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The 10mm Tank, or 4800 Lbs of German Steel
Last night I spent about 4 hours doing various things to my Merc, including the fuel filter, oil and oil filter, replaced the icky green coolant with the Magical Mercedes Orange Coolant of +5 to OEMness. I also rotated the tires. Anyway, it occured to me that about half the bolts on this car are 10mm.
This morning I was on the way in to work with my partner. We had just turned out of the Jack in the Box, huge Diet Cokes in hand and were sitting at the intersection when we were whanged pretty hard from behind. I looked in the rear view mirror to see the driver of the car behind us having a full-on gran-mal siezure. The poor man was flailing pretty badly in his little PT Cruiser. I jumped out of the car, whipped out my little tactical flashlight with the crennelated hood and beat on the window with all my might as he jammed the go pedal to the floor. The little car's engine screamed angrily with 2 liters of fury as it nudged my massive Teutonic Tank closer to the oncoming traffic of state route 99, one of the busiest thoroughfares in town at the start of the morning rush. The transmission was in park, the emergency brake had been rammed into the floorboard in my panicked flight from the passenger seat. The tires moaned and sighed as it was nudged forward about a total of five feet until the light-bending mass of the Prussian Panzer proved to be too much for the little car to handle and the engine stalled out. A big ol' corn-fed dude in a lifted Chevy pickup jumped out and ran at that poor little car with a four-way tire iron until we stopped him in mid-swing. The scene was secure for the most part. i didn't want to cover him in glass. I figured the policed would slim-jim it open. The driver was breathing, the engine was stalled. We all took a little breath. The cops showed up a minute or two later and the lead officer pulled out his collapsible baton and wailed on the driver's window a couple of times till it gave. That glass was tough. The driver was taken away in an ambulance. He didn't look good. He was still unconscious as they drove off. I surveyed the damage. The corner of the bumper was pushed in, but that was it. I said to my buddy "I bet if I pull forward, the bumper will pop out". I put the car in neutral and let it roll a foot or two and sure enough, it looked like nothing had happened. We drove the rest of the way into work. Damn, these cars are tough.
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1978 Ford F-150 351M 2002 Kia Spectra 1.8l 5-sp 1985 Volkswagen Scirocco 8V 1.8l 5sp 1985 MB 300D Turbo California "Die Natur verabscheut Vakuum" |
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