Obituaries

I want to tell you a story about my dad, Jim Robinson. He had an excellent sense of humor that made for many stories. In the early 1970s, dad took a position as an engineer manager at the Portsmouth Shipyard in Kittery Maine. So, he and my mom packed up their Ford LTD Country Squire Station Wagon (green with wood like side paneling) with four kids and a dog, and moved from Port Orchard Washington, across the country, to Durham New Hampshire. It was not our first (nor last) move across the country. Dad had several engineers that reported to him at the Portsmouth Shipyard. In the mid 70’s, one of those engineers purchased a Volkswagen Rabbit. The engineer was so proud of his purchase, and totally excited (as only an engineer could be) about the efficiency of this car. He went on and on about the gas mileage of the Rabbit and often pondered aloud, and to the annoyance of his peers, how much money he would be saving. He carefully recorded the amount of gas purchase and miles driven in a log so that he could keep a record of the engine efficiency in miles per gallon (mpg). For reference, I looked up the fuel economy of the Rabbit. It ran between 25-30 mpg. My dad had a sly sense of humor, and decided to corral several on his team. Unbeknownst to the engineer, this team of pranksters began to add a little bit of fuel each day to the car while it was parked at their office site. Well, over the weeks the engineer was simply amazed at the improvement of engine efficiency from his new car. 25 mpg became 35 mpg, which became 50 mpg, which (if I remember the story correctly) at the end of 4 months became as much as 75 mpg. The engineer was convinced he had the golden vehicle! After a few months of priming this joke, the engineer scheduled an appointment with Volkswagen for the first checkup. He was convinced that the advertised fuel economy of the Rabbit was woefully under estimated and gathered up his data to show the Volkswagen technicians that he was actually getting 75 mpg. At this point the shipyard pranksters stopped adding fuel to the car. From the engineer’s perspective, the car went from a fuel economy of 75 mpg before its first scheduled maintenance appointment, back to 25 mpg after the appointment – clearly a disaster. Needless to say, the engineer was very upset with the Volkswagen maintenance crew. I understand (or at least imagine) words were exchanged. I am not sure how this story ended, or how much was embellished on, but it is a fun story and is a fair representation of how my dad enjoyed life. My family has enjoyed this story, and many other stories from dad over the years.

Posted by Anonymous on February 1, 2021