Why would anyone use Type A in a modern car?

[Kestas]

Originally Posted By: occupant
There is also some Havoline Universal ATF in the trunk (about a quarter of a bottle) and some 40W Pennzoil. Oh, and a full bottle of brake fluid.

It sounds like all he did was "parking lot" maintenance. That's where the car has a hiccup and he runs into the 7-11 for some quick top-off fluid.

 

[mpvue]

wow. the police impounded a car and left HANDGUNS IN THE TRUNK?!?

only in Texas, I guess...

 

[occupant]

Yeah, and they want them back, too.

I told them they will have to come down here to get them. I'm not driving 80 miles each way to drop off a couple of hard metal stacks of cash at a cop shop.

It's not like they're great guns. One is a Lorcin L25 and it's PINK and CHROME. Saturday Night Special (which means it works a few times and then you spend all your prized Saturday night trying to make it work again). The other is a Luger clone called a Savage model 1917. They stopped making those in 1928 and they have some historical value but not much. This one is missing its magazine. It was one of the first handguns to hold 10 rounds in .32ACP, IIRC. I figure the girly gun is worth $50-$60 and the Savage might fetch $150-$200 if I pick up another mag ($34).

But yes, the trunk of this car was loaded, and I don't just mean the pink gun, either, which was in a bag in the trunk, loaded, safety off (glad I didn't hit the right pothole). There is a floor jack, two car stereos, and hundreds of tools. I'm having fun inventorying the tools. Lots of goodies I would have otherwise paid cash for at Sears or HF. Saving me hundreds of bucks over the next few years!

Either way, the two guns will pay for the car ($225+10%fee) and the tools will help me keep it roadworthy. I'll be able to use the tools to put an engine in my Torino as well. That floor jack was a Godsend, because I was literally a week away from shelling out $90 for a new one!

 

[The_Jeff]

If the PO was armed how did his car get impounded?

I'm sure on your sale paperwork it says the car comes with everything it comes with. The guns are yours.

In a similar story I found a gun scope but no gun in a free saturn I brought up from Massachusetts. Insert your own joke here. Sold the scope on ebay of course.

 

[occupant]

What upsets me is they still haven't called me. I'm in limbo here, do they want the dang things or not? If they don't want them, I want to sell them and be rid of them. I have too many young children to bring those in the house and the longer they are in the car, the more nervous I get.

Anyhow, PO was drunk when pulled over, I'm sure he forgot they were in there, too. I just can't believe they pulled over a convicted felon, on parole, for driving drunk and taking off his monitoring bracelet, and they didn't bother to search it for contraband. The two guns are only a part of what was in there. There was an unlabeled bottle which after some internet research told me it was Seroquil or some schizo-bipolar drug, there was Hydrocodone, there was a BIG knife with corrosion or old blood stains on it, small little baggies that I guarantee held drugs at some point, cans of Miller High Life on the floor, several knives (but no switchblades, thankfully, I like having 10 fingers), and lots of legal paperwork. I have the guy's birth certificate, SS card, and everything but his DL.

I do want to return the photographs and legal documents to a family member out of compassion for his misfortune (read as: because I don't want it and need the trunk space) but seeing as half of these letters in the trunk were received in jail, from other family members in jail, I can assume it was a family tradition and maybe I should just burn this stuff?

 

[47HO]

There's a good chance that the items that aren't obviously his are stolen property. I'd be careful about selling.

 

[occupant]

The Sheriff already cleared the guns' serial numbers. They're not stolen, but they're also unregistered. That's fine as long as they aren't carried concealed. So basically I can go ahead and sell them, but I need to get the buyer's information in case FWPD decides they want them back. Which they do, but they sure haven't made arrangements to come get them. A phone call would be nice. All I know as of now is the Sheriff got in trouble for NOT calling FWPD and so he calls them and they say, yes, we want those, we'll call him. Hasn't happened. 3 days in and I want to get them sold, not wait while the cops who should have searched this car to begin with get their ducks in a row.

Oh, and the ATF is leaking out the side cover. It seeps out when the vehicle is running and stops when it's shut off. Lands on the engine cradle and then drips out when it gets full enough or the car leans to one side, like when I park it in my yard, and the left side is lower than the right side, it is able to drip onto my lawn (well, a cardboard box now, but yesterday it was the grass).