OT: Rarest car you've seen on the road
04-15-2008, 11:20 PM
#34
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Rarest Car? (Sorry about the length)
I have seen many extremely rare vehicles on the road in my lifetime. Heck, I have even owned some of them. My very first car that I bought new, was a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 440-Magnum Six-Pack, 4spd pistol grip shifter, Dana 60, posi-410 rears. Hemi-Orange, Black Vinyl Top. I bought it new at Pasadena Dodge, in the Houston, Tx metro area. I sold it many years ago, something I still regret to this day. The next was a new 1979 930 ROW Turbo-Carrera, it too, was shown the exit door many years ago. I don't really regret selling that one, I actually made some serious cash when that one went to N.Y.C. The next was the most expensive, it was a 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO, one of 272 or so made between 1984-1985. V8-Twin Turbo, 180+MPH top speed. It was the forerunner to the F40. It was another profitable investment, and it was sold in 1995.
Out of all that I have actually owned or seen, there is ONLY ONE, that I can say, that even if I develop Alzheimer's, some day, I hope to be able to remember this car. The reason, there is so much about this car and the owner and the history that lead to this, I involves close to 20 years of my life, from the "first contact" till the last.
Chapter I, The First Contact
I grew up in Houston,Tx. and my very first "real public job" was at a new fast-food restaurant named "Taco Boy" it was located in Northtown Plaza Shopping Center in the late 1960's. I was working one evening, and a couple of guys about 25-30yrs old came in with some very "hot" company. I took their orders, and could tell that they had been partying a good bit. I later was talking to the "group leader" about cars and football because he had finished eating, and we weren't busy at all, they were to only customers there. We talked for probably 15min or so, and he introduced himself to me and I did likewise. Then they were ready to leave and were wanting to get another drink to go, for a mixer and I gave them the drinks, and didn't charge them. This was many, many years, before any place gave "FREE RE-FILLS" Then he and his company left the restaurant. I really wasn't familiar with him, but I knew more of his father, John Sr.
Chapter II, The Interim Years
Fast forward to Halloween Night, 1976. I was working Patrol that night, in the "High Rent District"(sarcasm) of the east side of Houston, near the ship channel area, when I was involved with my first, live fire, shoot-out with an armed robber, that had just robbed the "Stop-n-Rob" that all the police would stop in to get coffee, or a coke, or use the black telephone that was always on the counters of these stores for law enforcement to use. There was not really anything as cell phones, radio-phones service was around, but sucked badly, and pagers were still sometimes hit or miss. The "black phones" even had a sticker on the receiver that stated, "POLICE ONLY" I parked the marked unit to the left of the front doors to the store, and I was going to go in and get a cup of coffee and use the phone. While walking on the pea-gravel front walk area, where the newspaper machines, and pay-phones were, I was heading toward the doors, when this guy comes busting out through the entry doors. he had a small paper bag in one hand, and a little shiny .25 auto in the other hand. He saw the uniform, and he turned towards me and fired 2 rounds, at me. i drew down on him, and got a full mag, of .45ACP going center mass in his direction, and I also realize that I am falling to the ground. I hit the ground on my left side, and shucked that mag and popped in a fresh one, and hit the slide release on the Colt Combat Commander to get it back in battery, to prepare for more of the same. There was no more. After gathering my whits again, I had to assay my damage. I lucked out with one of his rounds, it only went through the fabric of my left arm, long sleeve uniform shirt, but I could not get up. I was not so lucky with the other round. The other round went through my left knee, just to the inner right of my knee-cap, and went through the joint, and exited the outer backside of my leg on the left side, blowing out all the ligaments and then blasting through the Common Peroneal Nerve. It actually didn't hurt very much from the gunshot, but the other damage did a very short time after. I know that I had been very lucky, because this was before ballistic vests or body armor was really being used, except by the bomb squad guys. I almost lost my leg, from mid thigh, due to the damage and resulting complications. Five surgeries later, I had somewhat limited motor function, but poor sensory nerve function, below my left knee, on the topside of my leg. The back side is handled by the tibial nerve, which only suffered limited damage due to lack of blood circulation in my leg. While I was hospitalized, a total of 224 days, over the period of time for the surgeries, I had a great view of Herman Park, the Houston Zoo, and a really big fountain, that was in front of the Warwick Hotel in sort of a traffic circle. It was named after John Sr. This was somewhat like my "second contact" with this particular persons family, because I could see that fountain from my various hospital rooms.
