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Glenn 
Mr. 010
Joined: December 25, 2001
Posts: 79440
Location: Sneaking up behind you
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 Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 1:22 pm Post subject: Re: What's wrong with this picture? :( |
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Did everyone miss this?
Sure looks like it fell off and not stolen.
| do.dah wrote: |
That might be a claim for a stolen cat, but the exhaust pipe leading to where the cat should be, looks like it rotted out, not sawzalled. And, the valence right at the input side of the cat, is all sooty, like it was leaking.
Hard to see, but the pipe at the muffler doesn't look sawzalled, but more like it a typical rotting out of the pipe.
I don't know, but I kinda think somebody' up to something..... |
_________________
Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"
Member #1009
#BlueSquare
עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי |
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syncrodoka
Samba Member
Joined: December 27, 2005
Posts: 12291
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 1:49 pm Post subject: Re: What's wrong with this picture? :( |
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| Glenn wrote: |
Did everyone miss this?
Sure looks like it fell off and not stolen. |
R
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A
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| markswagen wrote: |
| it was cut at one end, and snapped l think at the other, the white wire is one of the two white wires for the O2 sensor, at least that's where it went up to, when l traced it. |
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Glenn
Mr. 010
Joined: December 25, 2001
Posts: 79440
Location: Sneaking up behind you
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 2:05 pm Post subject: Re: What's wrong with this picture? :( |
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| syncrodoka wrote: |
| Glenn wrote: |
Did everyone miss this?
Sure looks like it fell off and not stolen. |
R
E
A
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| markswagen wrote: |
| it was cut at one end, and snapped l think at the other, the white wire is one of the two white wires for the O2 sensor, at least that's where it went up to, when l traced it. |
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The fact that there's a coat hanger, it sure looks like it was hanging on with a thread.
I still don't buy it.
99% garaged and the one day it's not, it's stolen. Sure seems like bad timing.
And the insurance company gets to buy them a brand new one.
_________________
Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"
Member #1009
#BlueSquare
עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי |
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syncrodoka
Samba Member
Joined: December 27, 2005
Posts: 12291
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 2:09 pm Post subject: Re: What's wrong with this picture? :( |
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The guy that worked on it, saw it in real life and knows the actual condition is wrong? Interesting
The "coat hanger" is the ripped o2 wiring that would get burned up if on a exhaust. The above quote states what it is. |
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markswagen
Samba Member
Joined: January 28, 2018
Posts: 1555
Location: san diego
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 3:16 pm Post subject: Re: What's wrong with this picture? :( |
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IT IS NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A FUCKING COAT HANGER
please go find your nearest 3 wire O2 snesor pull back the sleeve, you will see 3 wires tow of them white, one of them black.
as for the scruples of the owner, she's in her 80's, she bought the syncro new in 1987, not a dishonest bone in her, she's too ancient to get down there to look at what might be missing, let alone get down and and take it off for the $, and try and rip off the insurance company, as l have stated before, the syncro passed smog on may 23rd.
sometimes l wonder why l bother, this place seems to full of fucking idiots.
| Glenn wrote: |
The fact that there's a coat hanger, it sure looks like it was hanging on with a thread.
I still don't buy it.
99% garaged and the one day it's not, it's stolen. Sure seems like bad timing.
And the insurance company gets to buy them a brand new one. |
_________________
markswagen {mobile mechanic} san diego area all early VW's cared for.
619 201 0310 |
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DanHoug
Samba Member
Joined: December 05, 2016
Posts: 5678
Location: Bemidji, MN
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 3:28 pm Post subject: Re: What's wrong with this picture? :( |
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| markswagen wrote: |
sometimes l wonder why l bother, this place seems to full of fucking idiots.
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hang in there, Mark! we appreciate your knowledge and experience. sometimes the noise factor gets high, i'm as guilty as anyone, but the content provided on the signal is worth the static.
_________________
-dan
60% of what you find on the internet is wrong, including this post.
