Cars and critters

[Robert Clauss <beckyco@domain.elided>]

Okay, if we're going to share our stories of mice and men, I'll tell mine.
I bought a car from a friend of mine. He had always wanted a sports car,
and being of Italian ancestry, thought an Alfa would be the one to have.
When he came into some money, he splurged and bought a new 1986 Graduate.
He drove it around a bit, but it scared his wife, and he didn't like to go
for drives by himself, so it ended up parked in his spare garage. I'd told
him that if he ever decided to sell it, that I'd be interested. Finally, he
relented, and I met him at his house to look at the car. He wasn't kidding
when he said he hadn't driven the car much, or in a while, for it only had
1400 miles on it. The battery was dead, so we hooked up another. He was
about to start it when I said to wait. I opened the airbox, and found that
under the aircleaner there was a solid mass of sticks, acorns, and debris
where several generations of chipmunks had lived. Cleaned it out, fired it
up, drove it 50 miles to the original dealer (in Lansing, Michigan) where
they performed the n/c 1500 mile service...in 1990. We dodged a few deer,
and drove home to Chicago.

Robert Clauss, AROC # 32189
BeckyCo@domain.elided
Mt. Prospect, IL  USA

'64 Giulia TI
'86 Graduate Spider

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