Chapter III, The Recovery
The last time I had any dealings with John Jr. was in the very 1980's. Again, it was a very chance meeting. I had been back on the job for a few years, but I was now a Sergeant, working in the 2-C District of North East Houston/Harris County. This was on a Friday night. I was involved in a very high speed chase, that had numerous agencies, and helicopters involved. The first sign of the problem, was about 3:00am, when something busted the radar at over 130mph going North on U.S.59. I hit the overheads and it appeared the driver caught another gear, because the speed hit 149mph on the radar unit. I knew that my unit could not even catch up to the car, let alone get him stopped. I radioed in the information that I could give, but it was not much, except a red blur from when it went by me. There were other units looking out for it, to intercept it where they were, but I guess the driver just decided to screw with me, because it was not but a few minutes, and he buzzes me again. This time it was south bound, and was at very high speed again. I did not even bother to attempt a chase. I called it in, and then got in touch with a few units, on the car to car frequency, and devised a plan. One of the units I talked to, was my best friend, and previous long time partner Chris. We had known each other since we were 14 years old and his birthday was just two days after mine, we were the same age, except me being two days older than Chris. After the "red blur" had buzzed me twice, I thought that he would probably do it again. But, this time, we would be set-up and ready for him. I had a couple of Foxbat choppers in the air, and close to 15 units staged at various locations. I also had roadblocks set-up forcing all the traffic to exit, and have to drive down the service road. The spot that I chose to do this, there was no re-entry to U.S. 59 North for quite a bit, due to highway construction. I thought that it would be the perfect place to trap the "flash" I was correct! I am sitting at the head of the pack, with my radar unit turned on to the maximum, distance range. After waiting having everything set-up, and waiting for close to a half hour, the radar unit started going nuts again, I thought, "He's Back" The roadblock worked perfectly, and with the small amount of traffic back-up, he had to slow down. He knew the choppers had the "night sun" lights on him, and he could see all of the "disco lights" at the roadblocks. He slowed down a lot, and did what I hoped we could guide him toward. It was a new road, that went off of the northbound service road, into a future subdivision. The road that he was forced to take, was a freshly cut-in roadbed, and it had been raining a lot the two previous days. The rain made that new cut roadway like a tractor mud bog lane. I was right on his *** when he hit the muck, and the car had such low clearance, it sank to the frame and was hopelessly stuck. I got the driver out of the car, under gunpoint, then I hooked him up, and trudged back to my unit a put his *** in the back. There must have been 30 units that actually showed up and lent a hand, along with the two Foxbat choppers. I called for a wrecker to pull the car out of the mud and take to the substation for inventory and impound. It was after the car got to the substation, and after about three hours, my next contact with John Jr. was made. I had run the VIN on the car to obtain the owners name, because the car had no license plates. I had the shop people pressure wash the mud and muck from the car, then had it placed in the service shop, to keep it from being outside.
Chapter IV, The Final Contact
That Saturday morning, was the last personal contact I had with John Jr. This was when he came to the shop to pick up his car that I and a lot of other help had recovered. I will not ever forget what he told me when he came to pick it up. He stated that he was so thankful that it was recovered without damage, because he did not have any insurance on it, and it would have been a high cost loss had it been totaled or even badly damaged. My longtime friend Chris had stayed there with me waiting for the owner to come pick up his car. He thanked and thanked and thanked me for being able to return his car to him. I told him that Chris had also helped me and was involved with the recovery. He looked the car over, then got in and drove off, with a big smile on his face. That was the last time I saw John Jr.
Epilogue
"Now for the rest of the story" as Paul Harvey would say. The person that is John Jr. is otherwise known as John W. Mecom Jr. The first contact with him was at Taco Boy, it was just shortly after he became the owner of the New Orleans Saints, at age 27.
The fountain was named for his Father, John W. Mecom Sr. He was uber rich from the oil industry in Texas and other business areas.
The car in question, was a beautiful red, Lamborghini Countach LP500S, that one of his employees, pushed it out of the building, and rolled it down the street a bit, before firing it up and hauling *** with it for a joy ride. That was the last time that I saw that particular car, and the last time I saw John Mecom Jr.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you made it through this rather long post, I salute you. Tony.
Out of all that I have actually owned or seen, there is ONLY ONE, that I can say, that even if I develop Alzheimer's, some day, I hope to be able to remember this car. The reason, there is so much about this car and the owner and the history that lead to this, I involves close to 20 years of my life, from the "first contact" till the last.