'87 Westy & '89 Westy both 2.1 4spd
Past projects can be found at--
www.thefixitworkshop.com |
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Glenn
Mr. 010
Joined: December 25, 2001
Posts: 79440
Location: Sneaking up behind you
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 3:50 pm Post subject: Re: What's wrong with this picture? :( |
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| markswagen wrote: |
IT IS NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A FUCKING COAT HANGER
please go find your nearest 3 wire O2 snesor pull back the sleeve, you will see 3 wires tow of them white, one of them black.
as for the scruples of the owner, she's in her 80's, she bought the syncro new in 1987, not a dishonest bone in her, she's too ancient to get down there to look at what might be missing, let alone get down and and take it off for the $, and try and rip off the insurance company, as l have stated before, the syncro passed smog on may 23rd.
sometimes l wonder why l bother, this place seems to full of fucking idiots.
| Glenn wrote: |
The fact that there's a coat hanger, it sure looks like it was hanging on with a thread.
I still don't buy it.
99% garaged and the one day it's not, it's stolen. Sure seems like bad timing.
And the insurance company gets to buy them a brand new one. |
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Still looks like it fell off.
Then it's actually good fortune since your rusted cat will be replaced with a brand new one for free.
Maybe someone should steal your 6 year old tires so you can get new ones for free.
_________________
Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"
Member #1009
#BlueSquare
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zerotofifty
Samba Member
Joined: December 27, 2003
Posts: 3748
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 3:52 pm Post subject: Re: What's wrong with this picture? :( |
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The judges, prosecutors in California for sure are not punishing the son of a bitches enough anymore, then we have the defund the police movement, no bail release, and the goal of some politicians to empty the prisons. I say execute the son of bitches. Make the punishment so strict that the crime stops, or is so rare that it is hardly a problem.
Near me they caught a gang stealing these in the act, it turned into a wild police chase, when caught they found dozens of cut off catalysts in the get away car. the three sons of bitches were out of jail the next day. They eventually got a slap on the wrist as it was their "first offense" What the hell, crime pays, and it will continue until it doesnt pay.
They used to hang horse thieves.
Fuck the son of bitches, so sick of them, zero tolerance for this.
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Sorry About That Chief.
Give Peace a Chance.
Words to live by. |
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khughes
Samba Member
Joined: July 13, 2013
Posts: 876
Location: Phoenix AZ
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 3:56 pm Post subject: Re: What's wrong with this picture? :( |
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| markswagen wrote: |
sometimes l wonder why l bother, this place seems to full of fucking idiots. |
Nah, dude, there's always space enough for more, just watch! 
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'86 Westy FAS GenV Turbo (Marvin) |
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zerotofifty
Samba Member
Joined: December 27, 2003
Posts: 3748
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 5:45 pm Post subject: Re: What's wrong with this picture? :( |
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| Glenn wrote: |
Still looks like it fell off.
Then it's actually good fortune since your rusted cat will be replaced with a brand new one for free.
Maybe someone should steal your 6 year old tires so you can get new ones for free. |
A free catalyst, at the cost of all the insurance customers. Let us not forget the destroyed muffler and manifold pipe, and oxygen sensor, and then we have the labor costs. This could be well over a thousand dollars in parts alone. Then we have the time lost by the Vanagon owner, which will not be reimbursed.
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Sorry About That Chief.
Give Peace a Chance.
Words to live by. |
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Glenn
Mr. 010
Joined: December 25, 2001
Posts: 79440
Location: Sneaking up behind you
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 5:52 pm Post subject: Re: What's wrong with this picture? :( |
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| zerotofifty wrote: |
| A free catalyst, at the cost of all the insurance customers. Let us not forget the destroyed muffler and manifold pipe, and oxygen sensor, and then we have the labor costs. This could be well over a thousand dollars in parts alone. Then we have the time lost by the Vanagon owner, which will not be reimbursed. |
And some of the bolts will snap so they should do the entire exhaust. 
_________________
Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"
Member #1009
#BlueSquare
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kamzcab86
Samba Moderator
Joined: July 26, 2008
Posts: 8438
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 6:01 pm Post subject: Re: What's wrong with this picture? :( |
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| Glenn wrote: |
| Did everyone miss this? |
Did some of you forget to take your reading comprehension pills?
