We have a Meyer lemon tree in the front yard. Planted it when we first moved here. It has a good crop on it this year. They are ripening now. If you need a lemon come by and I will give you a couple FREE. Have you ever bought a "lemon?". I mean a vehicle that was so shoddy and undependable it earned that name?
Craig Cheetham put together a book called "The World"s Worst Cars". It is complete with color pictures of most of these "lemons". I bought the book this week on sale. My interest was to see how many "lemons" I had bought through the years. Two made his book.
My first "lemon" was actually the "father" of a "lemon". I bought this car in Germany when stationed there in the fifties. It was a second-hand English car called a Morris Minor. It's offspring was a Morris Marina made by British Leyland. It is called "dangerous to drive". It was leaky and had a collapsing front suspension. My Minor had no first gear when I bought it. I used it to get to the firing range where I coached. It usually had a case or two of ammunition in the trunk.That was not legal,I confess. I sold it and bought a 52' Chevrolet that I shipped home after my tour of duty.That was our honeymoon car.
My second "lemon" was truly that. It made the all-time list, thanks to Ralph Nader. It was the Chevrolet Corvair. They made these little economy cars with the engine in the rear, from 1961-1970. The one I bought was about seven years old. How bad was it? Well, I painted it myself, if that is a clue. The Corvair's biggest problem was in the rear suspension. It would cause the rear wheels to tuck underneath the back-end if the tire pressure wasn't perfect. Corvair's demise began in 1966 with a book Nader wrote titled "Unsafe At Any Speed". The Corvair was GM's challenge to the VW. It didn't work. It wasn't all that bad. There was a lot of room in it, for a small car. Since it looked like a normal car, and not the "Bug", I had fun at times raising the front hood and yelling, "Someone stole my engine!". I sold it to an older couple living in a rural area near Center, Texas. They promised to use it only for getting their groceries..
How many "lemons" have been your lot? They might not have made the book. "Lemons" were sometimes called "Monday cars", having been made on that day when workers were recovering from a bad week-end.
The old saying is, "When life gives you lemons make lemonade." I would change that to lemon pie.
Paul The Apostle offered some advice for dealing with life's lemons: " I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation......I can do everything through him who gives me strength."
I know Paul dealt with some lemony people at times. Don't know about donkeys.
