Every couple of months or so, I top off my car battery with a charger to clean up the plates. A couple of days ago, it had been on about 12 hours and as down to 100ma. I put the equipment away and closed the hood. It lined up, but I felt a little play when I pushed down. I decided to open it, to be sure the bumpers were in place.
I couldn?t open it! I?d serviced that car since 1984 and owned it since
1996. I?d never had trouble opening the hood. I thought about using a sledge hammer and chisel, but I didn?t want to blemish it.I decided to take a walk. So what if I couldn?t get the hood open for now? I?d think it over!
As I walked, it occurred to me that except for a 1978 F-150, every vehicle I could remember that was made since the 1960s had a remote hood latch. I wondered if my car had one, too.
When I got home, I automatically opened the driver?s door and pulled the hood latch release. Well, how about that! My car has one, too!
I don?t remember what I don?t think about. I?ve been opening that hood
30 years without thinking about it. If I wanted to open the hood, I?d open the door and release the latch. The rest was automatic, without a thought in my head. A couple of days ago, when I was already standing at the hood, I couldn?t remember that there was something before it in my mindless sequence.