July 31st, 2008
#563 – Flare
I came out of a dentist appointment once and as I walked up to my car I noticed something new sitting on the passenger seat. The first thing that popped into my head was that my wife must have driven out to the doctors office to put it there for me. It was a tote bag of some sort. As I stared at the bag wondering what was in it I put the key into the door lock and tried to turn it. It wouldn’t turn. It was stuck. I instantly forgot about the mystery bag as thoughts of being stranded in a dentist’s parking lot raced through my mind. Then I looked back into the car at the bag… and then I looked past it through the opposite window and saw my actual car sitting there 2 spaces away.
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July 31st, 2008 at 12:02 am
I need to try that now…
July 31st, 2008 at 12:02 am
Until I read the caption, I thought this was the return of the stained-glass car.
July 31st, 2008 at 12:03 am
Ha ha, I hate looking for a car in a parking lot, especially when it’s my friends’ cars and I don’t remember exactly what they look like.
July 31st, 2008 at 12:24 am
That is the BEST IDEA EVER. I need to do something like that with my dad’s convertible…
July 31st, 2008 at 12:34 am
I’ve done that before, stuck my key in somebody else car. Its really bad when you do that for somebody else apartment, coming home a little too drunk and hitting the wrong button on the elevator, whoops.
July 31st, 2008 at 1:04 am
Heheh, I avoid having to look hard for my car by parking out in the middle of the lot where there are no cars. My friends hate me being the driver.
July 31st, 2008 at 1:14 am
One time I did that same thing, except as I did it the owner of the car was actually walking up to their car… she freaked out and pulled out pepper spray as I tried to explain that she had the same car as me and I mistook it for hers… she didn’t believe me until I pointed at my real car in the next row. I thought I was gonna get maced!
July 31st, 2008 at 1:25 am
Why would Biff have to worry about losing his car in a parking lot? It’s not like anyone’s foolish enough to leave their vehicle anywhere near Biff’s house/bunker/base of operations/whatever the heck he lives in.
The Duck Has Spoken.
July 31st, 2008 at 1:38 am
Wait…is this the same Biff who owns a green invisible car? One would think that keeping track of your car would not be high among an invisible-car owner’s priorities.
July 31st, 2008 at 2:14 am
well, of course it would be, Torg. I daresay it would be higher on the list than it would be for someone owning a visible car, due to the extra work necessary in keeping track of it. I mean, you lose that thing, it’s gone for good.
July 31st, 2008 at 2:27 am
You have a point there.
July 31st, 2008 at 2:28 am
I used to live in a small town where people felt perfectly safe leaving their doors unlocked (though I doubt that’s still the case). I went back after college and decided to pay a visit to an old friend. I let myself into her back door as usual and marveled at all the changes that had happened since my last visit, before I saw the occupant of the house cross the hallway and realized I was in the neighbor’s house…the neighbor I didn’t know save seeing her in passing. I quickly fled the premises and thanked God she didn’t even notice I was there.
July 31st, 2008 at 2:53 am
Wow. I haven’t laughed that hard at a Biff comic in a little while. Great one, Chris.
July 31st, 2008 at 3:53 am
for a while my mother never had trouble finding her PT cruiser, even if there were other red ones, hers had the flames. but now more often than not I see flames painted on cruisers of all colors.
“Mine is the red PT Cruiser with flames”
“Which one?”
July 31st, 2008 at 4:09 am
My car is kind of unique. It’s older than I am, is constantly either covered with pollen/dirt, has little pieces of rust from when it got hit by a flash flood, and was owned by my homosexual uncle and bears a rainbow decal on the back window that I cannot remove to save my life.
Can you tell it’s my first car?
July 31st, 2008 at 5:08 am
So… the balloons we’re seeing through the windows of the outback there are actually in Biff’s invisible green car two spaces away.
July 31st, 2008 at 5:19 am
Once when I was a kid we all got in our car and quickly realized it was in fact NOT our car. It was a tad confusing.
July 31st, 2008 at 5:33 am
MY SECRET TECHNIQUE FOR FINDING MY MOTORCYCLE: Driving a bike which nobody else in the nearest hundred or so mile radius would drive. It’s a wacky-looking gigantic Italian scooter, so it should be easy to find in Japanese parking lots, right?
