Once again had to help my single lady neighbor start her mower.She doesn't understand or remember the concept of a choke. I only know one way to demonstrate the benefits of choking but I don't want to go to jail. Oh well she thinks my old cars are " cute". It must be a woman thing.
One of the "benefits" of modern cars, isn't it? They're so damn good. The average Joe or Jane just has no concept of how things work and doesn't really care. And that is too bad.
I actually look for reasons to help my elderly neighbors....He has a STACK of old Ford parts out back!
You have a chance at helping her understand the concept. Remembering it is the bigger challenge. Better to be the nice young man with the funny looking cars than the scary grouchy guy. You never know when you may need a friendly neighbor after you piss off someone with an occasional late night open exhaust blast or a few parts left on your driveway. (It seems dogs belonging to neighbors I like don't bark as loud and long.)
It still amazes me to see a gray beard pumping the throttle on his 2000 up daily driver. "Gotta set the choke ya know!"
You're getting off easy, mine comes over holding the starter rope and handle. And she's got the heft to break it.
i worked with a fellow, that had run a dealership in the fifties. he would tell all kinds of crazy stories, one of which; he sold a car to a woman who broke down by the end of the day, they towed the car in and found fouled plugs. she took the car again and the next day broke down. same story, fouled plugs. this time he road with her to test it out and show her it was fine. she got in the car, pulled out the choke knob and hung her purse on it and proceeded to drive away.....
You really can't blame this, or any other woman, for not understanding 'choking'. Men have eons of experience at 'choking', usually when women aren't around......... Ray
Just going to throw this out there.... maybe she is lonely. ( HRP, get the 70's porn music RIGHT out of your head! ) Some people have poor social skills and use excuses to get a visit from others. While I worked as a medic, I had a woman in her 80's that would dial 911 EVERY time I was duty. We'd respond to her place and she'd meet us at the door with cookies and an invite in for tea. Just... be kind.
Add a strip of ducttape next to it, write "Here for cold engine start only" on the tape by the choke on position, and "Here for everything except cold engine start" by the off position. Doesn't need to teach anyone what a choke is or does to use it, just when it should be on or off.
The Jalopy Journal
