I knows the guy. He told me a "true" story about a close friend of his that was an ironworker at the Fore River Shipyard in the 70ies that went to work every day carrying his tools. At the end of his shift, he would roll his wheelbarrow up to the gate. The guard would inspect his toolbox to make sure he was not stealing anything from the yard and pass his friend through. What the guard did not realize was that his friend was not stealing tools, he was stealing wheelbarrows.

I thought about that story and what was queer about it. It finally hit me that it was odd that a SAC B52 Commander would be a friend of an Ironworker. I pressed the guy for more details of the "true" story or it's meaning or layer over the real story. He told me to check out the difference between the two SLs we both owned at the time. It was 1985 and I had a brand new 380SL and he had a brand new 500 SL. 500SLs were not available from MBNA as they were a Euro version only. I paid 44.8K for mine in Baltimore right off the dock from Stuttgart. He paid $21K for his in Stuttgart.

He told me the story in the above post. He also told me that the cars he "imported" were thoroughly inspected each time he crossed from Canada into the US. The Customs guys were like the guard at the Fore River Shipyard. If you have ever come back from Canada on Rt3 Scotstown through the Connecticut Lakes region into Colebrook, you can easily believe his story.