Ok so here goes,........I got chatting to a client today and i told him i had a couple of Marinas,and that's how the story gets started.
Oh the Marina,he said "bloody hell not seen one in ages" he says,my brother-in-law was a copper in the mid-eighties and his mate had a do with a Marina on the A57 Snake pass (a notorious stretch of road linking Sheffield to Glossop/manchester.
The mate is a sergeant in traffic,and had to patrol the A57,well one day himself and his partner are parked up in a lay-by just before the Strines inn taking a break,when a white Marina coupe flashes past them,going like a bat out of hell,good god says the rozzer and heads of in pursuit lights and sirens in full swing.
But as soon as they get near to the Marina it pulls away without a problem,now the pursuit car is a new Ford 3litre Granada a popular choice with the police at the time.and no matter how the officers try they can't catch this fifteen year old car,and to add insult to injury it's been driven by a gray haired old dear,well as the chase hots up both cars are touching the hundred mark in places on some very twisty roads but the Marina corners like it's on rails and the police with their new high performance car and all their roadcraft training can't keep up to a granny in a battered old 1300 Marina,well for mile after mile the race goes on the Granada just cannot keep pace,and some how against the odds the old dear manages to keep on the road without going over the side..
Well the pursuit carries on until all of a sudden the Marina has gone she's has lost them,the plod are not happy that they have been out driven by a pensioner in an old banger,their training and their brand new Harry Spankers motor has been out performed,and they have been out driven.
Then out of the corner of his eye the sergeant sees the car parked up in a drive just off the main road,GOTTCHA he says and races to the house.
They both get out and knock on the door after a while The door is answered by the little old lady driver,"hello" she says can i help you? The sergeant blows a fuse at this response and starts to read her the riot act, we've chasing you for miles don't you know how fast you were going,and you refused to pull over
what were you doing you could have killed yourself and other drivers!
The old lady starts to cry and says " you see my husbands not been well of late and he really fancied some fish and chips from our favorite fish and chip shop in Bamford,my old Mini is in the garage and i borrowed my grandsons car to go and fetch them,i didn't want them to get cold so i drove a little faster than normal to get them back while they were still warm" i'm so sorry.
"Why didn't you pull over when we asked you to stop we had all the lights and sirens going?" says the sergeant,.Well i'm 83 next birthday you see and little deaf so i couldn't hear the sirens and i didn't pull over as i thought you wanted me to speed up, as the road is very narrow and it's not safe for you to overtake and i also thought the lights looked rather nice on your shinny new police car and you were just testing them.
Right says the plod lets take a look at the car,the old girl leads them over to a box standard looking Marina 1300 super de-luxe,"Open the bonnet please" the sergeant says,"where's that" she says, the copper takes charge and opens the drivers door of the car but is greeted with an over powering smell of moth balls and dozens of empty boxes of them littering the car,"what's all this?" says the sergeant....Oh i don't really know but my grandsons says i need to pop a hand full in the petrol tank if a take the car out..
the sergeant pulls the release and his partner pops the bonnet, "Christ on roller skates" he exclaims whats this,he is to be greeted by a full works race tuned engine,sitting in the engine compartment,and in the glove box there is all the paper work about the car and it says,it was a special works car a one-off built to take part in an Alpine rally,but was never raced as there was a change of management and the rally side of British Leyland was discontinued,so the tight winding corners of the A57 is just what it was built for.
Bloody hell no wonder we couldn't catch ya, race engine and suspension this thing is a bloody souped up rally car,"but what all the moth balls about" he asks,sarg,sarg says the partner they have naphthalene in them that the stuff racing cars run on..
Well to cut a long story short,the police were so embarrassed by being out driven by an old woman they just gave her a telling off and thought better to keep thing quiet in case their mates at the station got to hear about the incident..
The story pops up from time to time with different cars,and in different areas of the country used in the telling of the tale..
Well it's true honest :roll:
Russ
Beckett Bros " if you believe that"
