[TR] TR Bonnets: (Was Re: TR3 - how does the door latch strap fasten to the door latch)

[David Friedlander]

Great story, Jeff, thanks. I needed a good laugh...   But I'm sure it was
no laughing matter at the time!

Dave

On Mon, Jun 8, 2020, 2:59 PM Jeff Scarbrough <fishplate at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Wed, Jun 3, 2020 at 7:55 AM DAVID MASSEY <dave1massey at cs.com> wrote:
>
>> Hurts the pocket book but it also hurts the pride.  Really embarrassing.
>>
>>
> I may have told this story before... In a previous life, I worked for a
> Volkswagen dealer as a Service Technician ("schmieraffe").  Most of the
> cars we saw were newer, but occasionally, there was one that had seen a
> rough life.  This day it was a 1977 VW Rabbit.   I forget the complaint,
> but I brought it into my bay and opened the hood by untying the coat hanger
> that held it shut.  That was the only securement for it...
>
> After inspecting whatever I was inspecting, I got the customer to go for a
> test drive with me.
>
> We set out around the block, me confidently behind the wheel.  Our test
> drive route left the dealer on Piedmont Road in Atlanta, turned right
> through a residential neighborhood, then came out on Pharr Road in trendy
> Buckhead....
>
> As I pulled out on Pharr Road, I wound it up to the speed limit, listening
> for the noise I was tracing...all of the sudden, the hood went straight up,
> hung for a second by the ground strap attached to it while I desperately
> tried to look between bonnet and cowl to see where I was going while I
> slowed down.  After an eternity, the hood sailed out of sight behind us.
>
> Miraculously, in busy Atlanta traffic, there was nobody in the way behind
> us.  I stopped the car and we got out and went back to retrieve the hood.
> Other than one bent rear corner, it didn't look any worse than before.  I
> looked at the customer, they looked at me, they shrugged, I shrugged, and
> we set it back in place and drove on back to the shop.  No words were ever
> said.
>
> When I released the car back to them, though, that coat hanger was *tight*.
>
>
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