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Giant Banana Pulled Over: Driver Says Cops Have Stopped Him 100s of Times
- gnabgib 5mo agoDiscussion yesterday (168 points, 92 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48601420 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48601420
- chris_wot 5mo agoI missed that, which is a pity as it's a fruitful story and I must have slipped up as it looks quite a-peeling. Certainly I clicked on this story as it stood out from the bunch.
- actionfromafar 5mo agoWhat's a fruitful story for you can get berry triggering for a botanist.
- nicbou 5mo agoThese cops using their authority to stop him is a bit of a slippery slope. If he's too tired to humour this monkey business, he can't just peel off.
- ljsocal 5mo agoThere are many of these “art cars” out there. See https://lesblank.com/films/automorphosis-by-harrod-blank/ https://lesblank.com/films/automorphosis-by-harrod-blank/
- netsharc 5mo ago[flagged]
- InsideOutSanta 5mo agoShe's obviously following the publication's style guidelines. Look at other articles. There's absolutely no need to attack people in a discussion about an article about a fricken banana car.
- autogn0me 5mo agoResponse dangerously lacks whimsy
- dapperdrake 5mo agoMost of the whimsy vitamins are between the skin and the banana.
- kube-system 5mo agoNewspapers are invariably written to a grade school reading level for accessibility.
- inglor_cz 5mo agoSo many comments in the previous thread and no one mentions the banana car from Bloodhound Gang - Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo video.
- miah_ 5mo agoI wondered if it was the same but he says he built this car in 2008 which would have been three years after that video.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 5mo agoSo 100s of cops have done their jobs?
- saghm 5mo ago> "For the first eight or nine years I was the most pulled-over man in America," he said. "It was constant." > Often officers simply wanted photographs. > Other times they invented reasons to start a conversation. > His favorite stop happened in a small mountain town in West Virginia. > A traffic light turned red. Braithwaite stopped. The light turned green and he made a leisurely turn through the intersection. > A few moments later, flashing lights appeared behind him. > A police officer marched up to the banana and delivered the news. > "'The reason I pulled you over, that light back there, you peeled out.'" Their job is to take advantage of their authority to have fun at the expense of the time of citizens?
- williamdclt 5mo agoI'll happily live in a world where this is the extent of police authority abuse.
- dwa3592 5mo agoThat's a good looking car. I wish there were more of these on the roads.
- classified 5mo ago> Often officers simply wanted photographs. Other times they invented reasons to start a conversation. Who knew that abuse of privilege could be fun! But then I think it's only natural that the LEOs of a banana republic would feel a magnetic attraction to a giant banana.
- eagerpace 5mo agoHe's calling the adventure "The World Needs More Whimsy Grand Tour." Sometimes it's ok to have fun. Nobody drives a big banana thinking they're not going to attract attention. It's part of the fun and whimsy.
- nicbou 5mo agoYou have a point, but stopping a car as a police officer is a much less consensual interaction than having a quick chat at a red light. It's a very forceful way to have a friendly conversation.
- lazide 5mo agosquints have you met any police?
- skinfaxi 5mo agoYeah have you? They carry guns and are prone to violence in the US at rates disproportionate to the rest of the population, and that's just against their own loved ones. > Two studies have found that at least 40% of police officer families experience domestic violence, (1, 2) in contrast to 10% of families in the general population.(3) A third study of older and more experienced officers found a rate of 24% (4), indicating that domestic violence is 24 times more common among police families than American families in general. https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2017R1/Downloads/CommitteeMeetingDocument/132808 https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2017R1/Downloads/Comm...
- 5mo ago
- imzadi 5mo agoThere's always money in the banana car
- dnpls 5mo agoCaptain America turns head I understood that reference
- theandrewbailey 5mo ago(Banana car explodes in flames)
- NoSalt 5mo agoAre you driving a banana, or are you happy to see me?
- verst 5mo agoI saw this very banana car while I was having brunch Sunday morning in Ballard Seattle!
- eks-reigh 5mo agoSame! There were a few other art cars parked by the locks, so I would guess it was some kind of meetup.
- micromacrofoot 5mo agoI'm glad the owner takes it lightly, but isn't this actually an abuse of power? If I can't pull someone over because I want a photo with their car... cops shouldn't be able to either, right?
- deleted 5mo ago[deleted]
- kgwxd 4mo agoThey're also allowed to lie to people they pull over. Even if they're on body cam saying it, they'll just say they said it "to ease tension", or some garbage.
