VANILLA ICE CREAM

For the engineers among us who understand that the obvious is not always
the solution, and that the facts, no matter how implausible, are still the
facts...

A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:

"This is the second time I have written you, and I don't blame you for not
answering me, because I kind of sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we
have a tradition in our family of ice cream for dessert after dinner each
night. But the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we've eaten,
the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I
drive down to the store to get it. It's also a fact that I recently
purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a
problem. You see, every time I buy vanilla ice cream, when I start back
from the store my car won't start. If I get any other kind of ice cream,
the car starts just fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this
question, no matter how silly it sounds: 'What is there about a Pontiac
that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start
whenever I get any other kind?'"

The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but
sent an engineer to check it out anyway. The latter was surprised to be
greeted by a successful, obviously well-educated man in a fine
neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so
the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was
vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the
car, it wouldn't start.

The engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, the man got
chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car
started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.

Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man's
car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue
his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this end
he began to take notes: he jotted down all sorts of data, time of day, type
of gas used, time to drive back and forth, etc.

In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than
any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store.

Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front
of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back
of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to
find the flavor and get checked out.

Now the question for the engineer was why the car wouldn't start when it
took less time. Once time became the problem -- not the vanilla ice cream
-- the engineer quickly came up with the answer: vapor lock. It was
happening every night, but the extra time taken to get the other flavors
allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got
vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.

Moral of the story: even insane-looking problems are sometimes real.