Just Saw Spdkls Rx7 On Ch9 6pm News

[krzysiu]

If its not a daily driver and is a hobby car or what not, it should still be ok to display the car and lets assume they organise it to be towed and they dont drive it at all.

Really doesn't matter if it is towed or not. If it has a current registration it is up to the owner to keep it road worthy. Police can still get your for it.

[dezz]

I don't think anyones saying that the cops were WRONG in defecting defectable cars, but the point is, they have discretionary power, and in this case it should have been used to improve relations with the enthusiast community.

Sure the car might have a front mount and a pod, but the fact that its parked at an organised even, which is run together with the Australian GP, they should let it slide....if they were ripping it up at the car park, then bend them over without lube, but they were simply parked and doing nothing wrong (apart from having a car modified illegally obviously) and we all know that 99.9% of cars on the road can be defected for something.

[Pax-Ottomanica]

who really cares about taking sides

if you have illegal modifications on your car, then you have illegal modifications. just because he an enthusiast or that he was in a public car show doesnt change that. its no different to having your car in autosalon. the car still has illegal modifications

Breaking the law?

Come on Paul, wake up and smell the coffee.. it's not like people are committing a homicide or theft to be breaking laws! These kind of auctions by the police make me sick to my stomach.. it was harsh and can not be justified, but in reality when your average Joe is usually friendly to a police officer and appreciative of their work, they turn against them and begin to despise them.

Edited February 17, 2007 by Janissary

[ADDICTED2R34s]

lol whats next are they going to start rocking up to workshops and walk in while a cars on the hoist and give fines out aswell. iam becomeing a cop so i can have power trips all day on everyone.

[Nefret]

It's bullshit, once they dicked my mate for having his seat a bit loose, my mate walked up to the cops car and shook his seat and it was worse than my mates. The cops like that doesnt matter ? so wtf.

[Roy]

Yeh they are doing a job...so i think its about time the laws are changed so that they are not as punitive and do not take up the time and resources of police.

First it was 8 police on a street corner booking j-walkers, now its police walking up to an organised events handing out infringements to car owners.

The laws are wrong. And the agencies are ass about. Vic roads, EPA, Police all have different takes on what is legal and what is not, engineers tell you one thing only to have the guy giving you a road worthy say the car is fine...again for Vic Roads to say we are not experts on what is legal and Police to fine you for things that may be illegal. See an engineer, even they dont agree on all things

Its all ass about and the state government need to get a grip. I suppose they want us to use public transport. Shame you cant catch a train at the moment as half of them are off getting brakes repaired. before that there was insufficient number of train drivers.

If i put a bigger intercooler on my car. If i put a pod filter on my car. If i change the ECU so that i can run a better turbo so i can play at the track. Provided my car isnt belching black plumes of smoke under boost from being poorly tuned then whats the problem.

Hell make me pay a higher rego annually because i drive a modified car and that i conceed that my older modified car isnt as clean as a VX Commodore. But letting ppl spend thousands on their cars at workshops which they gladly take their GST on. Then to have a road worthy inspection guy say yes its safe and right for the roads. Then to have an officer, who technically has no formal qualification regarding mechanics or ADRs deem your car isnt roadworthy...

It takes a lot for me to get upset, but the laws may be the laws...but the laws are wrong and need to change.

A person can get charged with assault and financially not be hit as hard as the average modified car owner. Sure we need rules ands guidelines, and as a community need to ensure that what we are doing to our cars is safe...but a $100 fine for forgetting to get a day pass when you were rushing to the airport. $100 !!!!!!!!!!!! Changing street signs without notifying residents in writing and getting $150 worth of parking tickets in 4 days...all for leaving your car in the same spot you always have. This is already bad enough. I cant wait for when i get on the mery go round for having a modified car.

My car is entered in the F1 display and im now guessing i will be hit hard if they chose to look at my car. I dont want it to happen, but i besst get the vaseline ready.

I dont need to be working on Vic...perhaps the joke about my rego plate over Xmas is right. VIC - THE STATE TO BE leaving

[Mean_R34]

I wasn't there to see it, but having read this thread thus far, I feel it poor form on the cops behalf to dick enthusiasts for having a car show.

Illegal mods are illegal, but a bit ghey to throw the book @ ppl for behaving themselves.

Could have hung around for any drivers on departure.

They should be working towards better relationships with car clubs and not getting ppls backs up for getting together at a static meet.

Bit like the cop convergence @ Docklands on fund raising cruises for charities. Weak!

Shame on the person who called this possibly unnecessary harassment.

[EZZY]

simple solution:

mod your car properly within the guideline, have it engineered and dont be a dickhead/hoon/hero on the road. the cops are just doing their job.

/i wish i had the time/effert to go through my modding life again, i'd def. do things abit differently.

[Sarumatix]

Ezzy not sure if you have your eyes shut, but that doesn't even slightly work. A mate of mine spent A LOT of time and money getting his car engineered when he brought it into the country. It's a very nice example of an aristo. The cop pulled him over and says haha you've got around me by having an engineers certificate, pity but you'll still be going to the epa.. have a good day. I'm not joking. He also mentioned if it was older than 30 days he would have ignored it.

