Abandoned white limo becomes Wichita’s newest celebrity

For a few glorious days, it was the talk-of-the-town car.

A white stretch limousine, stranded nearly a week on the shoulder of eastbound Kellogg just east of Meridian, attracted quite a following and even broadcast its feelings and observations on its own Twitter page: @WhiteLimoICT.

The limo, sporting Kansas tags, several dents and a little duct tape along its passenger side, was reported abandoned at 10:30 p.m. Saturday, according to a bright orange tag on the driver’s side.

By 10 a.m. Friday it was gone, apparently towed away by the owner, said Trooper Gary Warner of the Kansas Highway Patrol.

“I’ll admit sometimes we may not be as diligent as we should be in towing abandoned vehicles,” Warner said.

Dispatchers said the owner of the limousine called the Highway Patrol office Friday morning to tell them he planned to remove it, Warner said.

The limo began tweeting Thursday and by Friday morning had more than 320 followers.

“I am the white limo that has been abandoned on the side of Kellogg since Saturday, August 23, 2014,” its Twitter profile reads. “ I realize all of Wichita resents me. I have no hubcaps.”

Early on, it used social media to call for help:

And it cracked jokes that only Wichitans could appreciate:

It even inspired some poetry.

Wichita police Lt. James Espinoza said early Friday that he wasn’t aware of the abandoned limo, but said he planned to alert his bureau captain. He said several law enforcement agencies – Wichita police, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office and the Kansas Highway Patrol – normally monitor that stretch of Kellogg and respond to accidents.

Owners of abandoned vehicles “generally have some time” to retrieve them after they are tagged, Espinoza said, but nearly a week is “longer than usual.”

A Twitter following for the abandoned stretch-turned-temporary-landmark was unusual, too, he said.

“What’s the name of the (Twitter) page?” the lieutenant asked, laughing. “I definitely plan to check that out.”

Tweeted the limo:

This story was originally published August 29, 2014 at 9:21 AM with the headline "Abandoned white limo becomes Wichita’s newest celebrity."