h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Something to dop with drivers removing the bonnets of their cars, so creating more noise??




GT

We're getting some creative thinking here, but the real answer is a little more...dramatic.

It's the sort of thing which, perhaps a bit unfairly, people might respond to with " Only in America..."

Drivers going along with the horn constantly blaring, perhaps??




GT

Like so? http://thereifixedit.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/austinb-ipodmuffler.jpg

Time for a recap. The first question was:

"One shop selling exhaust silencers goes under. Why does the loss of one shop lead such an increase in engine noise?"

Mal came closest with "protesting ex-workers", but it doesn't have anything to do with loudspeakers or protest marches.

The second question:

"What uncommon precautions in the scrap metal industry were taken following the increase in noise, and why?"

Taff realised this was something to do with preventing removal of metals. But why did they want to prevent this?

People steal lead from church roofs etc - were people stealing metal from the exhaust silencers to sell as scrap?

Correct, Feisor. The measures taken with the scrap were an attempt to prevent theft. But it was quite an unusual way of doing it, and quite an unusual reason why people would have wanted to steal the stuff.

There must be a rare earth metal involved here.

How does not compute at the moment.....




GT

Wasn't platinum used in catalytic converters? Platinum is quite valuable, but the amount used was minute, so I'm not sure that there would have been an economic way to extract it from the silencers...but this would probably not have put people off trying, so preventative measures were needed?

RF

Stealing metals because they are worth a lot of money isn't really an unusual motive, is it? I would have thought it was one of the most obvious ones.