A cop-opera meme (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Wilson Gray]

On Fri, Jul 20, 2012 at 5:03 PM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
<Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
> As we approached, he'd downshift and back off the gas, and it would backfire.  The hope was that the pedestrian would jump.

I wouldn't jump. I'm accustomed to that, having grown up with it. I
don't know about today - as you imply, backfires today occasionally
happen on purpose and not several times a day by chance - but, back
then, you saw a ball of fire burst out of the vehicle's tailpipe. A
backfire could be spectacular at night.

Back on my day, there were still many cars of the Model-A era in the
road. There were even Model-T-era cars around. We used to get a big
laugh out of watching guy literally crank up his car and then ry to
junp into it before the engine could die.

When I recall that there were even still horse-drawn vehicles to be
seen on the streets, wrought-iron hitching-posts at the curb in front
of most houses, and public horse-troughs at major intersections in
Saint Louis, in those days, I feel old.

<sigh!>

--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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