Officer Pruette is about 6'6", about 250 pounds, and packs a big gun. But before I say anymore that may incriminate me, let me tell you a little about downtown Mountain View which is a couple blocks from my office where I work on Lucky.
Downtown Mountain View is one of those quaint main streets bustling with cafes, restaurants, book stores, shops, bars with live music and lots more. Just as it begins to get dark there are lots of couples and people walking from the homes with the big trees lining the quite streets surrounding the down town area. You can hear laughter and live music under the stars especially on Friday and Saturday evenings. Many times people will wander into my shop to check out some of the nice rides we are working on on their way downtown. Needless to say, it's pretty laid back and very Californian lifestyle.
Now, back to Officer Pruette... Today I put the rear end back in the car but never really had any time to go "test" things out. When I finally got ready to go I was turning the car around and then something bad happened. The clutch pedal assembly had something wrong and I was NOT a happy camper especially due to the fact I could only blame myself since I was the only one who worked on it. All I needed was something that was short of perfect not to mention right after last nights rear end travisty. Now frustration was beginning to set in only because crunch time is upon me.
So this evening I stayed late and removed the entire clutch pedal assembly and made sure it was nothing but perfection. On a separate note I found a ground wire problem that was affecting my fuel pressure gauge and that made me happy as hell. I would like to say I'm glad it happened at least if it did while I was still near my shop but the truth is... It sucks big time knowing it wasn't perfect the first time.
Once everything was finished my right foot kept begging me... "Please, let me step ON something. PLEASSSSE!" Well, not being one to want to hurt my foot's feelings I decided to go for a small cruise a few blocks thru down town Mountain View and over to Jon's house to surprise him. Unfortunately as I hit the strip of Mountain View the only person that was surprised was me when a few bright red lights began flashing in my rear view mirror. Not one for being disrespectful to law enforcement I immediately pulled over in front of an Irish pub which turned out not to be the right place to pull over with a car like Lucky. As soon as Officer Pruette walked up to my window there was a crowd of on-lookers all holding mugs of ale. Being of Irish decent myself I must say I began feeling at home as the on-lookers began taunting Officer Pruette ad even offering him a brew. Things were fine until someone asked since he couldn't have some ale, maybe he would like a donut. That's when Officer Pruette decided to call for back-up for crowd control. Crowd control? Yep, by now there was a pretty big gathering from the restaurants, bars, and every other out for a good time rascal.
Enter two more squad cars, red lights and hooting and cheering for the guy in the white Mustang. After I was able to explain what I was doing in a car like Lucky and why I didn't have proof of insurance or registration papers in the car Officer Pruette sounded like he was going to let me go. I believe what cinched it was when the lady officer who was working the crowd said to Officer Pruette, "You must be kidding. If you write this guy a ticket you will be here all night looking up code for all the infractions." When I asked if he would mind if I drove a few more blocks over to Jon's house Officer Pruette said, "See this night stick? Want to see what I can do to you and your car? Now take this thing back to your shop." Then I got a three car escort back to the shop where they waited while I took the hood off so they could check out the engine. In the end they were are a lot of fun and they advised me that it might be better if I waited until day light so that the elderly wouldn't have to hide under their beds due to the rumbling of the earth when Lucky drives by.
(EDIT) Today Jon asked me to walk to the back of the car with him. Then he said, "Now let's take a look. Now waht do you see? Full roll cage, fuel cell, sitting low to the ground, loud exhaust and so on. Don't you think that any police officer pulling up behind you is going to say, 'Hmmm, what do we have here?'".
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