Further more the guildlines are total rubbish.. if engineers certificates don't count for squat (which lets face it they don't) the only mods you can do are like pod or intercooler. Everything else will get you raped by the EPA. Finally if you think EPA is an isolated event, think again almost every single story you read on here and what all my friends have been telling me it's the latest cop game, pull over try and get some cheap shots with defects and then send you off to EPA regardless of how many defects.

It reminds me of some communist countries to be honest (I know a very harsh comparison but hear me out) over there a lot of their legal system used to be about dobbing your neighbours in without any need for justification. Many people were taken and bashed because someone didn't like something minor like the time they did their washing (I made that up but you get my point). Police these days have no justification for what they do, they don't need to know a thing about cars, all they have to do is point at some random stock part and say.. I don't know what that is, i'm defecting you for a BOV after market turbo, jet turbine, rocket boster, misfiring system etc etc.. you CAN'T DO A THING. The only thing you can do is go out of your way to get it cleared... GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT.. HELLO? I thought we were living in Australia land of the free. And even after you manage to go through the pain of booking in with vicroads etc.. you still get a letter in the mail from EPA... so you have to go through all that. This time is not free or fun, but no one gets reimbursed for it. All because someone didn't like the cut of your jib. I'm not saying it happens everyday, but it is definately happening, you'd be blind not to see it. I think this event has highlighted just how broken the system is when it is legal for cops to enter public events with the intent of spoiling it. Maybe you think i'm being too harsh on it all, but the way I see it.. these events should be legal, if they are not (which many people seem to be suggesting) the system is wrong.

[Coupe-This]

thing is people, yes i cbf reading it all since my last post

some of the cars ppl enter in shows are show cars. never driven etc ... and yet they get canaries, several years ago, when i owned my vl, member of the calaisturbo club (dont ask why i really dont knwo :s) and all that, they had a vl at austosalon onice i think it was.

wasnte even registered or being driven on the road, at the time, and it sitll had a canary on it .. yup

good ol police

im all for doing the right thing ... but striking at things like this is stupid. And they do it at car club events. If the police were more serious about things, there are better ways to go about it, and it could always improve the barrier between the two worlds

and paul, if im not mistaken, i beleive your car is illegally modified, ill make sure ill inform the police

[B-rad33]

simple solution:

mod your car properly within the guideline, have it engineered and dont be a dickhead/hoon/hero on the road. the cops are just doing their job.

/i wish i had the time/effert to go through my modding life again, i'd def. do things abit differently.

That may help in some ways, but they can always find things. A friend got a canary when he got a car brand new from the showroom!

Edited February 18, 2007 by B-rad33

[Starionturbo]

I cant beleive this happened, I am glad I didnt take my car and I wont be taking my car to shows in future.

This state will get so bad, that soon the cops will be door knocking and going to garages to EPA and Defect cars.

To all those agreeing with the cops, your just brownie scoring hypocrits, you would be crying foul if it was your car in the same situation, you guys contribute to the problem, not the solution. Cops aint gonna give you a star every time you talk about how law abiding and proper you and your situation is.

[EZZY]

engineer certificate cover all thing you have done to your car. a modified car can be tuned to the EPA standard during the engineer certification process. but it doesnt stop ppl boosting it/run different fuel/tuning program after it has been engineered. hence the cop will still ask you to go to EPA even though you have the car engineered.

i have had a mate of mine asking to go to EPA for a noise test when he has a stock exhaust on his honda.... so there you go. and trust me, the cops/authorities will go an extra step to find "faults/defects" if they really want to... even though the car is engineered.

another mate of mine has his imported nissan defecetd with a sponsor's sticker on the windscreen (the wiper touches the stickers when in motion...), when his car has been engineered for the engine works, sussy, wheels, half cage etc.

not everyone can be trusted these days... rather to be safe then sorry... and it is one of these things you have to put up with when owning/driving a registered modded vehicle.

To all those agreeing with the cops, your just brownie scoring hypocrits, you would be crying foul if it was your car in the same situation, you guys contribute to the problem, not the solution. Cops aint gonna give you a star every time you talk about how law abiding and proper you and your situation is.

i agree with the cops because 99% of them are/were doing the right thing. doesnt mean im sucking up to them and trying to brownie points. i dont agree with them for a certain things. heck, i still have a modified car sitting in my garage in sydney for over the last 4 yeras because of RTA/EPA defects.

[MissyK]

I disagree. I dont believe the police where in the right in this instance. this was a complete raid. If they had waited outside like they do at autosalon - thats different!

