Date:         Wed, 19 Apr 2000 09:28:58 -0500
Reply-To:     Chris Smith <chris.smith@AQUILA.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Chris Smith <chris.smith@AQUILA.COM>
Subject:      T.U.R.D. might need a new name
Comments: To: dbginfo@onelist.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

This is an odd post for me but...

The TURD is starting to reject her name.  As many of you know, the TURD is
an acronym for Totally Unreliable Recreational Device.  In the past she has
earned her name in spades.  Ben and others can attest to the numerous times
that I have been left waiting for AAA to show up. (over last few renewals
they told me that I had saved over $3000 in services since joining 5 years
ago, gotta love 100 free miles towing!)   I've had a failed F.I., Fuel
Pump, bad relays, multiple ruined oil seals (remember BBTA '98 Andy?), bad
tires, bad alternator, lost the LP tank, new engine, dash fire, broken
shore power connector, bad coil, ruined points, bad heater spark/glow plug,
leaky door seals, oil smoke in the heaters, fried camp batteries, bad 120v
circuit breaker, and a few other minor things that I can't remember right
now.  Needless to say the name TURD just seemed right.

Now she is throwing me a curve ball.  The Thing is in the middle of a
rather long, drown-out, unmotivated engine rebuild so she isn't on the
road.  The Jeep is forcing me to replace a boat-load of front-end
components <see side story below> .  The tURD has become my daily driver
for the last few weeks.  My commute is about 125 miles each day.  2 years
ago the TURD would have lasted about 3 days before a major break-down, but
the weird part is, she, knock on wood <knock, knock, knock>, has been
running perfectly.  That's right, not a single problem.  It's as if she
doesn't like the name TURD and is trying to prove that she really is
reliable after-all.  I'm not sure if I belive her, but she is starting to
change my mind.

The big question is, if she is no longer TOTALLY unreliable, what should be
her new name?

Expiring minds want to know.

I'm going to leave it up to the list to decide since I have no luck with
names.

<Side Story>
If you're thinking of using WrenchHead.com forget it.  I ordered brake
rotors from them 4 weeks ago.  They sent the wrong order and when I called
them to inform them of their mistake they promised to send a UPS call tag
for the order and ship my new parts right away.  As of today they claim
that I have already received my order and they never sent the wrong one in
the first place.  This is worse customer service than I expect from trak auto!

Chris Smith
'82 Westy <TURD>
'74 Thing <Thingy1>
Others