Well, the other day, I couldn’t find my bike–turns out I was looking for something which matched the description “gigantic scooter”, and someone else had parked a much more gigantic JAPANESE scooter nearby, which rendered my own bike completely invisible. Big Japanese scooters are way, way, way bigger- and wackier-looking than big Italian scooters.
July 31st, 2008 at 6:19 am
Yay! Balloons!:D
July 31st, 2008 at 6:51 am
We used to find ours by the simple expedient of looking over the top of all the other cars. Then cars seemed to get bigger and we couldn’t do that anymore.
My friend has a bright orange car though, and I mean neon, for some reason she’s never had trouble finding it.
July 31st, 2008 at 7:06 am
My friends and I decided once that it would be a good idea to play hide and go seek with each other’s cars in the parking lot of our Mall (unbelievably large wrap-around parking lots). We each took the keys to someone else’s car, and drove it to the most obscure place we could think of. We all met a coffeeshop as soon as we found our cars, except for little old me. I couldn’t find my car anywhere in the parking lot. After calling my friend to demand where my car was, saying “This isn’t funny anymore” and all the things that only make it funnier for everyone else, he told me he had turned the car in for a tune up at the car shop. In order to get out of the shop, I had to give the guy $20 for the trouble.
They did wash my car, though, which was nice.
July 31st, 2008 at 7:43 am
At least you didn’t open the door, sit down, Close the door, then realize you were in the back seat! LOL
Seriously, if you had a remote doesn’t it have a panic button on it that will give away where your car is?
July 31st, 2008 at 7:48 am
Just hope not everyone have this idea also.
Maybe colour code? XD
July 31st, 2008 at 7:57 am
this looks like the car that biff drove into the piano at his recital.
July 31st, 2008 at 8:11 am
i made a set of fuzzy d20’s which hang from my rear view mirror. i peer through winshields to find my car.
that sad part is i still look through tht windshields of cars which are a differenc collor than mine.
July 31st, 2008 at 8:22 am
My first car was a 1968 dark blue Dodge van with a wide white stripe in the middle. Even thought this was a factory paint job I had never seen another one like it. One night my friend and I were going downtown (Washington DC) and I was driving my van. All of a sudden another 1968 Dodge van with the same factory paint job comes down Connecticut Ave. in the other direction. I immediately yelled “Who the hell is driving my van!”. If my friend had not had his seat belt on there was no way he could have stayed in his seat he was laughing so hard.
July 31st, 2008 at 8:24 am
Had an interesting experience once with a Toyota Corolla:
I came out of a computer shop, unlocked and sat down in my car. Then I realized the dash was all ripped and shredded, so were the seats, and everything was dirty and there was trash on the floor, and “OMG! What happened to my car?! Wait a minute, THIS IS NOT MY CAR!”
As I was getting out, the owner (another guy about my age but noticeably bigger and could-easily-kick-my-butt-ier) come running up. It took me few seconds to calm him down, and I showed him my car just a couple of spaces over, and that my key could unlock his door.
We went over to my car, and his key could unlock mine. I guess, just by chance, both our cars were keyed the same. That calmed him down, and after he looked at my car, which was still in pretty good condition, he said “You must have really wondered what had happened to your car!”
July 31st, 2008 at 9:15 am
Biff, you are a *genius*.
July 31st, 2008 at 9:20 am
Our van is easy to spot. It’s big, and maroon, and there’s a big Blues Clues paw magnet on the hood!
July 31st, 2008 at 9:32 am
I miss my old silver and blue ‘86 Chevy van. There was no way that clunker could ever have gotten lost in a parking lot.
I think the balloon idea is brilliant, though; I may actually try it.
July 31st, 2008 at 9:33 am
Ok, a lot of you are claiming that you are going to try this.
Please send pictures.
July 31st, 2008 at 10:08 am
My first car was a 1988 Pontiac Fiero – don’t know if anybody remembers those, but they’re rather short. If I couldn’t find my car, I just looked for a spot that seemed empty. More often than not, the Fiero was just hidden by your average sized cars.
