Just for fun. I wonder if BL every had this problem.
> >Vehicle Problems
> >
> >A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:
> >"This is the second time I have written you, and I don't blame you
> for
> >not answering me, because I kind of sounded crazy, but it is a fact
> >that we have a tradition in our family of ice cream for dessert after
> >dinner each night. But the kind of ice cream varies so, every night,
> >after we've eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream
> >we should have and I drive down to the store to get it. It's also a
> >fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips
> >to the store have created a problem.
> >
> >You see, every time I buy vanilla ice cream, when I start back from
> >the store my car won't start. If I get any other kind of ice cream,
> >the car starts just fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this
> >question, no matter how silly it sounds: 'What is there about a
> >Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and
> easy
> >to start whenever I get any other kind?'"
> >
> >The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter,
> >but sent an engineer to check it out anyway. The latter was surprised
> >to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine
> >neighborhood.
> >
> >He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two
> >hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla
> >ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the
> >car, it wouldn't start.
> >
> >The engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, the man
> >got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry.
> >The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed
> >to start.
> >
> >Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this
> >man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore,
> >to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem.
> >And toward this end he began to take notes...he jotted down all sorts
> >of data: time of day, type of gas used, time to drive back and
> >forth, etc.
> >
> >In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla
> >than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of the
> >store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case
> >at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors
> were
> >kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took
> >considerably longer to find the flavor and get checked out.
> >
> >Now the question for the engineer was why the car wouldn't start when
> >it took less time. Once time became the problem -- not the vanilla
> >ice cream -- the engineer quickly came up with the answer: vapor
> >lock. It was happening every night, but the extra time taken to get
> >the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to
> >start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the
> >vapor lock to dissipate.
> >
> >Moral of the story: even insane looking problems are sometimes real.
> >
> >A better moral: chocolate ice cream cures vapor lock!
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