i think most of us had a clunker at the one time or another - i had a car die on me for various reasons, even stupid ones, like running out of gas... i would stick a piece of paper with time and date to the driver's side, saying that i went for oil/water/gas and will be back... in couple cases, it was just a rag... In many states that i drove (PA/NJ/VA/MD/NY), the cops will tag the car first, they will indicate the time and date when the car was "found" abandonded and from that time there are 48-72 hours before a wrecker could legally tow it away... it feels that the cops were either breaking the law, or the law is written differently in TX...

good luck with your repairs