Gary Tom was on his way to work when his car started to die.
It went from 80 km/h down to 20 km/h. He plays seniors-oriented music on his guitar at hospitals throughout the Fraser Valley, and had to get to work.
So he chugged along the Lougheed Highway to Maple Ridge, at a snail’s pace, and then back home to Clearbrook.
He thought the transmission must have gone and was getting set for some big repair bills, but the mechanic smelled a rat.
Literally.
There it was, a three-pound rat, stuck in the throttle body of the carburetor.
“The car ran for a few days with this guy stuck in there,” he says, holding up a photo of the unfortunate rodent.
All the guys at the garage had to come over and see it.
Apparently seeking warmth, it went into the vehicle’s air intake, chewed through the air filter, and then tunnelled right up into the carburetor. There it got stuck, and expired.
Tom said there was no lasting damage to the car.
“It’s funny that a car could be disabled for an organic reason, not a mechanical reason.”