Ferrari Mailing List: Rogue Car Parts

[Charles Perry (charles]

Ha! Great story!!

 

The 82 Volvo 240DL wagon I drove through some of high school and college was a 4-speed manual with a button-operated overdrive. The button was on top of the shift knob, so the knob was a pressure-fit rather than a screw-on because of the harness underneath it. Any time I got too enthusiastic with my shifts (rocking all 89 hp), the shift knob would pop off in my hand. Then I’d have to drive around with the nub until I could get somewhere that had needle-nosed pliers so I could re-attach the harness to the button and then put the button back on.  J

 

 

 

 

From: Ferrari [mailto:ferrari-bounces+charles=carolinasound.com [at] ferrarilist.com] On Behalf Of George
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2018 7:31 AM
To: Charles Perry
Cc: The FerrariList
Subject: Re: [Ferrari] Ferrari Digest, Vol 148, Issue 19

 

A stop light drag race story for ya....

 

At the end of the 1952 academic year, my Dad was headed from Boston to California for a hot-shot MIT-engineering-grad-to-be kind of summer job.  Driving an old 40-something Ford with a "3 on the tree" transmission, he found himself driving through Indianapolis on the evening before the 500.  As you can imagine, Indy is nothing but stop-light drag races on the night before the 500, and sure enough, some local pulls up next to Dad and offers the challenge.  Dad, being a somewhat arrogant, WASP-y, New Englander MIT student, thought, "there's no way I'm going to let this local-yocal beat me to the next light!"  So the light turns green, and they both take off.  Dad's thinking, "I cannot miss this shift to second gear!"  So he goes to make the shift, and the lever breaks right off in his hand!  Needless to say, he lost the race, and drove the rest of the trip - to CA *AND BACK* - with nothing but the nub of a shift lever on the column.  😊

 

gp

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From: Peter Rychel <dino308gt4 [at] hotmail.com>


Ahh yes, the drag races to stop lights. Never understood that...