Chapter I, The First Contact
I grew up in Houston,Tx. and my very first "real public job" was at a new fast-food restaurant named "Taco Boy" it was located in Northtown Plaza Shopping Center in the late 1960's. I was working one evening, and a couple of guys about 25-30yrs old came in with some very "hot" company. I took their orders, and could tell that they had been partying a good bit. I later was talking to the "group leader" about cars and football because he had finished eating, and we weren't busy at all, they were to only customers there. We talked for probably 15min or so, and he introduced himself to me and I did likewise. Then they were ready to leave and were wanting to get another drink to go, for a mixer and I gave them the drinks, and didn't charge them. This was many, many years, before any place gave "FREE RE-FILLS" Then he and his company left the restaurant. I really wasn't familiar with him, but I knew more of his father, John Sr.
Chapter II, The Interim Years
Fast forward to Halloween Night, 1976. I was working Patrol that night, in the "High Rent District"(sarcasm) of the east side of Houston, near the ship channel area, when I was involved with my first, live fire, shoot-out with an armed robber, that had just robbed the "Stop-n-Rob" that all the police would stop in to get coffee, or a coke, or use the black telephone that was always on the counters of these stores for law enforcement to use. There was not really anything as cell phones, radio-phones service was around, but sucked badly, and pagers were still sometimes hit or miss. The "black phones" even had a sticker on the receiver that stated, "POLICE ONLY" I parked the marked unit to the left of the front doors to the store, and I was going to go in and get a cup of coffee and use the phone. While walking on the pea-gravel front walk area, where the newspaper machines, and pay-phones were, I was heading toward the doors, when this guy comes busting out through the entry doors. he had a small paper bag in one hand, and a little shiny .25 auto in the other hand. He saw the uniform, and he turned towards me and fired 2 rounds, at me. i drew down on him, and got a full mag, of .45ACP going center mass in his direction, and I also realize that I am falling to the ground. I hit the ground on my left side, and shucked that mag and popped in a fresh one, and hit the slide release on the Colt Combat Commander to get it back in battery, to prepare for more of the same. There was no more. After gathering my whits again, I had to assay my damage. I lucked out with one of his rounds, it only went through the fabric of my left arm, long sleeve uniform shirt, but I could not get up. I was not so lucky with the other round. The other round went through my left knee, just to the inner right of my knee-cap, and went through the joint, and exited the outer backside of my leg on the left side, blowing out all the ligaments and then blasting through the Common Peroneal Nerve. It actually didn't hurt very much from the gunshot, but the other damage did a very short time after. I know that I had been very lucky, because this was before ballistic vests or body armor was really being used, except by the bomb squad guys. I almost lost my leg, from mid thigh, due to the damage and resulting complications. Five surgeries later, I had somewhat limited motor function, but poor sensory nerve function, below my left knee, on the topside of my leg. The back side is handled by the tibial nerve, which only suffered limited damage due to lack of blood circulation in my leg. While I was hospitalized, a total of 224 days, over the period of time for the surgeries, I had a great view of Herman Park, the Houston Zoo, and a really big fountain, that was in front of the Warwick Hotel in sort of a traffic circle. It was named after John Sr. This was somewhat like my "second contact" with this particular persons family, because I could see that fountain from my various hospital rooms.
Chapter III, The Recovery
The last time I had any dealings with John Jr. was in the very 1980's. Again, it was a very chance meeting. I had been back on the job for a few years, but I was now a Sergeant, working in the 2-C District of North East Houston/Harris County. This was on a Friday night. I was involved in a very high speed chase, that had numerous agencies, and helicopters involved. The first sign of the problem, was about 3:00am, when something busted the radar at over 130mph going North on U.S.59. I hit the overheads and it appeared the driver caught another gear, because the speed hit 149mph on the radar unit. I knew that my unit could not even catch up to the car, let alone get him stopped. I radioed in the information that I could give, but it was not much, except a red blur from when it went by me. There were other units looking out for it, to intercept it where they were, but I guess the driver just decided to screw with me, because it was not but a few minutes, and he buzzes me again. This time it was south bound, and was at very high speed again. I did not even bother to attempt a chase. I called it in, and then got in touch with a few units, on the car to car frequency, and devised a plan. One of the units I talked to, was my best friend, and previous long time partner Chris. We had known each other since we were 14 years old and his birthday was just two days after mine, we were the same age, except me being two days older than Chris. After the "red blur" had buzzed me twice, I thought that he would probably