack in the box.
You can probably imagine that this in turn startled the two cops as well:
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING????“The one cop yells,…the other has upholstered his gun now, and it is pointed straight at me….“I’m getting my registration sir” I responded, now on the verge of tears. “WHY IS IT IN THE TRUNK??” he yells
“Because that’s where my dad wants me to keep it” I replied, in full panic mode by now. Once we get past the surprise my overly sprung trunklid had in store for Auroras' finest,.Cop #1 tells me they were witness to our little escapade on Chambers road, and asked if we had seen them sitting back in the parking lot of the closed office building? “NO SIR,…..I didn’t, I said,….I certainly wouldn’t have smoked the tire if I knew you were there” I assured the cop
He takes my license and the registration, and he and his partner move back to their ”office” and proceed to check me out. “DON’T MOVE!” was the last set of instructions he barked at me before he turned and walked back to his car.
I was positive I was gonna be the victim of some mutated form of justice gone seriously wrong,and was starting to come to terms that I may go to jail this night…..After what seems like forever the cop car door opens, and he and his partner walk back up to me,…only this time they have a much more human look on their faces.
“We pulled you over because we thought you had seen our cars back there and were trying to run,……..A car matching this car’s description was reported stolen last week." He informs me. "I’m sure you can understand our concern that this might be that car“. The officer explained. “Where are you going in such a hurry?” he added.
“We were just messing around sir. We all have plans to check out the downtown cruise circuit.”. This was followed by each of the two officers looking at one another,….a significant silent period,…and officer #1 says:
“Look,……Here’s the deal. We’re gonna let all three of you go tonight, because we realize we probably caused you all a good bit of anguish. Do yourselves’ a favor and don’t let me catch any of you doing anything stupid tonight,..or I’m gonna remember all of this.”
I was so thankful, I woulda hugged the cop, but thought better of it. Instead I relegated myself to just shaking their hands,….and repeating over and over how I appreciated the break,…and assured them that they would not be seeing anymore of me that night. Thankful for the break, as well as not having to toss anybodies salad in the county jail that night,….I got back in my car,…and headed on towards the downtown cruise festivities.
Once back up to speed,….Erik pulls up alongside,…rolls down his window and yells…….. “What a bunch of Dicks”………I just rolled my eyes……smiled at him and thought “Dumb Phucker…..but for the graces of three sets of decent cops, he doesn’t know he narrowly missed being somebody’s b itch for the night“.
Once we get to our destination however, our imagined perfect world “American Graffitti” style cruise scene was soon smashed into oblivion as we become witness to what could only be described as a traffic jam, 10 blocks long.
The “cruise night” in downtown Denver was 6 lanes wide, bumper to bumper, and filled w/ carloads of teenagers in mommies’ cars and daddies’ cars. Peppered in between the multitude of pick ups, sedans and wagons were the stuff of legends,…Camaros, Chevelles, Chargers, and Cudas, Fairlanes, Cyclones, and of course,……..Mustangs. The “cruisers” would creep along,….going from stop light to stop light for the equivalent of about one mile on 15th street, cross over one block,….and return the exact same way down 16th. All of the Parking lots that lined the streets were jammed w/ even more cars that had decided to take a break from the slow motion cruise,….either because they chose to,…or the car forced them to because of overheating.
It took exactly one trip up and down the “circuit” before the three of us decided to pull into one of those lots to take a break from the “excitement”. The decision to do so, yielded huge benefits, as far as people watching goes,..because after parking the cars, and getting out,….standing in that parking lot was equivalent to front row seats at the circus.
What happened over the next 90 minutes in that parking lot is a whole ‘nother story,….one I’ll pick up next time when I continue. Suffice it to say that what had happened to us up to this point was mediocre by comparison, considering it was about 10 PM at this point,... and on this night my head wouldn’t hit the pillow till after 3AM. But like I said,…..I’ll leave that for another time.