A. Not Mark's van.
B. Not a hanger.
C. Yes, it was swiped on the day the lady took it out for a drive in the thievery capital of America. Honestly, given the location of Vanagon cat converters (right there, out in the open for very easy, quick access), I'm surprised we don't read about more thefts of them.
| zerotofifty wrote: |
| This could be well over a thousand dollars in parts alone. |
A CA cat converter alone is over $1000, hence, Mark initially stating a repair cost of $2000.
_________________
~Kamz 
1986 Cabriolet: www.Cabby-Info.com
 1990 Vanagon Westfalia: Old Blue's Blog
2016 Golf GTI S
"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." - 孔子
Last edited by kamzcab86 on Fri Jun 20, 2025 6:52 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Glenn
Mr. 010
Joined: December 25, 2001
Posts: 79440
Location: Sneaking up behind you
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 6:06 pm Post subject: Re: What's wrong with this picture? :( |
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| kamzcab86 wrote: |
| A. Not Marks' van. |
| markswagen wrote: |
| IT IS NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY FUCKING VAN |
_________________
Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"
Member #1009
#BlueSquare
עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי |
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zerotofifty
Samba Member
Joined: December 27, 2003
Posts: 3748
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 6:12 pm Post subject: Re: What's wrong with this picture? :( |
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Another problem is once a new catalyst is installed, the crooks maybe back.
Happened to a friend of mine, his catalyst stolen from his car in his driveway. a month later it happened again, his brand new catalyst stolen.
And some people frown on people placing straight pipes on their car. That may be their only affordable option.
The law is such in California that you are not allowed to buy a good used catalyst from a wrecker. Catalysts that arrive at a wrecker must be removed and NOT resold for use on another car. The politicians passed this crap law to somehow protect us from buying a bad catalyst used. In reality, this simply drives up the costs, and can cause a poor person with an old cheap car to be unable to afford to repair it. Many of these same politicians are also the soft on crime types that want catalyst thief's to be given a second, third, fourth, etc chance before going to prison.
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Sorry About That Chief.
Give Peace a Chance.
Words to live by. |
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kamzcab86
Samba Moderator
Joined: July 26, 2008
Posts: 8438
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 7:08 pm Post subject: Re: What's wrong with this picture? :( |
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| zerotofifty wrote: |
| And some people frown on people placing straight pipes on their car. That may be their only affordable option. |
Yep. People also really frown on "Dieselgate", but... Folks here in Phoenix tune/mod their OBD cars, which won't pass the OBD test (no tailpipe test for OBD cars). So, they de-tune for the emissions test every 2 years, drive home and immediately re-tune. Or, for older cars, install a straight pipe/gutted cat, then replace it with a proper cat converter every 2 years for the tail pipe/visual emissions test, go home and re-install the straight pipe. Last time my parents' '86 Suburban had to do a California emissions test before moving to AZ: Passed the sniffer, failed on timing (which Phoenix doesn't check). Dad went back to his shop, adjusted the timing to factory spec, re-ran the test. Car still passed, but, get this, it ran dirtier. After the test, Dad put the timing back to where he preferred it. VW was stuck with billions of dollars worth of fines, while everyday car owners are basically doing the same damn thing. Air quality is important, but this emissions testing BS is just that.
_________________
~Kamz
1986 Cabriolet: www.Cabby-Info.com
1990 Vanagon Westfalia: Old Blue's Blog
2016 Golf GTI S
"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." - 孔子 |
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zerotofifty
Samba Member
Joined: December 27, 2003
Posts: 3748
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 8:23 pm Post subject: Re: What's wrong with this picture? :( |
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| kamzcab86 wrote: |
| zerotofifty wrote: |
| And some people frown on people placing straight pipes on their car. That may be their only affordable option. |
Yep. People also really frown on "Dieselgate", but... Folks here in Phoenix tune/mod their OBD cars, which won't pass the OBD test (no tailpipe test for OBD cars). So, they de-tune for the emissions test every 2 years, drive home and immediately re-tune. Or, for older cars, install a straight pipe/gutted cat, then replace it with a proper cat converter every 2 years for the tail pipe/visual emissions test, go home and re-install the straight pipe. Last time my parents' '86 Suburban had to do a California emissions test before moving to AZ: Passed the sniffer, failed on timing (which Phoenix doesn't check). Dad went back to his shop, adjusted the timing to factory spec, re-ran the test. Car still passed, but, get this, it ran dirtier. After the test, Dad put the timing back to where he preferred it. VW was stuck with billions of dollars worth of fines, while everyday car owners are basically doing the same damn thing. Air quality is important, but this emissions testing BS is just that. |
Well folks would not be stuck using a straight pipe instead of a catalyst if the authorities cracked down on the catalyst stealers AND allowed folks to buy inexpensive second hand catalyst from the wreckers. Unintended consequences by know it all, idiotic politicians.