There are so many other crimes which are 1000000000 times worse then giving out a bloody canary and you are saying they are doing their jobs. They can go do their jobs elsewhere, go catch some real crims.

another thing is how many times do you see cars with brake lights that dont work, or old bombs which have pitch black smoke trailing out of their exhausts non stop . Tell me their cars are ok? What about old cars with brakes that hardly work. I am pretty sure all/most of us on here would have decent brakes for our cars and always have most things working. So why pick on us cuz we got "MODS" why not go pull over an old car whoz fumes probaly 10 times worse then that of a modified car. When i see a rust bucket early 80's laser ford with taillights hangin off the rear, and smoke trailing behind, and of course they speedin - boy it pisses me off!!!!

this is all bullshit and if we're going to blame anyone, blame the morons who out there being heroes who now have ruined it for all of us.

[DogKnight]

another thing is how many times do you see cars with brake lights that dont work, or old bombs which have pitch black smoke trailing out of their exhausts non stop . Tell me their cars are ok? What about old cars with brakes that hardly work. I am pretty sure all/most of us on here would have decent brakes for our cars and always have most things working. So why pick on us cuz we got "MODS" why not go pull over an old car whoz fumes probaly 10 times worse then that of a modified car. When i see a rust bucket early 80's laser ford with taillights hangin off the rear, and smoke trailing behind, and of course they speedin - boy it pisses me off!!!!

That pisses me off too. A skyline looking completely stock, in really good nick, with no noticeable problems, drving next to an old ford laser, with rust all over it, parts hanging off, and hardly in working condition. Which do you think will get pulled over? Most of the time its the import.

[Nefret]

Hardly any probly not even any politicians drive imports ? this is why we get dicked.

[Roy]

Dont be too one eyed. I walk about 38-40kms a week to/from work. I see so many cars pulled over, very rarely are they imports. I also see lots of other makes, and older cars pulled over. I have no idea if its licence checks, speeding etc....but dont cry martyr to loudly as Police are pretty good at getting the dodgy cars. It just happens that many imports are have stuff done to them that are technically illegal so wheeling one over to the side of the road will normally net a few defects.

But my problem isnt with the Police. Sure they could perhaps show a bit more disgression...maybe, but i cant presume to know what their jobs entail.

Ever so slowly im starting to resent the laws that are being passed, then area commanders encouraging members to go out and patrol/enforce these laws.

The state govt needs to lay off. I doubt ppl joined the police service to be pulling cars over and copping lip from disgruntled motorists. Sure if there have been driving infringements then your on the radar. But going over cars? Wouldnt they have got jobs for Vic Roads if thats what they wanted to be doing.

I dont know much about the Vic state govt....surely there are members out there who are for their electorate. I wonder if they feel the attention that motorists are receiving is warranted?

Again, im all for sensible guidelines and rules for modifying cars. Im all for ensuring ppl drive sensibly and withing the laws. I have no problem with speed cameras etc etc. Its the whole car modification legality issue that needs an overhaul.

And saying fo engineer the car. Thats a fair point. But two engineers see things differently and will apply their interpretations differently. And you can still only get a car engineered within the Vic Roads regulations....its the regulations that i have a problem with. Cant have an aftermarket intercooler and air filter??? Cant have a different turbo and ecu. What about the good old fashioned car tinkering. Somebody takes their 308 VH Commodore and puts a different cam, some roller rockers with Edlebrock manifold and bigger carbie with electronic dizzy. Thats cool, but its the same thing in my eyes.

[EZZY]

the police have every right to physically defect vehicles on the spot unless it is in a private area.... and if they really want to get you & if they are able to identify your vehicle by the number plates, you will most likely be receiving a letter requesting for an inspection.

from the pix i have seen from this BBT night event, it was an open area, and looks like everyone can just walk in to admir/laugh at the cars... so what makes it different for the cops to walk in and having a power trip?

during my auto salon competing days, i have seen cops walking inside the auto salon show arenas/halls/exhibition centres taking down number plates and defect cars (during the weekend, while competing/showing), as well as pulling cars over defecting when they have lfet the show on sunday evening/night.

[SS8_Gohan]

in golf, there is a something called "within the spirit of the game", it's not a rule, but an understanding... basically, there are some things that you can "technically" do... eg, your ball is just off the green, but in the way of your playing partner, so you can mark it if he/she asks you to. You mark it. "Technically" when you place your ball back down there is nothing stopping you from aligning a logo/line on your ball, in the direction of the way you want to putt, helping you with the next shot. Your ball wasn't at rest like that, but because you had to mark it and then replace it, there's nothing stopping you putting it down any way you wish. Thing is, that isn't "within the spirit of the game", you've taken an unfair advantage, within the rules of the game. Hence, the term "within the spirit of the game" to help in those particular situations.

Yes technically the police can fine these cars, but, it's definitely not "within the spirit of the game" and by no means helps police / community relationships. (please don't take the word 'game' too literally people)

Anyone noticed what the NSW police just received? A Lotus Exige, yellow, black rims, T-wing. The Police themselves have said they hope it will bridge the gap a little between the enthuisasts and the police, give a bit of a common talking point, improve relations a little.

BBT fiasco? Anti-pr exercise is you ask me...

[ctjet]

woah... thats fcuked up

poor kent