A few years back my car suddenly lost all power and I was on a mission to rendezvous with people to transfer my passenger and the timing was critical. About a month before I saw Armin Schwartz on the Rally GB have the same problem and he got co drivers shoelaces and operated the accelerator arm on the carburettor through a hole in the bonnet (hood) and hand out of window. So I got a piece of string and did the same, arriving with minutes to spare. It cut my hand and froze it but got there.

Yesterday I was replacing a fuel line and found a rubber overflow line ratting. The local car bits shop had no pipe to do the job and sold no tape because nothing survies in the engine bay. While I was pressing him for ideas I remembered the old WWII fighter pilot's strategem of carrying chewing gum as a quick-fix for bullet-holes in the petrol tank. Gum does not disolve in petrol - just about everything else does. So I got chewing and covered the putty-u-like with Kaptan tape (high temperature tape I just happened to have). It only carries fuel rarely but it is holding so far.

Anybody else got any bizzare wheezes to keep you going (mechanically that is).