The Spark Plug Smuggling Story

 The Spark Plug Smuggling Story

                                                        A true story told to me by a friend

                                                                                1975

                                                     Written 01/2010 Re-written 02/34/2016

                                                                         Howard Yasgar

In 1975 I was doing business with a parts wholesaler in Los Angeles California.

His name was Jose, and his main business was selling into Mexico.

Jose was a U.S. Citizen, but he was born in Mexico and still had family there.

Jose spoke fluent Mexican Spanish and sometimes I would joke around with him using my Cuban street Spanish, we were pretty good friends.

Because Jose’s family lived in Mexico and the fact that he spoke fluent Spanish, it was only natural that most of his business was selling parts into Mexico.

I  had another friend named Jerry who was in business in Chicago.

One day  I was having a conversation with Jerry, and we were discussing exporting our parts.

I mentioned to Jerry that I had a friend in Los Angeles and all he did was export parts into Mexico.

When Jerry heard me mention Mexico, he got excited.

Jerry said that he had been told that  a lot of business could be done in Mexico but he didn’t speak Spanish, and he wanted to go, but up to now he had never  been there.

I suggested to Jerry that  the next time I spoke with Jose, I would find out when he was going into Mexico and perhaps Jerry could go there with him, Jose spoke Spanish.

I called Jose, and he said that I had called him at a good time,  he was going into Mexico the following weekend.

I asked him, and he said he would be happy to take Jerry with him to show him the country and introduce him to some business people there.

So I called Jerry, and he made arrangements to meet with David at the airport in Los Angeles.

About two weeks passed and I received a call from Jerry who was now back home in Chicago and he tells me the following story.

Jerry said, he arrived in Los Angeles and Jose picked him up at the airport.

They went right to Jose’s home.

Jerry noticed that Jose was driving a late model Ford,  but parked in his driveway was an old 1941 Chevrolet.

Jose invited Jerry to stay at his house, so they could get an early start in the morning.

The next morning Jose asked Jerry to give him a hand loading up the old 1941 Chevrolet.

Jose  opened the trunk and they filled it up with lots of boxes of Champion spark plugs that Jose had piled up in the hallway of his house.

Jerry said they must have put 500 boxes of spark plugs in the back of the car because when they were done the rear bumper of the old Chevy was only a few inches off the ground. The Chevy’s trunk was shut and Jose threw his and Jerry’s bags in the back seat of the car.

Jose kissed his wife goodbye, said he would see her shortly and he  and Jerry were off to Mexico in the old 41 Chevy.

Jerry said he was concerned that with so much weight in the car they might blow out a tire, but Jose didn’t appear too concerned,  he said it was just going to be a short trip into Tijuana.

As they approached the Mexican border, David slowed the car down and a Mexican Customs Inspector leaned into the driver’s side window, Jose seemed to know the inspector.

As Jose and the Customs Inspector chatted, Jerry saw Jose fold up two  U.S. dollars and slip it into the palm of the Inspectors white glove.

A moment later the Inspector stepped back and motioned Jose to drive on.

Jose said to Jerry, “Welcome to Mexico.”      

Jerry said, “Jose did I just see you just smuggle all the sparkplugs into Mexico for just two dollars”?

Jose smiled, and said “No”.

“$1.00  dollar was for the sparkplugs, the other dollar is for smuggling  the Chevy in”.

Jose said, “My wife will meet us for breakfast in Tijuana with the customer”.