Classic prank: Preying on the naive auto owner
In high school my best friend and I convinced his sister that the sphincter valve on her car was broken and leaking blinker fluid all over the driveway. She freaked and offered us money to drive it up to their family mechanic and have it fixed. We took the money and blew it on Golden Tee. We know, we know, it's a horrible prank, but it's such a classic. One of the blokes on our development team responsible for our new galleries and improved search functionality (zup, Celly!) tipped us off to this year-old recording of a radio show prank in which a poor, naive young lady gets it good from some morning show hosts. She believed and agreed to pay $2,400 for the pleasure of fixing her leaky headlights, switching her tires that were accidentally installed on the wrong sides, installing two transmissions that were missing from the vehicle and ruining her gas mileage, among a few other fictitious, high-priced repairs.
We're sure you all have some great stories to tell in which you duped some unsuspecting friend or family member into believing something hilariously false about his or her car. Feel free to share in the comments.
[Source: Scogginsnoggin]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
apt34 7:31PM (1/19/2007)
wow, that's actually pretty sad to listen to
Are you sure that is a legitimate recording?
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Mike 7:39PM (1/19/2007)
A friend and I (the auto-savvy guys) were replacing the ignition wires of another friends (not auto-savvy) 1965 Buick Skylark. For our time and effort, we had the owner go out to rent a "sky hook" so that we could better access the engine. He went to 6 different rental shops and auto parts stores throughout our small town of Santa Barbara, CA, and finally gave up. When he returned, he found his Skylark running beautifully and his two buddies laughing to tears!
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kris burbidge 7:36PM (1/19/2007)
Golden Tee!!! Classic!! I'll take ya'll on anytime. Good site.
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smooth sailin 7:37PM (1/19/2007)
My car only makes right turns so I usually arrive at my destination from the opposite direction.
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olddavid 12:54PM (1/20/2007)
Our specialty was "muffler bearings". They went out near prom and various weekends when I was young and mean.
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Dana 8:13PM (1/19/2007)
That's at least 3 years old
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Edmond Dantes 8:16PM (1/19/2007)
Here is a link to an undercover report about Jiffy Lube ripping off their customers.
http://www.consumerist.com/consumer/jiffy-lube/jiffy-lube-scam-revealed-again-197023.php
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Typesbad 9:07PM (1/19/2007)
The sad truth is if you switched the subject to computers, I'd be just as ignorant. The only difference is I expect all computer problems to be fixed with a free download.
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David J. 9:43PM (1/19/2007)
Yes. This recording is very, very old. At least three years indeed.
And I recall it was a april fools prank by from some radio station.
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epp_b 10:01PM (1/19/2007)
People that dumb almost deserve to be ripped off.
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Jugomugo 10:54PM (1/19/2007)
I remember convincing a friend (and surprisingly not a Honda owner) that a giant wing on the back of a car would make it faster.
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Joe 12:54AM (1/20/2007)
Just tonight a guy came into my shop and said his friend told him he should ask for a 'Fluid Rotation.' We played it off as a joke, but after the oil change and stuff he asked if we had had the time to rotate the fluids. We said with his mileage he wasn't due for that yet.
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Project GT 6:09PM (1/20/2007)
One of the good old pranks is to remove a plug wire from the spark plug and ask a friend to hold it while you crank the engine. I've seen it done countless times and the look on their face is priceless.
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Vinson Kelley 1:40AM (1/20/2007)
I once heard an ad on the radio from an auto repair shop stating that their prices were "more than reasonable." I'm sure they were.
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Nelson 3:33AM (1/20/2007)
My Dad had been a mechanic for years, he once told me a story where a guy came in and asked him to check his plug wires, he thought they were leaking........
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Danny 4:26AM (1/20/2007)
i've heard that radio skit... but the chick doesn't really fall for it... she does play along or seem convinced but in the end she says that she needs to ask her dad.
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Rich S. 5:59AM (1/20/2007)
My brother and I suggested that my mom add "change air in tires" to a list of things do be done during service. Questioning her about it later, she said the service guy seemed puzzled and said that if she really wanted the air changed, he would do it. I think she caught on, but we had a good laugh over it.
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R Wiggler 7:10AM (1/20/2007)
My uncle sold my old Ford Escort for me. It was a good car but had power steering problems. We told my mother that to fix the steering, we stuffed bananas into the steering assembly for lubrication. We then said that we sold it to an old lady. The solution should work until the bananas give out then who knows? Then there is the problem with fruit flies in the interior of the car, etc. We had her so upset about the old lady.
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M. M. Hall 7:43AM (1/20/2007)
There was a time many years ago when butyl rubber was used in inner tubes. Exchanging the air periodically was required.
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Manager Guy 7:43AM (1/20/2007)
As a tire salesman, I would joke about changing the "summer air" to "winter air" in customer's tires. I also would say that white lettering would make their car go faster. I wold also have to test drive Corvettes, etc. to make sure the balancing took to the tires. In the end I never cheated anyone tho......
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