Rental Car Story V

It was the end of the day and I had just finished putting a new clutch into a Mondial Cabriolet. The rental company picked up the car and brought it back to their lot in Waikiki.

The very next day, about mid-day, I got a call informing me that the Mondial was being towed in. The renter said that he was just cruising down the freeway and the car lost its "go". We talked a little about what might have happened and whether they should make any charges against the renter. I think the owner was convinced by the renter's very sincere demeanor and refunded the rental charge and deposit. I think this event was a mortal wound to his faith and trust in fellow man.

I got the car into into the shop in a day or two and found only the metal portion of the clutch driven disc. The bell housing was full of the burned fibrous material that used to be the clutch lining. All of the resin/bonding material had been burned away and both the clutch cover and flywheel were burned and blue.

Just cruising down the freeway?? He managed to destroy a new clutch in less than four hours.

 

Hi ZiFF

I'll bet there was a horrible smell while this was happening. I have to believe that it was a willful act and not just someone that was not used to driving a manual gearbox car. When I got the car, there wasn't any odor that I noticed. Maybe it is because I have been damaged by too many years of gas, oil, solvent, and exhaust fumes. I just could not believe my eyes when I pulled the bell housing off.

Hi Pettit

Thanks very much for the kind words. I don't think that there is much monetary value to this stuff. If it provides some good reading to the forum, all is good.

 

Hi Brandon

Yes, it could be pretty depressing to see how some people would treat the cars. Most were very respectful of the machinery and enjoyed the opportunity to cruise around Hawaii in a special car and bring back some great pictures and stories to friends and family at home. Some people just made you wonder how parents, educators, and nature got it so wrong. No, there was no attempt to get compensation for this. The credit card companies just would not decide in favor of the rental company. At this point, the parts were pretty cheap and I was doing so many clutches that I could do them pretty fast. I remember one long day that I did 3 308 clutches in one day.

I don't have much of interest to offer on the Lamborghini front. There were very few Lamborghinis in rental service compared to the number of Ferraris. I know that they were much more selective on who they would rent a Lamborghini to. I do remember discussions with the owner about how the Lamborghinis were just not as profitable. The big problem was the very weak clutch and the very big expense of changing the clutch. I did not do the clutches on the Lambos. The dealer did that work for him. I have a very small shop and am a one man operation. I could barely keep up with the Ferrari work and was more than happy to stay away from pulling Countach or Diablo engines.

Aloha
Larry