Shame on you Triple A Roadside Assistance.  Shame on you…

You know, there was a time when corporate pride meant something.  I remember a day when companies would go out of their way to make their vehicles look in tip-top shape.  Examples of buses, 18-wheelers, and everyday delivery trucks.  Unfortunately, this is not the case anymore.  Drive on any Interstate Highway and you will see filthy trucks with “wash me” written on the sides or better yet, totally banged up examples like the one in today’s post.  Take a look…

I saw this truck on my way to work this morning.  This is an “Emergency Services” Triple A (AAA) Battery Service truck.  Take a closer look.  This poor Chevy truck has been driven hard and put up wet.  Pretty much every panel on this truck was nicely banged up – I suppose maybe AAA is into NASCRAP racing with their emergency trucks these days!  There was definitely some “tradin’ paint” going on here.

Remember the movie “Days of Thunder” (it sucked)?  Remember the part where Cole was told to “go out and hit the pacer car” because there is still one corner of the car that is not dented?  I guess somebody told the driver of this truck to do that very thing.  What a shame Triple AAA.  You have hit a new low.

Adding insult to injury, take a look at that rear bumper:

I am not a card carrying member of the Triple A network, but if I were stranded on the side of the road and had this lousy truck show up I would wonder who needs who?  Know what I’m saying?

Triple A, tell you what:  you need to pay close attention to probably the last of the vehicles that mean something.  Love it or hate it, but the South Carolina Highway Patrol goes out of its way to keep their aging fleet of Crown Vics in excellent shape.  I have never seen one of their cruisers banged up or even scratched up.  Matter of fact they even go to the trouble of using zip-wraps on the hubcaps to keep them from making a premature high speed departure.

So yes, Triple A – shame on you…

On the way to lunch today, I saw the following vehicle with a missing spare tire…

This gives new meaning to not having a spare tire.  I mean, take the trouble to hang the rim back on the hanger, with no tire?  Oh well.  You see all kind of things on the road these days.  But just to highlight how irresponsible the driver was…  When we passed this vehicle, the driver/operator was busy texting.

I’m a big supporter of technology.  The more the better.  But when it comes to texting and driving, that is just unacceptable.  This driver gave new meaning to irresponsible.

We’ve had a ton of rain around my neck of the woods these days and this pisses me off.  I haven’t driven any of my toys lately:  bowtie6 as awesome of a ride as it is unfortunately leaks in the desert; and my pristine S2000 is just too refined for rainy days.  Yeah, she is way too pampered… 

But I digress…

Today, the sun was out (for a change) and the humidity was tolerable so I took the S2K to work.  On the way there, I saw the following driven-hard and put-up-wet automobile, sporting dealer tags in early rush hour traffic.

Please forgive the picture quality but my iPhone as nice as it is, has limitations.  At any rate I thought this was a pretty pathetic used car on the road.  Check out the bad muffler, within an inch of the road and its life.  Prior to reaching this intersection the highly capable driver went over a bump and sparks flew off the muffler very much the way vintage 80’s F1 cars would when their titanium skidplates would contact the deck.  Except in this case, the sparks came off a much abused muffler.

What did this poor car do to deserve this?  Adding insult to injury, the ubiquitous South Carolina dealer tag.  Makes you wonder what poor minimum-wage earner (the prime target of the unscrupulous used-car dealer) will fall prey to buying this much abused car for basic transportation.

Used car dealer: 1; Used car 0.  🙁