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        riddles >> what happened >> A Car Puzzle
        
(Message started by: cchris on Jul 25^th, 2006, 7:47pm)

Title: A Car Puzzle
Post by cchris on Jul 25^th, 2006, 7:47pm

Don't blame me if it sucks, it's my first attempt at making one of these up.

The officer walked up to the garage in the middle of the field with the man. The man opened up the garage door, pointed to the car, and said "there, have a look if you want."

The officer went over the papers, they all appeared to be real and legitimate, and the documented mileage on the old car - from 1967 - matched the odometer: 133 miles.

"I told you, my dad bought the car in 1967, drove it home, pulled it into the garage, and left it here."

"Uncovered?"

"Yes", replied the man."

"You didn't worry about it getting messed up? I mean, it seems like I wouldn't want any rodents or pests getting anywhere in the car."

"Well there's really no problem with pests, this place is fairly solid", said the man, as he pointed around the base of the building.
As the officer looked around, he noticed a few puddles of water in the corners of the building, and a few water stains toward the top of the walls. He could see a few small holes in the roof, the obvious source of the leaks. But he didn't say anything about those. Instead, he continued to look at the car.

"Nice paintjob, still original?"

"Yep", answered the guy.

The officer thanked him for his time, left, got in the car, and called the station, telling them they had they'd caught the criminal they were looking for. He'd been stealing cars, fixing them up to look original, and selling them for a ton with papers from identical cars.

How'd the officer know he'd caught the right guy?

Title: Re: A Car Puzzle
Post by Roy on Jul 25^th, 2006, 7:56pm

is it 2006 for this puzzle? if so, would it not look awful after so long and if it was still original paintjob and uncovered, i should have been scratched and flaking by now. also, what about the tires, if he had kept it there for all that time there should be dust all over the tires and the car, but there isn't.

Title: Re: A Car Puzzle
Post by towr on Jul 26^th, 2006, 12:40am

He might have cleaned the car every week or so, including the wheels. Maybe wax it every now and then too.

One other problem I can see is that the car has a color that wasn't around then.

However, just because the guy is lying, doesn't make him a thief. So unless the officer checked the serial number of the chassis, I don't see how he can be sure he's got the thief. (Heck, even if the car is stolen, the officer might just be dealing with a middle man)

Title: Re: A Car Puzzle
Post by graphia on Jul 26^th, 2006, 5:30am

Does this puzzle require some in-depth* knowledge about cars to solve, or are the clues already there?

*i.e. beyond "they have four wheels and a motor"

Title: Re: A Car Puzzle
Post by cchris on Jul 26^th, 2006, 6:17am

Well no, assume that they've been watching the man for some time and this has happened before. Basically, how does the officer know the guy is lying?

I guess I should've said the car was untouched, but even so, this would still happen (how the officer knows the man is lying).

Doesn't really require much knowledge of cars, as usual, just basic thinking.

Title: Re: A Car Puzzle
Post by vinodh_samurai on Jul 28^th, 2006, 12:29am

The car's odometer showed 133 miles and the documents also pointed 133.

To get the authorized document , I guess you need to drive the car to an office.
So once you bring it back to home you should have travelled some distance. So the odometer should be have been pointing to a higher value.
If it is just the same as the one in the odometer , then it means its fake

Title: Re: A Car Puzzle
Post by cchris on Jul 28^th, 2006, 6:08am

No, you actually don't need to. If you wanted to sell a home-built car (i.e. a rockcrawler or something) with zero miles, it wouldn't have to be street-legal but would need to be documented still. So no, you can get someone to come document the mileage.

Hint:
[hideb]It has to do with the way the water's getting in, not the water itself, just the way it's getting in.

As for the model of the car...let's just say it's one hot car.[/hideb]

Title: Re: A Car Puzzle
Post by Grimbal on Jul 28^th, 2006, 3:48pm

Maybe it is a model that didn't exist in 1967?

A Smart?

Title: Re: A Car Puzzle
Post by Icarus on Jul 28^th, 2006, 7:29pm

The holes in the roof let in sunlight. After thirty years, this sunlight should have caused some fading in the paint where it hit the car. But the detective noticed no such discoloration.

Title: Re: A Car Puzzle
Post by cchris on Jul 28^th, 2006, 8:02pm

Nice. I was hoping someone would get it, but it seems like I made it too difficult or something? Nice work Icarus.

Title: Re: A Car Puzzle
Post by Roy on Jul 28^th, 2006, 8:11pm

Darn, didn't get in soon enough

Title: Re: A Car Puzzle
Post by Icarus on Jul 29^th, 2006, 7:35am

on 07/28/06 at 20:02:40, cchris wrote:

... it seems like I made it too difficult or something?

No. 3 days is not a long time to solve puzzles around here. Remember that for the most part, people tend to spend only a little time thinking about any one puzzle before they move on to see what else was posted.