Joke received from mate in USA a while back poking fun at the electrics on English cars. Maybe it’s already widely known, although I’d not heard it until then.
A sheet of paper crossed my desk the other day and as I read it,
realization of a basic truth came over me. So simple! So obvious we
couldn't see it! John Kuivinen, Chairman of the Palomar Repeater
Committee, an amateur radio group I think, has discovered what makes
integrated circuits work. He says that smoke is the thing that makes
ICs work because every time you let smoke out of an IC it stops
working. He claims to have verified this through thorough testing.
I was flabbergasted! Of course! Smoke makes all things electrical
work. Remember the last time smoke escaped from your Lucas voltage
regulator? Didn't it quit working? I sat and smiled like an idiot as
more of the truth dawned. It's the wiring harness that carries smoke
from one device to another in your Mini and when the harness springs a
leak, it lets the smoke out of everything all at once and then nothing
works. The starter motor requires large quantities of smoke to operate
properly, that's why the wire going to it is so big.
Feeling very smug, I continued to expand my hypothesis. Why are Lucas
electrics more likely to leak smoke than, say Bosch? Hmmm. Aha!
Lucas is British. Things British always leak. British convertible tops leak water. British engines leak oil. British displacer units leak hydroelastic fluid. British governments leak defence secrets. Naturally! British electrics leak smoke.
