Favorite tools

["Forlini,Franco" <fforlini@domain.elided>]

Hey Gang!!

Well, over the weekend, the old clothes hangers I keep in the trunk of my 74
spider saved my skin once again.
Driving home late Saturday night.....actually early Sunday morning would be
more accurate, I was driving Sophia as though I was in the Mille Miglia.
As I downshifted into 4th coming into a very fast corner, I blew by some
American car with a huge grin on my face. As I proceeded to get her back up
to speed, I floored the accelerator only to feel the pedal sink to the floor
with absolutely no resistance. My heart sank as I realized something gave
way in the engine bay.
I coasted onto the shoulder, and that American car I had just blown by
stopped to see if everything was all right. Well my Italian pride made a
liar out of my and I denied any problems by stating that I needed to use my
cell phone to call my girlfriend, and I always pull over when I use my
phone. As he pulled away, I promptly popped both the trunk and the hood. I
was 99% sure my problem was a snapped throttle cable, so without even
looking under the hood, I grabbed a pair of pliers and an old coat hanger
from the trunk, and then checked out the engine. Well I was dead on. The
throttle cable had snapped right where it fastens to the bell crank. 5
minutes and piece of coat hanger  later, I was back on the road. When I
arrived home I pillaged one of my old bicycles and used the brake cable to
get Sophia as good as new again.

This is the second time a coat hanger saves my life.......ok, ok, it didn't
save my life, but it surely saved me the cost and humiliation of getting
towed home. 
The first time a coat hanger saved me was to re-attach my tie rod when the
fastening bolt stripped and the tie rod fell to the ground.

In light of these two incidents, coat hangers are now neck in neck with duct
tape when it comes to my favorite all time tools!!!!!!
One thing is for sure, I will always have duct tape and coat hangers in my
trunk

Frank Forlini
74 spider

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