RE: Anthropomorphism again!

["Brian Shorey" <bshorey@domain.elided>]

> Of almost all the automobile makes and models that I'm familiar with,
> I vote Alfa's as being the most cheerfully anthropomorphic of them
> all. With deference to Mr. Di, I know that there must be sound,
> logical explanations for all of their quirks but their 'personality'
> has to be one of their most cherished traits.

my dearly departed '75 spider (god rest her soul), defined personality in a
car.  after serving me well for many years, i was sitting in traffic during
the first drive of the spring, and smelled gas fumes.  i shut it down
immediately, but by then the flames under the hood had already begun.

i sat there for a moment, debating whether to go down with the ship, then
proceeded to empty the glove box and start to run into stores along the
street, looking for a fire extinguisher.  apparently, none of the store
owners wanted to chance getting stiffed with the recharge fee, so all of
them claimed to not have an extinguisher.

now, as i departed the car (the top was up), i put it into first gear, so it
wouldn't roll around.  as the fire got going good, it (a) filled up the
passenger compartment with smoke, and (b) shorted out some wires around the
starter, causing the starter to engage.

imagine the poor spider, smoke filled cockpit, *driving* itself through the
intersection.  at least it attracted some attention, but by then the fire
dept had shown up.

the motor survived with only a cracked ring, and is in my current '72
spider.  after the fire was put out, i dragged the fire chief into each and
every store that refused help, and had them all cited for not complying with
fire codes requiring them to have a fire extinguisher (which all of them
were suddenly able to produce, but the chief happily cited them anyway).

and it was there that i got asked two of the stupidest questions i've ever
been asked.  my younger brother coincidentally drove by after it was all
over, and found me sitting on the curb next to the smoldering spider.

"car problems?  need a ride?"

i'm not over that car yet.

bs

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