Aug 13, 2024
Time for the new puzzler.
This is from an old friend of mine.
He told me this story. He said when he was in college, he had a Volkswagen Beetle. And he was very mechanically uninclined. He was mechanically challenged, you might say.
But he had this old book, from back in 1969 called, "How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive : A Manual of Step-By-Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot." Some of you may remember this book. It is so old, they spell the word 'complete' as 'compleat.'
He said he was amazed at how much this book helped him out. He said the repairs and maintenance he was able to do over the years, including replacing the clutch, were so impressive. He said he actually took the engine out and replaced the clutch. He said he drove this thing very happily for several years with this book by his side.
He said one summer when he was home for vacation from school, he did a repair that involved something as simple as loosening a couple of nuts and bolts and tightening them up. It was that simple. There were 3 bolts that he loosened and 3 bolts that he tightened, he did the repair, and everything was fine for weeks. The car ran just great.
So he returned to school in the fall, and he and a couple of buddies decided to go out one night to the movies. The 4 of them pile into the car and they're driving off to their favorite watering hole when all of a sudden the car bursts into flames.
And the puzzler question very simply is, what repair did he do that enabled the car to run perfectly okay for the 6 weeks after he did the repair, and then burst into flames when he got back to college?
Good luck friends.
Answer time.
So, what repair did he do that enabled the VW bug car to run perfectly okay for the 6 weeks after he did the repair, and then burst into flames when he got back to college?
Here is the answer.
He changed out the battery.
As many of you know, the VW bug had its battery in the back, under the seat. So, when this guy changed it, it worked fine for a bit.
Then, he gets back to college, and he piles all his big friends in the car. Those 4 big guys weighed down the car, and the back seat.
And the seats in those cars were stuffed with a straw like materal. So when they sat in the car, it pushed the straw way down, and it hit the battery and sparked a fire.
So, that is why the car worked for a few weeks, and then burst into flames when he got back to college.