In 2004, I found myself breaking waves at the helm of my land yacht of a 1991 Crown Victoria LTD on the rolling hills of an upstate New York forest road when I came upon an inferior vehicle which required overtaking. Alas, once a rare passing zone appeared and I positioned to overtake and put my foot down, the pedal limply dropped to the floor and I began to slow. (Of course it was once I was right next to the guy who rightfully gave me a WTF look but I digress.)

After finding a good shoulder on which to beach my LTD and popping the hood, I found the problem: the socket side of the ball-and-socket throttle cable linkage had broken and would no longer hold together. Looking in my (voluminous undergrad compsci-student) trunk for a solution, my eyes landed on the -shiny- beigy PC tower, specifically the floppy drive. A couple strands of the disused 34-pin floppy cable well tied proved to be strong but flexible enough to hold that joint together and get me back to school.

Despite my college having a robust automotive program (which I even had a suitemate in), I never replaced the part and that hack held until I got rid of the car 10 years later (though I kept the other 30-odd strands of the cable in the glove box just in case).

While nostalgic, don’t read this as supportive because today I’m far more likely to find a CANBUS interface in my trunk than a floppy cable.