do it again. But, this time, we would be set-up and ready for him. I had a couple of Foxbat choppers in the air, and close to 15 units staged at various locations. I also had roadblocks set-up forcing all the traffic to exit, and have to drive down the service road. The spot that I chose to do this, there was no re-entry to U.S. 59 North for quite a bit, due to highway construction. I thought that it would be the perfect place to trap the "flash" I was correct! I am sitting at the head of the pack, with my radar unit turned on to the maximum, distance range. After waiting having everything set-up, and waiting for close to a half hour, the radar unit started going nuts again, I thought, "He's Back" The roadblock worked perfectly, and with the small amount of traffic back-up, he had to slow down. He knew the choppers had the "night sun" lights on him, and he could see all of the "disco lights" at the roadblocks. He slowed down a lot, and did what I hoped we could guide him toward. It was a new road, that went off of the northbound service road, into a future subdivision. The road that he was forced to take, was a freshly cut-in roadbed, and it had been raining a lot the two previous days. The rain made that new cut roadway like a tractor mud bog lane. I was right on his *** when he hit the muck, and the car had such low clearance, it sank to the frame and was hopelessly stuck. I got the driver out of the car, under gunpoint, then I hooked him up, and trudged back to my unit a put his *** in the back. There must have been 30 units that actually showed up and lent a hand, along with the two Foxbat choppers. I called for a wrecker to pull the car out of the mud and take to the substation for inventory and impound. It was after the car got to the substation, and after about three hours, my next contact with John Jr. was made. I had run the VIN on the car to obtain the owners name, because the car had no license plates. I had the shop people pressure wash the mud and muck from the car, then had it placed in the service shop, to keep it from being outside.
Chapter IV, The Final Contact
That Saturday morning, was the last personal contact I had with John Jr. This was when he came to the shop to pick up his car that I and a lot of other help had recovered. I will not ever forget what he told me when he came to pick it up. He stated that he was so thankful that it was recovered without damage, because he did not have any insurance on it, and it would have been a high cost loss had it been totaled or even badly damaged. My longtime friend Chris had stayed there with me waiting for the owner to come pick up his car. He thanked and thanked and thanked me for being able to return his car to him. I told him that Chris had also helped me and was involved with the recovery. He looked the car over, then got in and drove off, with a big smile on his face. That was the last time I saw John Jr.
Epilogue
"Now for the rest of the story" as Paul Harvey would say. The person that is John Jr. is otherwise known as John W. Mecom Jr. The first contact with him was at Taco Boy, it was just shortly after he became the owner of the New Orleans Saints, at age 27.
The fountain was named for his Father, John W. Mecom Sr. He was uber rich from the oil industry in Texas and other business areas.
The car in question, was a beautiful red, Lamborghini Countach LP500S, that one of his employees, pushed it out of the building, and rolled it down the street a bit, before firing it up and hauling *** with it for a joy ride. That was the last time that I saw that particular car, and the last time I saw John Mecom Jr.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you made it through this rather long post, I salute you. Tony.
Last edited by 3.2SLANTNOSE; 04-16-2008 at 10:51 AM. Reason: spell/ck
04-16-2008, 05:49 AM
#36
Burning Brakes
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Tony, awesome story - I've seen a Countach on the road twice and both times it was awe inspiring. Sooooooo much more impressive than any modern Lambo. And I can't believe you owned a 288GTO - my all time favourite non-Porsche. Stunning. I saw one once parked up, really impressive.
And I also saw a Daytona two days ago. You know, I think that I'm seeing too many rare cars, I need to stay in more!
And I also saw a Daytona two days ago. You know, I think that I'm seeing too many rare cars, I need to stay in more!
04-16-2008, 11:27 AM
#37
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The GTO was truly an awesome automobile. They also made just a hand full of the next stage of the 288GTO was the 288-GTO-Evoluzione, with massive HP, over 650! Totally spastic!!
When I was a lot younger, I was not really aware of all of the race and track involvement and influence that John W. Mecom Jr. had and still is associated with. The Porsche Dealer in New Orleans that I use for factory only parts, is owned by the present N.O. Saints owner, Tom Benson. He also is big in the high-end car game.
I have to agree with what a lot of people that know me really well, that I have had a charmed life, with a guardian angle going along for the ride. During my 20+yr L.E. career, I was shot 3 different times and stabbed twice. After all of this, I was taken out by a drunk driver, that hit me head-on at 110+mph. The drunk got a broken arm, while I sustained massive spinal and internal injuries, that forced me into retirement. But I have to say, "It was a hell of a ride along the way" and would not trade it for anything.