The only downside to this was that the Fiero wasn’t long, either – so when joe schmoe drives around looking for a parking spot, the one my Fiero occupied looks empty (as mentioned above) until you’re almost in it. If said joe’s in a hurry, My car would be even smaller.
July 31st, 2008 at 10:16 am
@ Trip Hazard- I had a similar experience. I had borrowed my parent’s pride and joy- their brand new VW Bettle- to go to Wal Mart. I came out, went to the car, and nearly had a heart attack because I had forgotten to lock it.
Calming down, I got in. Then I realized that the seat was adjusted wrong, the mirrors weren’t as I had left them, the flowers on the dash had been changed, and… red faced, I got out, went to my car (parked a few spaces over) and told no one for over a year.
July 31st, 2008 at 1:50 pm
I’ve gotten into someone else’s unlocked car before and wondered where the stuff in the back seat came from before realizing what happened.
July 31st, 2008 at 2:00 pm
I often verify my car by looking at the license plate. Guess what… had to get new license plates a few days ago. Finding my car will be confusing until I get these new numbers memorized.
“Nope, not mine… wait… maybe?”
July 31st, 2008 at 2:34 pm
I drive my dads GMC suburban around… its 16 feet long, and not too difficult to find.
I dont know what he’d think of me putting balloons in it though…
July 31st, 2008 at 2:53 pm
I have one just as good. I came out the liquor store (sober). While I went in the person who’s car I was in was gassing up 50 feet away. I came out of the store and saw the car right there so I Assumed they had come to pick me up. So I go to get in the car when I hear my name being called so I look around. Then I hear “is that for us?”. I looked inside, wrong car, wrong people. They laughed. And let me keep my case of beer.
July 31st, 2008 at 3:45 pm
my mom has done that before, back when i was younger, we had a very common white minivan…someone with the exact same car pulled up next to us while she ran to the ATM. she opened one of the side doors of their van and all the little kids freaked out
July 31st, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Sounds like a lot of you could use balloons.
July 31st, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Wouldn’t it be easier to tie a really long helium ballon to the car? Also, you gotta wonder what it would be like for biff if he gets any static, thosse long eyebrows instantly come to mind.
July 31st, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Man you think getting your key stuck in the door is scary. My father used to drive some sports car that I don’t remember what the hell it was. All I know is that it was small black fast looking and really low to the ground. He put his key in someone else’s sports car and it actually turned and let him in. He then tried it in the ignition and that’s where it stuck, he looked around and didn’t recognize any of the crap so he got out locked it up and saw his car a couple spaces away.
July 31st, 2008 at 5:14 pm
I’m sure this has already been stated, but this is the week of lost items!
July 31st, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Come to think of it, having all those helium balloons would slightly decrease the weight of the vehicle, raising the miles-per-gallon… Damn, if I had a car, I’d be all over this.
The Duck Has Spoken.
July 31st, 2008 at 9:34 pm
that wont happen to me cause my car has dents and yellow patches on it, but that don’t occasionall stop me from testing my Keys in other cars like mine lol
July 31st, 2008 at 10:25 pm
It’s not just the week of lost items, it’s *finding* lost items in unusual ways
July 31st, 2008 at 11:01 pm
@Psycho mants, I mean duck:Would it really?
July 31st, 2008 at 11:22 pm
@PsychoDuck: Wouldn’t it be ironic if a Biff comic ended up helping people?
That said, I think you’re onto something.
August 1st, 2008 at 12:25 am
I like when you see people get into the wrong car and then realize it. I was at the gas station a week or so ago and there was a white car in front of me. One of the guys in the back got out and went into the store and when his friend finished filling up he drove around and parked up by the store. Right after that a woman drove up in a similar white car and went in to pay, at the same time the man was coming out. He had almost sat down in the car and then realized it was not his friends. Everyone there had a good laugh at him, even the cashier was laughing at him over the mic.
August 1st, 2008 at 7:35 am
No, it would not raise the fuel efficiency. Energy loss in cars is related to the efficiency of the engine, the inertia of the vehicle [the mass, not the weight] and air resistance. The force between the car and the ground has little to do with it. A car’s tires roll without slipping, so sliding friction doesn’t dissipate energy. However, the balloons may reduce the friction between the ground and the car [realistically, it'd be a negligibly small effect], causing the tires to lose contact and spin.
