Not a bad thread to resurface...
Once, sorta...my Cobra left Turk stranded. Back in 2004 or so, Turk and I were up at Buckley's place, which is up the hill a piece from Sacramento...but I also had to attend the California All-State Honors Choir concert near the Capitol. Something rare actually...I had two daughters in the Choir...so attendance was an absolute requirement if I wanted to stay on this particular planet. So I'm heading down Hwy 50 and the motor slowly comes to a halt. I call Turk and Pat...and they come out with Pat's daily driver Suburu and Turk's Cobra. They have a plan...I'll take the Subie to the concert and they'll figure out the rest.
Before I leave, we quickly discover it's the @##$%&!!! bronze distributor gear I was forced to use with my solid roller cam...the first of several such situations (this particular stoppage resulted in the Buckley Bronze Gear Travel Set...an new, pre-drilled gear with a Chevy-sized pin, some lube, and a small gear puller, all of which came in handy several months later on a high Sierra pass...switched to a flat tappet soon thereafter). Pat had a new gear back at his place (never a problem for him with his dry sump and electric
oil pump), so he takes Turk's cobra back to his place with my distributor to get it all matched up...leaving Turk at the side of the Hwy 50 with my Cobra.
After Pat leaves, Turk, a professional-grade smoker, quickly uses up the few matches he has for his cigarettes. Becoming a bit desperate, he started trying to find broken glass to use for an old Turkish Boy Scout Trick (they have to know this stuff early...they can earn a badge for smoking when they are 10 or so) of starting a fire with the sun's rays. He soon gives up and begins flagging down cars on the heavily-traveled freeway to use their lighters. {I know, sounds like BS...unless you know Turk.}
I make it to the concert, Pat fixes the distributor setup, and we're all having a steak at Pat's, laughing our asses off as Turk talks about all of the nice people he met when he flagged the cars down for a light. I assplain to him that I had some Nicorettes gum in the map pocket (I had quit the year before) and that he should've tried them.
Turk's response: "I found them and tried them, but no matter how many times I rubbed the gum together, I still couldn't start a fire."
