I made my move on Friday the 13th, so I guess I can always chalk up my rationale to some bizarre horror film effect. I had seen a pair of old cop cars for sale at a radiator shop on San Mateo near my house, and I sauntered over and took a cruise in one of the big old beasts. While I knew a few little things needed to be tweaked to make the 1994 Chevy Caprice tolerable, I talked the mechanic guys down from $2500 to two grand. By the end of the day, an old cop car was in my possession.

Once again, I can blame the movies for my weird decision. I've seen the Blues Brothers more times than I have fingers and toes, and that film some how made it acceptable (and even down right cool) to own an old cop car:

Jake: You traded the blues mobile in for this hunk of shit?
Elwood: No. I traded it in for a microphone.
Jake: You traded it in for a microphone? Okay, I can see that.

I didn't actually trade in my old vehicle. My little 1988 Escort still hangs out at my house, and I use it for quick trips. I just can't bear to see it go gently into that good night. My theory is that one of my friends usually needs a different car every year, so I'll keep until someone is desperate for a way to get around. Not exactly a cruiser but I still trust the little white pony hatchback to get me around this crazy town.

The only thing is that I never wanted to take the Escort very far out of town. Maybe sixty miles, but that's it. It could get up to about 85 m.p.h., but the four cylinder sounded like it was giving me everything it had and then some. The cop cruiser feels most comfortable around 80 or 90 m.p.h. Oh those V-8s! You can have your SUVs with gadgets, bells and whistles. I'll cruise along in my tag rag cop car.

My draw to the big boat cars stems all the way back to my teenage years when I owned a rusty 1973 Pontiac Luxury LeMans. The classic gas guzzling boat was a year older than me and sat eight comfortably. I swear that I cruised down every street in my eastern New Mexican hometown of Clovis in that thing getting 8 miles to the gallon. We used to pile six to eight bored teenagers in that sucker on weekends and cruise Main Street for hours, looking for something better to do.

Flash to the present, and there's me at my day job. I cruise around all day in the Ford version of a cop car: the Crown Victoria. I'm accustomed to weaving around all kinds of traffic as a cabbie in those big yellow monsters, and it dawned on me that if those cars can run 24 hours a day with all kinds of drivers that those old cop cars just might be able to run forever.

Over the last couple weeks, I've been running around town in my free time trying to get my cruiser legal. It's amazing how many people you have to pay off to be in compliance. $16 for emissions testing, $100 for title and registration, $300 for repairs (mostly spark plugs, lights and a tune up), $250 for six months of liability insurance, and another $250 for a CD player. Okay that last one wasn't necessary, but if I'm gonna cruise, I might as well get to pick the soundtrack.

All in all, I dropped about three grand on a quirky whim. Oddly enough, the money came from driving people around in a Yellow Cab (another old cop car). My cruiser still looks bizarre with scratches down to the steel on the sides and a primer gray hood, but I don't really care about that. It reminds me of the old LeMans that way, and I'm all about quirky character.

The trunk is deep enough to put my bass equipment in for gigs, and if I include the back seat, I could probably fit all the band's stuff. Call it the Old Beansmobile. I can start taking those road trips around the state without waiting for someone else to drive me. Even though it's an old cop car, it's still the newest registered vehicle I've ever owned, and it cruises real nice.

So what's the moral? I'm not too sure. Maybe that it's okay to blow a little money on a whim if you really appreciate the whim. Or maybe it's that nostalgia catches up with you eventually. Or maybe it's just that we all need to get a different vehicle every now and again.

Chris Jungle is driving the big white car in your way.