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It stalled a few times, and we had to turn around – it just couldn’t make the steep grade. Things definitely were not going well, and with all the strain on the engine trying to make the hill several times, I could see the temperature in the radiator rising. It was a hot summer day, which didn’t help matters. As we headed back to the starting point, I was thinking he would give me a “pass” for trying, and forgiving the hill failure because of the age of the car. The Model A’s radiator cap has a small hole in the center to vent pressure, unlike today’s closed systems, and, by this time, it was at the boiling point. Suddenly, it blew like a geyser, showering the whole car and pouring boiling hot water onto the tester’s right arm that was resting on the window edge. I also knew that when the engine was as hot as it was it had a habit of backfiring when it was turned off. This is caused when the engine makes a few extra revolutions, thus sucking raw gasoline down the gravity fed gas line and getting fumes into the muffler. Sure enough, today there was an extra very loud bang. The guy was so frightened by then he couldn’t get out of the car fast enough, and as he scrambled out the door, he fell to the ground, flat on his face. To make matters worse, all my friends were rolling around on the ground, laughing their heads off over this wild scene.
You guessed it, I failed the test. We all laughed for months after that, and even now, every time I think about that day I laugh again. I can still see the frightened expression on the testers face.
I was back a few weeks later in a better car, a 1936 Dodge – it made the hill test. Luckily, I had a different tester and passed. Maybe the first tester quit his job after I scared him half to death.
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