A Note from Flivverspace

My grandfather's first car was a "flivver," a Model T Ford. To start it up, you got inside, set the hand brake, depressed the clutch and shifted into neutral. Then you set the spark and throttle levers and adjusted the choke. Then you got back out and blocked a wheel (in case the hand brake slipped or it popped into gear). Then you put the crank handle into place and proceeded to crank the recoil starter, being careful to keep your thumb clear in case a backfire tried to break your arm. If you were lucky, it would start after a few cranks. Then you would put away the crank, pull out the wheel block, get in, release the hand brake, advance the throttle and spark, depress the clutch, shift into first, let out the clutch and try not to stall. Sometimes it worked. Writing to you once again a little late, and from home (due to ongoing and delicate adjustments to our network services), I declare the internet to be at the flivver stage of development.