August 1st, 2008 at 7:55 am
I drive a silver Honda Acord. You will find at least 2 or 3 cars that look the same in any given parking lot. What I do is hang a while chain of seashells from the rearview mirror. I’ve never had a problem finding it. You can see the chain from pretty much any angle.
August 1st, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I used to work at Food Lion, and as I got into my car to drive to lunch, I realized that there were shopping bags in the back seat I didn’t buy. I quickly jumped out of the car, and got in my own. I was surprised my key worked.
September 1st, 2008 at 3:50 am
I have wondered about this remote hatch release before, and I guess that now I finally know the reason for having it
Now if I could only figure out that button to eject tapes and DVDs remotely. I mean, you’re obviously going to the player anyway, so it’s not like it saves you a lot of trouble.
Sure, I still use the button, to save a precious two seconds by letting the DVD eject while I’m walking there. But come on, if my time was that valuable, I wouldn’t be watching movies in the first place.
If that eject button on the remote had never been invented nobody would miss it. Now I find myself missing it whenever I use a DVD player that doesn’t have it, even though I can’t explain why it’s useful.
September 16th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
XD clever! Very clever! If I drove I’d be tempted to try that for sure.
October 30th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
I had an old Chevy cavalier a few years ago. Honestly, I loved that car, it was my first convertible. I got it because it was cheap, fun, easy on gas and had an odd color scheme I fondly thought of as unique. One day, after leaving the mall, I walked up to my car, unlocked the door and got in. I slipped the key in and tried several unsuccessful times to crank it up.
About the time I started cussing, I realized why this was. Casey, my cavalier, was an automatic. This particular cavalier was a manual. I was struck dumb by the fact that not only did my key unlock this other car, but that it even turned in the ignition. I climbed out of the car as quickly as I could – tempted, but not wanting to risk legal trouble by seeing if I could actually start it up – and locked the door.
Five minutes later, I was in my own car. Two days later, I sold Casey. Paranoia is a terrible thing when it robs us of those we love. Knowing this, I’m still not willing to chance car theft against the possibility of a singular phenomenon.
April 19th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
I actually mistook my car for someone elses and their car was unlocked. I spent HOURS trying to get my car to start when the police came and literally snatched me out. =o The true owner saw me and called them. I was so embarrassed.
June 7th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Heh, I used to drive a white saturn sedan. I had parked behind the haunted house I was working for Halloween and gone inside. The lead stunt guy (who knew me, but not well) went out to get his stuff. He walked out to the white saturn, opened the trunk and wondered where his stuff was. He then looked in the back seat and realized it was somebody else’s stuff. He then looked around and found _his_ car. It was funny that his key worked in my locks. I don’t think it worked the ignition, though.
July 6th, 2009 at 11:42 am
We did that on the way back from holiday at The Eden Project. It was only after the key didn’t work we wondered where our stuff was and realised our car was actually on the next level up.
September 13th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
I HAVE tried to get into someone else’s car before, but only when I’m driving a rental. Of course the funny part is, usually the car I try and get into is nothing like the car I’d actually rented.
It has also happened to my and someone else’s old pickup truck, but not to me. I worked at the mall, and always parked in the same location. It was a little bit of a walk, but I always knew where I’d parked. This particular time I was driving a tan, ‘84 Toyota pickup truck. One of my coworkers had wanted to borrow my truck to go take care of something, and I okayed it (I had good insurance and trusted her.) I told her where I’d parked, and she came back after awhile, telling me she couldn’t park back where I had before, and that the ignition stuck a bit, but the key eventually worked (who can guess where this story is going?) Also, somehow my truck had turned into an automatic transmission.
I wonder if the owner of the other pickup ever discovered it?
July 22nd, 2010 at 2:04 pm
I dont have to worry about finding my car as long as i dont have to look from the back, which is never as i reverse park.
BECAUSE!
The liscence plate is at the gfar right, and the back doors have the handles on the windows.
But, other than that, pretty hard to tell the difference.
You can tell my dad’s car easy, its (*probably*) 5 inches taller than the others, silver and has (*flower patterned*) curtains in the back when he wants a rest on long journeys… lol.