Davis, the chief mechanic for the local auto garage, looked up as a tow truck pulled into his parking lot dragging the saddest looking car he'd seen in ages.
"Hey, Gerd, come check this out," he said.
An older man came out of the back wiping grease off his fingers with an already well soiled shop towel. He nearly did a doubletake when he saw the car. There were lots of badly damaged cars coming through his garage every month, but this one took the cake.
"Wow, who's wonder wreck is that?' he asked.
Davis pointed at the passengers in the cab of the tow truck.
"Looks like a hard luck case to me."
Gerd frowned.
"Great. In other words we can forget this job."
"Probably."
Gerd soon turned and headed back inside as Davis approached the tow driver.
"So, what'cha got?" he asked.
"Well, according to the cops, this lady was driving down the interstate when the car pretty much blew up under them. Debris everywhere. Somehow she came out of it with no problems and merely coasted to a spectacular finish in the median with what was left of it. He said he's seen a lot, but that one took the cake."
Davis looked at the car again. The driver's story was starting to explain the odd condition of the vehicle.
"Alright, just drop it off over there and we'll look it over."
"Will do, boss."
The driver then carefully backed the car around, backed it expertly into a parking spot, slid the car off the tow bed, talked with the lady briefly, and then headed on down the road. As the two truck driver was finishing up with her Davis stepped over to the vehicle and began inspecting it. What he saw was not good, and it just got worse as it went. After a bit he looked up to see the woman standing next to him looking anxiously at her car.
"Can it be fixed?" she asked apprehensively.
"Well, I hate to say it, but no. It's bad enough that you pretty much dropped the entire rear end on the ground. But to make matters worse you also snapped the frame, probably when you made that spectacular nose dive into the median the tow driver told me about."
A look of dejected sadness grew across the woman's face.
"So it's a total loss?"
"Pretty much," said Davis.
Her complexion then became even more disappointed and sad, if that was even possible at this point. He felt bad for the woman, realizing she probably had little if any money and now had no car either. He looked at the crinkled hood and shook his head. He wished he could do something for her, but there was nothing that could be done. At least not without spending a fortune she clearly didn't have. But just then, as he began walking away, something interesting caught his eye. He carefully shooed the woman aside and gently pried open the mangled hood. What he found underneath made his eyes grow three times larger.
"Hey, Gerd? Get out here!" he shouted.
The older mechanic came trotting out to the car.
"Yeah, what's....whoa," he said upon seeing what Davis was looking at. "Is that..." he began, still in utter shock.
"I think it is, which means we're looking at the sleeper of the century."
"Sleeper?" asked the woman curiously.
"Yeah, in automotive terms a 'sleeper' is a car that looks normal on the outside, but has some serious muscle under the hood. What makes yours a sleeper is this engine. It's a 1973 Oldsmobile model W-43 455ci Experimental, which is one of the most sought after, and rarest muscle car engines out there. So basically you had a solid gold monster lurking under your hood and you didn't even know it."
The woman looked at him in confusion.
"Okaaaaaay, but what does that do for me?"
"Lady, you're sitting on a gold mine! In fact, tell ya what. I'll make you a deal. $500 and I'll take the car off your hands no questions asked."
The woman paused, as though his offer were beyond ridiculous. Seeing this, and fearing she might bolt and take the engine with her, as well as a potential windfall profit, Gerd grabbed Davis by the arm and took him to the side.
"One second, ma'am," he said apologetically.
He then dragged Davis to the other side of the small parking lot and began to glare at him angrily. Clearly he was not happy with the younger man.
"Davis! $500!? Really!?" he said angrily through gritted teeth.
"What? It's a monster in a wreck. I'm sure that's all she'd expect to get out of it."
"You idiot! That engine, even as it sits now, is worth almost twenty grand!! If we do some upgrades and rebuild it, we could get almost forty grand from that thing! And you wanted to quote her five hundred!? Are you nuts!? If you bid her that low she'll take it somewhere else and we'll lose that money!"
Davis snorted.
"She's a dumb broad. What's she know about engines?"
"Did you see the look on her face, and the way she hesitated!? She knows way more than she's letting on. I say we give her five grand."
"Five grand!? That's way too much! Besides, in her current condition she'll gladly take the $500 and leave."
Gerd pointed angrily at him and grit his teeth.
"Davis, don't screw this up for us! We stand to make a mint off this. If you're not gonna give her the money for it, then I will!"
Davis looked at the older mechanic and narrowed his eyes slightly. He didn't like the idea of sinking so much cash into any project up front, despite what they stood to make from it, and yet if he didn't, he stood to lose a large and tidy profit if Gerd or someone else bought it out from under him. He sighed.
"Alright, I'll do it. But you're splitting the bill with me."
Gerd snorted.
"Given what we'll make from it, I have no problem with that."
The two men then walked back to the woman, who now looked even more perplexed than before, and smiled.
"Tell you what. My employee and I have been discussing this, and we realize you drive a hard bargain, so we're willing to give you a thousand."
"Davis," hissed Gerd.
But the woman didn't appear willing to budge. But it wasn't because she was holding out for the best price. She honestly had no idea what was going on.
"$1500?" asked Gerd.
"Two grand," retorted Davis.
"Three grand."
"Alright, five grand, and not a dime more," snapped Davis.
The woman appeared to think this over for a bit, and then nodded.
"Okay, I can do that," she said hesitantly. "But what do I do about a car? I obviously can't drive this one anymore."
The two men looked at each other briefly before retreating across the parking lot again for several moments. Finally they returned with smiles on their faces.
"I believe we've come up with a solution for you. A buddy of mine down at the local dealership owes me a favor. Why don't I talk to him about getting you a good deal on a used car and we'll work out the specifics from there. That way you'll have a new car and we'll get the engine. Sound like a deal?"
The woman nodded.
"I'll take it."