Driver of banana car gets cash instead of ticket after Michigan cop pulls him over

When a state trooper in Michigan saw a giant banana car chugging down the road, he expected to give the driver a citation — instead, he gave him cash.

Trooper Bill Strouse was on patrol near Adrian last month, when a banana car zoomed past him on the highway, Michigan State Police said in a post on Facebook. Strouse pulled the banana — driven by Steve Braithwaite — over expecting to have to give him a ticket, the post says.

Braithwaite said he was heading to Victoria, Texas.

“I hadn’t gone 15 miles before I spotted a state trooper at the side of the road,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “As soon as I passed he started moving and quickly pulled up behind me and hit the disco lights.”

Strouse inspected the banana’s headlights, taillights and brake lights before checking Braithwaite’s license, police said. When Strouse brought Braithwaite’s license back, it was wrapped in a $20 bill.

“He must have read the board at the back of the banana car because when he returned and handed my (license) back he had wrapped a $20 bill around it wishing me safe travels,” Braithwaite wrote on Facebook.

A sign on the back of the banana explains that Braithwaite is driving the car “coast-to-coast and north-to-south” across America and is funding his trips by “couch-surfing and giving rides.”

But how, exactly, does one come to own a banana convertible? Braithwaite told WTOL he built it with his friends.

“We worked in my friend Mark Steele’s garage,” Braithwaite told the outlet. “We worked on Sundays when we all had time, and it took us a couple of years to finish it. I would say the whole project cost about $25,000 to retrofit the banana on a Ford F-150 chaise. I have met so many people in this ride. The experiences are priceless.”

Braithwaite says the banana is headed west toward California for the winter.

Banana fans can follow Braithwaite’s journey on his Facebook page Big Banana Car.