- dieselgate 5mo agoSuper cool article, love how the driver got bored of car shows and wanted to do something different. Article doesn't appear to mention any of the engine or chassis specifics?! Reminds me of Dumb and Dumber when the cops say they're following a "1985 Sheepdog, sir"
- kazinator 5mo ago> A Montana police officer spotted the giant banana rolling through Billings on Wednesday afternoon and did what countless law enforcement officers have done before him. Boys in the blue in Montana, Pulled over a giant banana. Drawn by the appeel of the yellow four wheeler, They spun jokes deadpan and deadpanner.
- deleted 5mo ago[deleted]
- exegete 5mo agoHow does this work with registration? Like what would they put for make and model for the car? I imagine there has to be a way to add custom cars to it.
- kube-system 5mo agoTypically these types of vehicles are highly modified from some other vehicle, and they are registered as that original vehicle. It sounds like this one is built on a truck chassis: > The truck beneath the banana has now traveled more than 250,000 miles. It is also possible to register a vehicle built from scratch, but this typically requires a lot more paperwork to do.
- avgDev 5mo agoHave any of you seen the Weiner mobile? That thing is so cool and I've seen it in the wild a few times.
- bookofjoe 4mo agohttps://postcardhistory.net/2024/06/oscar-mayer-and-the-wienermobile/ https://postcardhistory.net/2024/06/oscar-mayer-and-the-wien... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wienermobile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wienermobile https://www.oscarmayer.com/wienermobile https://www.oscarmayer.com/wienermobile https://www.instagram.com/wienermobile/?hl=en https://www.instagram.com/wienermobile/?hl=en https://omwienermobile.com/ https://omwienermobile.com/ https://wienermobile.oscarmayer.com/ https://wienermobile.oscarmayer.com/ https://www.thehenryford.org/collections/explore/artifact/13269?AssetId=THF108201 https://www.thehenryford.org/collections/explore/artifact/13... https://www.travelandleisure.com/food-drink/ride-oscar-mayer-wienermobile-inside-hotdoggers https://www.travelandleisure.com/food-drink/ride-oscar-mayer... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjVkVpOOFbU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjVkVpOOFbU
- TomK32 5mo agoHe should keep a log book for his police encounters, categorized by ticket with every cop putting their name and number into it so he can show the cops how often they waste everybody's time...
- kube-system 5mo agoDo you think that would change their mind? An officer who thinks it is okay to pull over the banana car just to take a look at it probably would not blame any other officer for doing it.
- Suppafly 5mo agoI don't know why cops think it's ok to randomly pull over cars just to look at them. They cause a ton of legal liability for their cities and departments by doing it, luckily most people with cool or interesting cars don't seem to mind too much.
- HDBaseT 5mo agoI drive a non-sporty sedan from early 2000s. It isn't a "cool" car by any means, although due to various reasons, I drive around typically at 1 AM. Over the 5 years I've been driving. I've been pulled over maybe 30 times. In Australia they always collect a sample of your breath, ask where your heading, sometimes a drug test. I've never been pulled over for any driving infringement. It has always been because 1AM is "suspicious". It is a waste of my time and their time. We have neighbors who just moved in and every item was stolen in the house on the week of their move in. They called the police and not a single police officer showed up at the house. None of their items were ever recovered. It's hard to have respect for police when they try their hardest to not do anything which requires an ounce of thinking or investigating.
- TomK32 5mo agoStopping a driver at 1AM gives the cops a better chance at "solving a crime".
- aaronbrethorst 5mo agoThe giant banana was spotted in West Seattle yesterday! https://westseattleblog.com/2026/06/seen-in-west-seattle-the-big-banana-car/ https://westseattleblog.com/2026/06/seen-in-west-seattle-the...
- deleted 5mo ago[deleted]
- hluska 5mo agoWow has HN ever taken a turn. What would have once been a conversation about the vehicle has turned into non stop police hatred. Good job - you’ve all become parrots! It’s especially funny because the owner of the vehicle has zero problems and none of you have evidence of abuse of power but oh no, you’ve all made up your minds and ACAB. It’s embarrassing you have all decided to stop thinking.
- InsideOutSanta 5mo agoThere is evidence of abuse in the literal title.
- lovich 5mo agoIf the article is to be believed he was pulled over multiple times just so they could take a photo or make a joke. That’s abuse of power even if the victim is fine with it.
- soleveloper 5mo agoWas just reading the title and thinking it's a new and upgraded image gen model from Google.. Anyone else?
- ne11nn 5mo agothis is what we need more of in our world
- willf 4mo agoJust want to say I’ve ridden in this car. It’s a hoot