Car cruise in the Detroit area

[HUMVEE Driver]

Well it's car cruise season around here and this Saturday I'll have the Humungus Machine out for a drive. If anyone wants to come out, it's the Gratiot Cruise in Eastpointe. See you there!

HUMVEE Driver

[HUMVEE Driver]

The cruise was great, then it turned into a nightmare.

I drove up and down for a few hours, then I pulled into a store to get something to drink. When I came out, some guy is telling me I have to pay for his car. My upper radiator hose burst, and sprayed coolant on the front of his car. Stunned, I tell him we'll exchange insurance info; he doesn't want to hear it. He wants me to just straight up pay for it. Now, I'm thinking, anti freeze isn't corrosive, is it? Can't he just hose it off? But make no mistake, if it was going to mess up his car I would pay for it. I just wanted to be fair about the cost of it.

So I tell him look, I'm going to go buy a new hose (I knew of a parts store about a mile away) and I'll be right back to settle this. On my way there, I called a auto paint guy I know, he tells me that anti freeze is no big deal, it just washes off. So I walk to the store and back, and the first thing I notice is that his car is gone. As I walk up, I see some of the Machine's wires have been moved. Then people start telling me the asshole fucked with my car before he left. Spark plug wires were torn, random wires were ripped out, the trans coolant lines were broken, the brake lines were bent, the gas cable was yanked out, the brake light wires were cut. And, one of the knives I keep on the Machine was missing, evidently that was what the fuckwad used to rip everything up. 4-5 people told me they saw him doing it and told him to stop, but no one thought to get his license plate number. They didn't even have a good description of him, and I just glanced at him so I didn't either. I didn't even have a good description of his car.

Then I look up (hopefully) and see a security camera aimed right at the Machine. Cool. I talk to the store owner and he's on my side and wants to help. So I call the cops.

A cop shows up in a bit and I tell him what happened. He takes down all the info and goes to look at the video. He tells me he can't make out the guy's plate and it's too fuzzy to get any more detail on the prick. Basically, all he did was file a report and told me if I see the jerk again to give them a call. Big help.

I call a buddy and long story short, we manage to tow the Machine back to the yard where I keep it. I hooked up the chain to the front-most cross member which I thought was strong enough to take the strain. Not so. It held but it bent into a 'V' shape. I'm hoping if I jack it up right at that spot the weight of the Machine will straighten it out. I don't know if that will work.

I should be able to fix most of it. But some of the wires... I just don't know where they go and what they do. Add in that the whole thing is custom and it's going to be a bitch to work out. So that's where everything stands now.

Fucking asshole.

HUMVEE Driver

[the armourer]

I feel for you Dave. G*d-damn low-octane types. I went through that shit back in my street-racing days. I had to keep a close eye on the Dodge because someone was always trying to mess with it. I've had my brake hoses and fuel lines cut. Lug nuts removed. Tires slashed. Windows smashed. I actually caught one of the bastards under the hood at 3AM cutting the lines from the master cylinder. I was able to sneak up on him and slam the hood down on him. Then I stuck a .45 almost up his nose and demanded to know who he was running with. Turned out he was with a group of Chevy guys we won quite a bit of money from a few months back. Sore losers. I took his ID and told him to tell his friends to cut the shit or I'd hold him personally responsible. I reckon he was convincing since the sabotage stopped after that. There's always some low-rent motherf'er who will mess with a mans ride instead of handling things face to face. Just a bunch of cowards. Dave, this jerk was prob just jealous that you built something cooler then he could. ALWAYS travel to events like this with a friend and NEVER leave your ride alone or out of visual range. With any luck, you'll meet him again. What he did is too 'cool' in his eyes and he'll be bragging about what he did. Get her up and running again and get back out for the next cruise. He's sure to have done this before and eventually someone will roll on him. Don't let it get you down, it comes with the territory. Be ready next time. You know what they say about 'payback'.

[Peter Barton]

That's fucked up Dave. Dishonest... low...

I agree with armourer's sentiments about not travelling alone, like I've said on here before, at the various shows we've had cars at over the years, there is always someone doing something you don't want. Either stealing / souveniring parts, getting too close to stuff they shouldn't and scratching paint or damaging fibreglass, most of it people just not thinking, but sometimes people just causing damage knowingly and showing no respect as well. You can't leave anything unattended. Just the same, we've never had anything anywhere near as bad as your experience.

I would keep an eye out, he's bound to show up again at something in your area. Just be careful, as you're obviously easier to recognise than he will be - if he sees you parked unattended at another local show, he's just as likely to do something stupid again.

[Nightwalker]

This is just sick. Some people just don't have any respect for someone else's property.
Did your upper radiator hose really burst, spraying coolant over his car? Or did he just made that up. If the hose is really damaged, have a good look at it to see if it is maybe 'cut/punctured' with a sharp object.
If his car was really damaged, why didn't he settle with the exchange of insurance info. That way he would get the damage covered and no one would have a problem.

This guy was probably jealous about your machine like the armourer said. And probably faked the whole thing.

I hope you get her running again soon. It is that I don't particularly live in the neigbourhood, otherwise I would help you with it.
Most repaires at my cars I do myself. It is a hobby of mine.

[Gasoline]

I got angry just reading about the guy. I can only speculate how you must feel Dave. It is very demoralising.
While you have one jealous guy out there that doesn't like you.....you have a whole community of Mad Max fans on here that think you rock!

It's also bloody annoying how people will stand, stare and watch a crime without taking any action.
Nearly everybody has the ability to take pictures given that digital cameras are so cheap and nearly every phone has a camera built in.
Getting photographed is a huge deterrent nowadays. How hard would it have been for a couple of bystanders to take a few pictures, Especially when the guy is tampering with your car in broad daylight.
They could have done it anonymously and then transferred the pics to you once you returned to the car.
While it's malicious to do what he did, Its also dishonourable to just stand and watch.
Sometimes there is no such thing as 'innocent bystanders'.

[Max Replica]

I literally got sick to my stomach reading about this. Not just upset that something happened to your car Dave, but that some a-hole did it on purpose and we can't catch the s.o.b. even though there were witnesses and security cameras. I agree with Gasoline, the fact that all of those people saw it and no one had any helpful info (like a photo or a plate number) is just sick.

[the armourer]

I believe this prick will turn up again. The Machine is too high-profile and this asshole will most likely be bragging about what he did. I'd effect repairs and get it right back out there in the public eye and advertise a reward for intel leading to the identification of the perpetrator. Somebody saw something. There are too many cameras and camera phones out there, especially on a cruise night.

Dave, in the mean time, document every bit of damage done and costs incurred. Do you remember what he was driving? Some folk won't remember a face but they'll remember the car.

[mad dan]

"You will rebuild, the humungas machine will live. find the little man, the one that did it. NO MERCY"

that really sux Dave.

Dan

[HUMVEE Driver]

I did quite a few repairs today. I got the radiator hose swapped out and replaced the damaged/missing spark plug wires. I was able to splice some of the cut wires, but there are still some that I'm not sure what wires they should be spliced to. Replacing the trans coolant line should be easy, and I guess I'll just do a process of elimination with the wires. The good news is that the Machine turned over no problem. I didn't try it long enough to see if it would actually start, though. I'm hesitant to do that with so many of the wires apart.

Can anyone identify this hose/tube? You can see where the prick bent it and I tried to put it back in shape.



HUMVEE Driver