Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 7, 1993 TAG: 9309180308
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOE KENNEDY STAFF WRITER|
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But when he headed home to Vinton, a police officer pulled him over at the town limits and gave him the unhappy truth: Cool though they might be, neon lights that shine on the road from beneath your vehicle are illegal in Virginia.
Belcher, 22, asked why.
The policeman told him they were distracting to the other drivers, and let him go with a warning.
Belcher doesn't agree. ``Ain't no different from a car full of blondes going down the road,'' he says. But that's life on the cutting edge of automotive fashion, at least in Virginia.
Things are different in South Florida, Joplin, Mo., and other areas less hostile to driving in style. There, neon and cars are the basis of a growing, though still small and unheralded, industry. The Wall Street Journal has reported that in many places neon trim is a fad among car enthusiasts, not only shining from beneath vehicles but also framing license plates and outlining stereo speakers, even pulsing with the beat.
The idea of neon beneath cars dates at least to 1986, when the cover of a ``Miami Vice'' soundtrack album showed a Ferrari Testarossa with blue neon underneath.
Two Peruvian brothers in Florida started marketing Glow Kits in 1990, and last year their sales reached $1.5 million. Available from several small manufacturers, such kits can cost from $99 to some $400.
Belcher paid $220 for his set of purple lights enclosed in plastic, plus a transformer. His friend, Darrell Booth, paid $99 for his.
Neon's soothing glow gives a car an eerie look. When the headlights are turned off, the effect is almost extraterrestrial. They add flash to Belcher's already flashy Volkswagen convertible, a white, customized, 1968 model, and Booth's '88 Isuzu pickup in gleaming pink and purple.
If they were legal, they'd be everywhere. But they're not, and so they remain exotic in this area - so exotic that calls to two police departments brought some confusion over their legal status. Donald Caldwell, the Roanoke city commonwealth's attorney, said he hadn't seen such lights or heard of any tickets given for them. Then again, he said, he doesn't read the Wall Street Journal.
``I get a lot of calls from kids asking if they can put them under there,'' said Sgt. John Wingold at the Virginia State Police headquarters in Salem. ``They can't.''
Virginia law requires automotive lights to be approved by the Society of Automotive Engineers or the U.S. Department of Transportation. Neon is not.
``It has no use on a vehicle other than to attract attention,'' Wingold said.
Neon inside a vehicle is acceptable if it doesn't exceed 15 candlepower, he said. He was unwilling to give a personal opinion of under-car neon.
``I haven't seen them,'' he said. ``But I work in the office. That's why I'm here to answer your questions. I'm sure some of our people have seen them, and I know for a fact there have been some summonses written for them.''
The charge of using illegal equipment would be a misdemeanor, he said. The penalty would be up to the court.
``I think we've seen them,'' said Lt. R.A. Bower of the Roanoke city police. ``I don't know that anybody's been charged. ...They're usually just low-key colored neon lights that run along the bottom of some of these pickups and around the tags. It looks like it belongs in a circus somewhere to me, rather than on the street. It would be a distraction, I think.''
Sgt. William Hill, who works in the safety division at the Virginia State Police headquarters in Richmond, said he'd had an up-close look.
``One of my son's friends came into my driveway at night and said, `Come outside.' I said, `Do I need a gun?' and he said no. I said, `Do I need a flashlight?' and he said no.''
Hill went out and saw pinkish-purple lights glowing from beneath the kid's Corvette.
``I said, `John, it's really beautiful. From the air it would be quite impressive, I'm sure. But those things are illegal.'
``I guess he took them off.''
Booth and Belcher scoff at the hazard the lights allegedly pose, but say they show their lights only in private settings.
``If they were legal, I'd run 'em all the time,'' said Booth, who is 21 and works at his family's import garage.
Belcher said he tried to talk his employers at Auto Trim Design in Vinton into adding the neon kits to their inventory, but stopped his pitch when he learned the lights were against state law.
To him, the law is ridiculous. But he and Booth said it would be futile to fight to overturn it.
``You can't win,'' Booth said.
by CNB