I think the backwoods mechanic was so hung over at 8am that he just passed the thing without looking
My guess is he slapped a sticker on it in self-defense. ("holy cr*p, they're back again...")
Back in the 70's I had a beat-to-sh*t VW beetle I bought for $200. At the time, (I have no idea how it works any longer), NJ had official inspection stations, free, that ran like an assembly line, check the lights here, check the tires there, go in one end of the building and out the other, and one of the things they did was a rudimentary emissions test. The bug was running rough, like it often did, and twice I had failed the emissions test, when they would send me on my way. One morning, (
hot d*mn!, I thought to myself) fired it up and it was running smooth, so I bee-lined to the inspection station, and passed the emissions test. The inspection stickers are on the windshield on the passenger side in NJ, and the dude was already giving me the hairy eyeball at showing up again. When he motioned to me to roll the window down so he could swap stickers, I had to yell that the window didn't open, and when he said to just open the door, well... the door didn't open either. I had to get out so he could get in the driver's side to do the sticker.
I don't know if functioning doors were mandatory to pass inspection, but I suspect he was in the same frame of mind as the mechanic that checked Tramp's car.
Drove that car two years, then sold it for $50 to a kid in Philadelphia, where I was living at the time.
Praise good luck; we all need it on occasion
Amen, buddy!
I too am waiting with bated-breath for The Story. My Christmas tradition also! Hope you two make it off the tree lot alive. It sounded touch-or-go last year.
