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The Super Honda Coupe

One fine Saturday morning about 6 weeks ago, i hop on the 17o Freeway to return a movie rental at the North Hollywood Blockbuster. After changing two lanes over to the left i see a glimpse of a yellow car in my rear view mirror approaching at a high rate of speed. Things that appear on the rear view mirror tend to catch your attention rather quickly when they move thatfast. About two seconds later the yellow car, a brand new convertible Pontiac GXP (that's Supercharged!) flew by me like a MiG-29. It was going so fast i felt the blow-by wind in the cabin of my car. Now, i'm not normally a guy who drives fast anywhere (only in certain areas like backroads or long on-ramps) or races on the streets. In fact i a firm believer of the "take it to the tracks" philosophy (though mostly as a spectator). That morning though i wanted to get a closer look at that car. Okay okay it is just a Pontiac i know, but i am a sucker for "Affordable" go-fast cars.

So there i was in hot pursuit of the new Pontiac and before i knew it i was doing speeds that would probably qualify as "reckless driving". I mean this car was Flying! And the person behind the wheel seemed to take notice because it went faster and faster the closer i got. When i was finally able to ease my way right next to the car i discovered it was a blonde woman. I remember that she looked to be around her early 50's. Her hands were flailing around a bit as if she were talking to someone. And then i saw it, she was wearing an ear piece. She was so immersed in the phone conversation that she had become oblivious to the dangerous speeds reached. I dumped the clutch, dropped it two gears down and pulled away speedily...

The story i am about to share is somewhat analogous with the above speed tale told. This is an interesting take on a car and the driver and undoubtedly one of the most exciting things i have ever seen on live TV in recent memory. Several days ago i come home and just like i do every single day of the week, i turn on the News. Yes this is true! The news take precedence even over the Laker and Dodger games (with the exception of Jeopardy of course. Jeopardy rules!). That evening's news did not offer your typical mundane news or the horrific school shootings that seems to be so prevalent nowadays (...and that guy that shot down a School Bus? WTF?!). ABC was showing breaking news on a multi-county hot pursuit of a stolen Honda Civic (which appeared to have been a 1996-98 coupe) on the 101 freeway. "Who the hell steals Honda Civics?" mockingly retorts Melissa, my friend that trudges around with that awfully awkward looking and less than exciting Buick Rendezvous. You gotta love Mountain folks! This perpetrator apparently stole the green Honda Civic somewhere in Oxnard (about 50 miles north-west of L.A.). I am not clear as to why he stole the car or how he actually got caught or how the chase came about. But that's not really the point here. Cars are stolen everyday. In fact a car is stolen in the United States in every 10 seconds or something...

The cool thing about this chase was that it wasn't your typical oxymoronic Los Angeles car chase. Chalk it up to the Pit Maneuver and LAPD's Air Support, car chases in L.A. have become less than exciting to watch on TV. Not that i condone these unsafe acts, it's just kind of cool sometimes (provided no one gets hurt of course). I mean come on admit it guys, we've all at one time or another in our lives have rooted for the bad guy. And when we did, it was usually for that guy who stole a cool car and was being chased by a horde of cops. Don't tell me you did not root for Randall Raines to get away in the very cool car-chase scene in Gone in 60 Seconds or Neil MaCauley in Heat (played by Robert Deniro), because that would be a blatant lie. There is just a certain cool about rooting for that bad guy, isn't there?

I don't know maybe because it was a Honda Civic and maybe because it was Green, who knows? But one thing was for sure, i felt compassion for the guy. I prayed and hoped that he would make it out okay if not the car. I wouldn't necessarily say i wanted the guy to get away but he certainly thrilled me with his driving abilities. The guy was dashing in and out of traffic rather impressively at times. And in rush hour traffic, i might add. In L.A. that's amazing! It seemed he was very composed even at high speeds too because i do not remember a single moment where the car looked to be out of control. Look i am not saying this guy was a professional, but he certainly could have fooled me. All the praises aside, there were some goofy moments here and there (perhaps out of habit). He turned on the blinkers a couple of times. Yup apparently a polite perp. Odd right? And i seem to remember he turned on the blinkers only when changing two or more lanes over. Weird huh was it method to his madness?

But perhaps the goofiest part of the entire chase (which lasted about an hour btw) were the News people. Particularly the blond at the news desk. At some point during the chase when nothing too exciting was happening, they began to discuss the car's make and model. Which i thought was an important subject that, perhaps, had it been a Mercedez, would have been mentioned much earlier in the program. It's a car chase right? The lady in the newsroom thought it was an SUV. Good God! Clearly it was NOT. I couldn't decide whether it was merely a case of bad eye-site, vehicle recognition ineptitude, or simply a "blond moment". It was just one of those oddly stupid comments ya know? Perhaps in an attempt to save his obtuse colleague, the news-chopper guy explained that he believed it to be a Honda Coupe, not an SUV (Believed?). Then some time later he added that it wasn't just a Honda Coupe but a high-powered one that came in two trims-- a 4-cylinder and a 6-cylinder. Obviously a gross misrepresentation! People should not talk about shit they don't know nothin about. Especially on TV. It's embarrassing and it offends my Honda Sensibilities okay? I swear he even emphasized that even some of the Supercharged Crown Vics the LAPD drive would be hard-lucked trying to chase down a super Honda Coupe like that one...

Posted by: Marc Gabay
Friday, February 29, 2008