DeTomaso Mailing List: August 98, Message #217

        What a great experience!  And I bet there were no sub-titles 
     involved either.  Well, they didn't take you to the Bastille at least. 
      And you didn't say anything at all about a guillotine, so thats good. 
     Maybe if you had been driving your Pantera at about 150MPH you might 
     have gotten a police escort to the beach?!  That would have been 
     something to see......  :-)
     
     Dan. 


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: I'll be! They really do have speed limits in France!
Author:  "Charles McCall" <Charlie.Mccall@HaworthInc.com> at ccmail
Date:    8/6/98 4:55 AM


[Warning - not much Pantera content...]
I thought it was one of those myths, speed enforcement in France. Kind of like 
the bogeyman, something told to young, impressionable people to make them 
conform to desired behavior. After all, while out driving around on the 
Autoroutes, I routinely get my doors blown in by all kinds of German sedans, 
even while cruising at 100mph myself.
     
Well, yesterday I found out that there are French bogeymen. A gorgeous day, so I
booked out of work an hour early to go meet my girlfriend at the beach. If 
you've ever spent much time on French beaches you'll understand why I was 
driving like I was - put the pedal to the floor and leave it there basically, 
not much finesse in throttle application. I was making excellent time, and quite
seriously the thought that kept going through my mind was "I wish I had my 
Pantera here, I could make some SERIOUS time!" As it was, I had the Renault 
turbo-diesel minivan up to 110mph for much of the trip, an impressive feat until
itself.
     
Then I saw it. Alongside the road, there was a big, blue police van with a bunch
of people in blue walking around, and something set up on a tripod out behind 
the vehicle. Dammit, I bet that was a radar trap. I had absolutely no idea how 
fast I was going, nor really what the speed limit was here. I've been in France 
about 5 months now and have gotten accustomed to completely ignoring both. Now I
got to wondering - what next? But about a kilometer down the road, on the 
shoulder, was another police car, and about 4 cops all jumping up and down 
pointing at me and gesturing toward the shoulder. I guess they want me to pull 
over...
     
So I try to decide whether I ought to pretend I don't speak a word of French or 
not. I compromise, and speak bad French. They look at my NY drivers license like
I gave them a moldy bread crust or part of an alien spaceship (French licenses 
are much different than American ones). I convince them that it really is a 
legitimate document. They ask me to step into their van, I wonder if I ought to 
call the Consulate....
     
They made me blow in a tube to see if I'd been drinking (only coffee and Diet 
Coke!) And asked why I was in France, if I knew they had speed limits here, and 
so forth. Short story - I now have a souvenir of the State of France for 163 
km/hr, which is a shade over 100mph. I still don't know exactly what the speed 
limit is in that area, but it was considerably less than 163. I think it is 
90k/hr, which is 56m/hr. And if it is paid within 3 days it is only 600FF, about
$100. Really not too bad.
     
On the other hand, it is probably a good thing that I didn't have my Pantera 
here, or I might be typing this from my laptop in Prison...
     
Charlie McCall
1972 Pre-L
#3847