[DeTomaso] Charlie on the hook again....

[Thomas Tornblom]

MikeLDrew at aol.com skrev:
> Hi guys,
> 
> Nobody has logged more tow truck miles than Charlie McCall, and he just 
> called to announce that he's dead on the side of the road again.
> 
> He and Amaya were on a leisurely drive towards Le Mans, staying at chateaus 
> and enjoying the south of France, when his car was felled for the stupidest of 
> reasons--his damn alarm conked out.
> 
> "So what?" I can hear you all thinking.
> 
> Well, Charlie's all-singing, all-dancing Cobra alarm system has a built-in 
> vehicle immobilizer, which chops the ignition circuit if it decides than 
> anything is wrong.   The car was left in the rain, and apparently something 
> electronic went FZZZTTT, and now it is not behaving the way it's supposed to.   He can 
> start the car for 1/2 second before the alarm kills it.
> 
> That makes for slow progress towards Le Mans.
> 
> Fortunately, a local cop (he is in the middle of nowhere, WAY out in the 
> country) knew a friend who knew a friend who works at a high-end car stereo joint, 
> and he is waiting for that fellow to arrive.   Fingers are crossed for a 
> two-minute quick fix (bypass the alarm entirely), but as Charlie said, if the 
> alarm was that easy to bypass, it wouldn't be much of an alarm.
> 
> So the forecast is for the car to be towed an extensive distance back to the 
> stereo shop, whereupon it will be torn apart to search for the alarm 
> components (Charlie doesn't know where the brain box is located, or even what it looks 
> like).

Just like me then :-)

I know most of the electrics of my car, and I had a shop install an 
alarm system that is approved by the insurance companies. This thing has 
nothing by black wires, apparently to obfuscate the install for a 
burglar :-} The installer is required to send a report to the 
manufacturer detailing the installation, which sounds cool, but I'm not 
use it would help in a situation like this.


> 
> Still, hope springs eternal.   He still hopes to arrive at our campsite on 
> Wednesday, mid-day, and stake out our turf; De Tomaso folks from England, 
> France, and (hopefully) Sweden will then filter in on Thursday.   
> 
> BTW, Thomas Tornblom's wife is trying to get him to ditch work and buy a 
> cheap airline ticket down to Paris, so he can hop in the car (Renault) with 
> Stephane Bergeron and me and join us for the race, but he's waffling.   I think he 
> needs to hear from some of you guys regarding the choice of stay-at-work vs. 
> go-to-Le-Mans-with-the-boys....:>)

Hahaha, thanks Mike :-) I believe my manager may have one or two 
objections :-)

We'll take that next year instead.

> 
> Mike
> 

Cheers,
Thomas