Re: The real MacGuyver

[Audial <Audial@aol.com>]

I've been too embarrassed to tell this story for obvious reasons, but now's
the time...

We had left Baltimore in the '81 Coupe GT and it was a cold winter friday
night.  Four buddies and myself crammed into the car on the way to a big party
at an unnamed university in Pennsylvania.  Two cases of Sam Adams in the
trunk, so we wouldn't show up empty-handed.  We were driving merrily along
when _splat_ the Coupe loses its coolant all over the road.  Pulled over
quickly and rummaged through the trunk for the flashlight _damn_, it's cold,
and everybody is freaking out because the clock is ticking and we're stuck in
the middle of nowhere with great big semis blowing past us.  

I looked under the car and found that the lower radiator hose had burst.  I
had been meaning to replace it, in fact I had the replacement in the trunk,
with clamps.  Oops.

We are dead in the water about 1/8th of a mile from an uphill off-ramp, so we
put the flashers on and waited for the engine to cool, and then made a very
quick run off the highway and onto a very deserted road.  Now it's _really_
cold and everybody's losing patience, we're still broken down.  I put the hose
and clamp back on the radiator and then realize that the 3/4 full container of
antifreeze I have in the trunk isn't going to cut it.  And then there are
those two cases just sitting there.  

I say to everyone, "We're going to have to walk and find a phone, or, we can
pour the beer into the car, which I don't want to do.".  My friend John pipes
up, "Hey, we paid for that, what a senseless waste.  Urine is pretty clean."

45 minutes later my passengers are (well, me too, a little, just to keep the
spirits up, you see) getting themselves into really awkward positions, peeing
into the Coupe's expansion tank.  It was cold and there was _shrinkage!_ but I
was obviously relying on the intact glomerular filtration of these folks to
get us where we needed to go.  

It worked! (and everyone was very happy)

The next afternoon everybody wakes up and I hazily ask the guy who threw the
party if he has a bucket.  "Yeah, sure, but why?  Are you sick?"  

"Well, no, but my car's radiator is full of pee."

We went to the local auto store and got some coolant, I dumped the slightly
noxious effluvient from the radiator down the toilet, and we all went home.
I've never lived down letting that hose go so long.

Easy no problems!


Best Wishes,
Alex