The Old "What's All This BLANK Stuff, Anyhow" Series by Bob Pease

Tim Wescott wrote:
> <snip>
>
> Stories about his stupid Volkswagen bug, and how clever he is to keep it
> running -- heard em' all from better raconteurs, boring as hell.
>

You never owned John Muir's book, didya?

I disagree. At least the one about how clean he could get a tailpipe
test was precious. The high EGT of a(n aircooled) Bug completely
violated the instrumentation assumptions of the CARB tests. A
properly tuned Bug put out very little but CO2 and water.

It stands as a sort of Public Choice Theory object lesson -
one of the ways that the Big Three bought into catalytic converters
was when they realized that catalytic converters would knock Beetles
out of the US market.

Maybe you hadda be there.

> Ditto on brags about climbing in the Himalayas with his own personal
> native guide, stories about near-retirement, etc. I don't know if I ever
> saw one with details of his lower intestinal function, but I wouldn't
> have been surprised (I just would have forgotten it as quickly as
> possible).
>

I always took those as "keep moving or you'll rust" stories.... Pease
is one of the Old Guys. They're dwindling in number. This is Bad.
Exhibit A is the financial crisis. Exhibit B, the Gulf oil spill.

--
Les Cargill