[legion]

One of my coworkers is hosting her little sister as she interns at a local hospital and studies for her MCATs. Last week, her car refused to start. Coworker's husband assessed the situation and determined the likely cause was a bad starter. (I later confirmed this diagnosis to the best of my ability.)

Coworker calls her father in Ohio for advice on how to proceed (as he will be bankrolling any repairs for the college-aged sister). Father states that he knows starter was dying, already purchased a replacement, and would send it to Illinois for installation.

College girl is planning on driving back to Ohio tomorrow.

Coworker's husband and I were recruited to do the work in the hospital parking deck where the car has been for the past week. No problem. Doing the starter on an American V8 RWD vehicle is about as easy at it gets. I don't even bother to look if the vehicle has any quirks I'm so confident.

We get the starter pulled in about 30 minutes. The starter supplied and the starter pulled look different. Bolt holes don't line up...

No problem. We figure father of college girl just ordered the wrong one. He purchased at Autozone and we have receipts. We verify car is a '92 (manufactured August '91). Husband takes picture of door sticker with VIN, manufacture date, etc...

We head off to Autozone. Counter guy verifies we have a starter for a '92, but suspects that because this was an early '92 model, it might have been made with leftover '91 parts. No problem. He pulls a '91 starter.

'91 starter has same bolt pattern as the pulled starter, but a different opening to the flywheel. It's clear it won't fit without grinding down some metal.

Clerk looks for mid-year differences in '91s and '92s. Doesn't find any. Exhausted, he has one last idea. He asks one simple question:

"Where was the car made."

Husband pulls up photo of door sticker. Made in Canada. Clerk says that we have a Canadian market Grand Marquis, and he can't get parts. Different engine. Different starter. He suggests we try NAPA or Ford, both of which are closed at this point. Either way, it will probably be days to get the correct starter on special order.

College girl is stuck in Bloomington.