When I bought my current TR 4A about 10 years ago...(I had another one
prior.)... it came with a broken windshield and tatered top... (it hadn't been
on the road for 20 years) I took the windshield off and replaced it with
little aero screens.. and that's the way it's been ever since...
I drive all over the L.A. basin... and I've made some drives to San Francisco
area and San Diego, etc. I've never been pulled over in this TR. (Knocking on
wood here.) When police have come along side me, I usually get questions that
sound more like they're based on intrigue, than investigation.
As far as I can find in the California Vehicle Code, the aeroscreens are legal,
but the fact that I don't have functioning wipers is not. That's the catch.
But I don't generally drive in the rain, which would draw attention to the
problem, but when I have, I think they probably can tell from the look in my
face...it wasn't my plan to be caught in it! (With effort, custom wipers could
be made to function enough to pass, but I haven't bothered.)
I used to live near downtown LA for 7 years.. even through the riots... and
would end up in parking lots near donut shops and 7-11's... with dozens of squad
cars... my car only brought amusement to them. .... even when I drove away
without mufflers... only dual glass-paks.... (Yes, I haven't had a legal
muffler in all these years either!)
When some one backed into me, and a police report was being taken... the officer
said.... "those windshields aren't exactly legal, are they?" I said, "You
know, I don't know, but probably not." He just said "uh huh"... smirked... and
kept writing the report without mention of it...
Honestly, I don't think there's a big problem.... if I were to get a fix-it
ticket, I would have to re-install a windshield & frame (that I do have from a
donor car) and put the wipers back on... get it signed off... pay a fine...
and put it all back again... I would think that as long as you kept it so
that you could switch things back for an inspection... then all you have to lose
is a little time and a fine... and that's assuming that you ran into that one
cop that, for one reason or another, would write such a ticket.
When I was a teenager, I wouldn't want to drive around in a car with equipment
violations that gave police an excuse to pull me over... but back then... I
would drive home from parties after drinking... and on rare occasion, I did
occasionally smoke something other than tobacco... Times have changed... I have
nothing to hide... and I do believe police natually tend to write teenagers more
tickets than the older folke, simply because they want to teach them a lesson...
(While this may cost the parents and/or the teenager more in insurance, it makes
sense that there would be a closer to zero-tolerance for young inexperienced
drivers.) Pushing 40 (February), I don't think I have to worry about this
likely age-bias. So goggles and bugs in my teeth are still my favorite way to
go in my TR....
--Justin Wagner
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