You get a poor person who has a $2000 car, needed to get to work, and the catalyst is either stolen of fails at a smog test, and their option, only legal option is to spend maybe $1000 plus labor to buy a brand new catalyst. they cant go to Pick and Pull wreckers and buy a good used catalyst for say $100, as that is illegal to do. Instead 100,000s of perfectly good catalysts are crushed every year in California for recycling, with no chance of being reused.
what a waste, what a shame. So folks end up cheating, and the air gets dirtier, or they go broke, into debt to buy the new catalyst, or they have to scrap their car, which is another big waste. So sad 
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Sorry About That Chief.
Give Peace a Chance.
Words to live by. |
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Wildthings
Samba Member
Joined: March 13, 2005
Posts: 52299
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| Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2025 11:41 pm Post subject: Re: what's wrong with this picture :( |
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| syncrodoka wrote: |
| I have an old bad cat and after calling around to recyclers they won't even buy them any more. I don't know what their value is to the meth heads |
I asked at a wrecking yard and was told $25. Don't know if that is realistic or not. He said they yank the cats as soon as a vehicle comes into the yard to keep thieves from bothering to so much as enter the yard. |
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OlisGarage
Samba Member
Joined: June 01, 2022
Posts: 237
Location: Indianapolis, IN
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| Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2025 7:44 pm Post subject: Re: What's wrong with this picture? :( |
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| kamzcab86 wrote: |
| Air quality is important, but this emissions testing BS is just that. |
Anecdotal evidence, but I’ll share it.
An extended family member owns and operates a John deer repair center. He was showing me all of his projects. One required a complete engine rebuild because a throttle body from the complex emissions system failed closed causing the engine to overheat. It also literally melted the particle filter.
Now he had to rebuild the entire engine and get a new particle filter. He has dozens of stories like this where the emissions components lead to early failure of other items, or the components themselves fail resulting in complex repairs.
I am not 100% convinced that in the end the net gain is positive for the environment. These rare metals are extremely hard to get from the ground. Steel can be recycled but at huge costs of energy. Especially when one factors in the fact that international ships sending us these parts and metals, run off of heavy fuel oil.
And on to the last topic of dieselgate. So many of those perfectly good vehicles were crushed. Vehicles that ran and drove. That is terrible for the environment. Keeping an older car going is about the best thing we can do. Don’t just save some plastic water bottles and a straw and think you’re doing something, that entire car is full of plastic!
Alright, there ends my rant. I’ll go back to thinking about my own Vanagon project.
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1981 VW Vangagon TDI (in progress)
1984 VW Rabbit Convertible (daily)
2003 VW Jetta Wagon TDI (recovering from a hit and run) |
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Wildthings
Samba Member
Joined: March 13, 2005
Posts: 52299
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| Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2025 9:19 pm Post subject: Re: What's wrong with this picture? :( |
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| markswagen wrote: |
a touch over $2k in parts to make this one whole again, one owner syncro westy spends 99% of it's life locked in a garage, thankfully insured by haggerty, who are covering the cost of the replacement parts, with luck they'll cover my time to put it back together.
parts from gowesty are already on their way. |
Maybe they saw how rusty it was, so put a chain on it and yanked it off using their ride. |
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Abscate
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014
Posts: 23791
Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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| Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2025 3:01 am Post subject: Re: What's wrong with this picture? :( |
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Just trying to keep up. Skillz took his diesel T3 to mark to get it fixed and Glenn flew over amd stole the cat. Am I up to speed?
Xevin alibi is he is in Alabama playing Stumpy, but with two hands.
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