[DeTomaso] Bill Taylor--what a guy!

MikeLDrew at aol.com MikeLDrew at aol.com
Wed Jun 30 04:09:39 EDT 2010


Hi guys,

I'm sitting on a Southwest flight heading home after a whirlwind trip to LA 
today.   I was fortunate enough to spend the whole day with SOBill Taylor, 
which is lucky under any circumstances.   But especially lucky today.

I keep my silver VW Scirocco in the long-term parking lot at LAX, and the 
last time I drove it a couple of months ago, the battery light was 
periodically flashing, indicating that the alternator wasn't always charging.   Nobody 
is better suited to troubleshooting electrical systems than SOBill, so I 
arranged to fly down there today to bring the car to him for a look-see.   
This car has a healthy appetite for alternators and I suspected that another 
one had taken a dump, but was curious to see if anything more could be found, 
i.e. a systemic problem that might explain the 6-8 remanufactured 
alternators this car has been through in the past 10 years or so.

When I got to the car this morning, I found the battery stone dead.   
Admittedly I hadn't driven the car in two months but historically this hasn't 
been a problem.   I got a jumpstart and headed for Bill's house in Torrance.   
About ten minutes down the road, the instruments started going crazy.   I've 
seen ths show before and got to the side of the road just as it died.

Bill pulled two batteries from other vehicles and brought them to me, but 
unfortunately neither would fit in the car, so instead we just hooked up 
jumper cables and he charged the battery for a few minutes.   I was then able to 
start it and drive partway to his house, when the car died again.   Repeat.

Eventually we made it to his house; he had kindly called Kragens the day 
before and ordered a new alternator for me.   Before we went to fetch it, Miss 
Kitty whipped up a dynamite authentic Italian pasta lunch that was unique, 
and to die for!   Afterwards we got the new alternator installed, it tested 
perfectly, and I was good to go. We charged the battery for a couple of 
hours too.

We had a pleasant afternoon visiting with Grant Stockwell, then I bid 
everyone farewell and zoomed back to LAX (battery light distinctly extinguished), 
and now here I am, heading for home.

Bill--thanks again so much for all your help today.   You've got a million 
better things to do than be faffing about with my old Scirocco, but the fact 
that you set all that aside to help me out really means a lot to me!

Mike



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