The Proper Way To Start A Conversation With Any Car Seller: COTD

Buying a car or motorcycle can be an exciting experience. You have the thrill of just chasing down the vehicle you’ve been wanting for who knows how long. Then, you find it, check your bank account, and start planning how you’re going to bring it home. Once you have a vague idea of what you’re going to do (or not, you can just buy first and think later), it’s time to hit that message button. Here’s the proper way to do it.

Yesterday, Jason wrote about a bizarre Chrysler Cirrus ute with the front end of a Dodge Stratus, what appears to be at least some of the bed of a Chevy S-10, and some unknown taillights. Incredibly, the best guess is still that the taillights came from a S-10, but I don’t know, the shape just doesn’t match up. Admittedly, the mystery of those lights have dominated the car thoughts of the past day of my life and I’m no closer to figuring out this ultimate Parts Bin Puzzle.

Anyway, the big question all of us had is why? Well, more precisely, “who, what, where, when, and why?” Clearly, there’s only one way to get our answer. We could message the seller, introduce ourselves, and politely ask questions. But why do that when you can choose chaos, from COTD Root:

It’s on FB Marketplace so you should totally try to reach out to the seller for more info. I suggest leading with the question: “Is this available?”

For a second nom, we have another comment from the long weekend. As Thomas wrote, the town of Elko, Nevada has roads that may as well be covered in ice thanks to the “Mormon Cricket.” More than one reader asked how these creatures got their name, and who better to ask than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints?

The first Latter-day Saints to enter the Salt Lake Valley in the summer of 1847 immediately set to work preparing the dry soil for a spring harvest. However, there were serious food shortages that winter, leaving the Saints to eagerly look forward to their spring crops. As the crops grew that spring, they looked thick and green, and farmers anticipated a rich yield. Tragically, however, swarms of crickets descended on the fields in late May 1848, threatening to destroy much of the pioneers’ potential food supply. For at least a month, the Saints contended against the crickets in what some called the Cricket War of 1848.

Families apparently couldn’t stop the crickets. The swarm was no match for the brooms, brushes, ropes, and sticks families had on hand. Things got so dire that settlers considered fleeing for California or Oregon. Then they prayed before an unlikely savior appeared from the Church:

In early June large flocks of California gulls swept the valley, feasting on the crickets. The number of gulls at first frightened many of the farmers, who feared another calamity may have struck their vulnerable crops. But soon they watched the gulls gorge on crickets, drink water, regurgitate the indigestible parts, and return for more.4 Although the cricket infestation lingered for another few weeks, the gulls had consumed enough to mitigate the damage.

Thus, the California Gull is Utah’s state bird and those insects are now known by the common name Mormon Cricket, even though they aren’t actually crickets. Anyway, ghostpedalsyndrome started off a satisfying thread with:

Fun fact: Mormon crickets are the reason the California seagull is the state bird of Utah.

Rust Buckets came in, explaining a condensed version of the above story. Then serial funnyman A. Barth dropped this:

I wish they all could be California Gulls.

Take your COTDs and get out of here! Have a great evening, everyone.

(Top photo: Facebook seller.)