When I was a lot younger, I was not really aware of all of the race and track involvement and influence that John W. Mecom Jr. had and still is associated with. The Porsche Dealer in New Orleans that I use for factory only parts, is owned by the present N.O. Saints owner, Tom Benson. He also is big in the high-end car game.
I have to agree with what a lot of people that know me really well, that I have had a charmed life, with a guardian angle going along for the ride. During my 20+yr L.E. career, I was shot 3 different times and stabbed twice. After all of this, I was taken out by a drunk driver, that hit me head-on at 110+mph. The drunk got a broken arm, while I sustained massive spinal and internal injuries, that forced me into retirement. But I have to say, "It was a hell of a ride along the way" and would not trade it for anything.
04-16-2008, 11:42 AM
#38
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When I was a child, I had the chance of a lifetime. I spend a couple of hours riding around the Scottish countryside in the jump-seat of the Ecurie Ecosse Type D Jaguar that won the 1956 24 hrs of Le Mans. If I recall it was Shaw that said "youth is wasted on the young". ... oh did I mention that the driver was Ninian Sanderson, the gentleman that drove that car to the Le Mans victory in '56. Although I have seen ridden in and driven some very rare cars on the road and track since, that experience, as a 9 year old, was a pivotal turning point in the the road to the motorsport addiction.
04-16-2008, 01:02 PM
#39
Drifting
Tony,
Your story was not too long, I enjoyed reading every bit of it
A friend of mine was give a ride in a yellow Countach in Cary, NC last year, he said it's an experience that will never be forgotten.
John
Your story was not too long, I enjoyed reading every bit of it
A friend of mine was give a ride in a yellow Countach in Cary, NC last year, he said it's an experience that will never be forgotten.
John
04-16-2008, 01:41 PM
#41
Rennlist Member
on a recent trip to cali, both resorts at palm springs and laguna were loaded with cool cars..at laquinta resort saw two ladies get out of a burgundy 612 scagletti as soon as we showed up in our little audi rental.
that place was great for sheer quantity.. also got a kick out of 3 MB S63s taking up spots in the same small parking area, and 2 bentley flying spurs pulling up consecutively for dinner. i bet both of those guys were pissed. lol
also saw a white new M3. verrrry nice in person.
OT also saw the delicious gwen stefani pushng a stroller right past my swiveling head..
at montage in laguna got a few pics of an orange lambo gallardo 'superleggera'
oh to add, last year on park ave audi ran a (or is it 'the') 1930's vintage auto union racer for a pr gig..boy that was loud!
and ferrari dlr at park ave had the maserati mc12 on display too.
that place was great for sheer quantity.. also got a kick out of 3 MB S63s taking up spots in the same small parking area, and 2 bentley flying spurs pulling up consecutively for dinner. i bet both of those guys were pissed. lol
also saw a white new M3. verrrry nice in person.
OT also saw the delicious gwen stefani pushng a stroller right past my swiveling head..
at montage in laguna got a few pics of an orange lambo gallardo 'superleggera'
oh to add, last year on park ave audi ran a (or is it 'the') 1930's vintage auto union racer for a pr gig..boy that was loud!
and ferrari dlr at park ave had the maserati mc12 on display too.
04-16-2008, 02:15 PM
#43
Rennlist Member
I have been in Middeltown numerous times in my Porsche and I have seen them there. I see at least 40 Pcars a day up here.
I guess it all depends on were you live I see F40's, Enzo's F50's fairly often, I have 2 Delorean's that live around the corner. They truly are a joke, I almost purchased one new until I test drove it. Not really much you don't see around the metro NYC area. I just saw a new M3 last week not bad looking. Saw 6 or 8 288 GTO's up at Amerispec years ago when they shot the cover for Cavallino. I had a chance to drive one in Europe, wild ride and still one of the best looking cars of all time IMO. Joe Nastasi brought his last made Lamborghini Countach by my shop a few years back it only had 400 miles at the time. Maybach's galore including Trump's new black one with Ivanca in the back seat. Surprisingly saw that one twice in one week.
Rarest car I have seen was probably a 1904 Buick. Don't know what model. Although we have a number of Dusenberg's and Cords I see on occasion.
04-16-2008, 02:34 PM
#44
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One of the rarest cars I've seen/driven/worked on, Facel Vega II. I did the interior on it about a year ago. White exteior with two tone gray interior. They drive pretty good. Designed by the Italians, built by the French and powered by Chrysler. Had a 440 in it. The lady that owns it is extremly nice and said I can use it for shows if I want. The other rare car is a Porsche 916, you may have heard of this one. I remember it being at my house, someone brought it over to show my dad. It was the Brumos 916.
