The Sparkplug Smuggling Story

720 Words* A true story as told to me by a friend.

It was back in 1975 when I was doing business with an auto parts wholesaler in Los Angeles, California.

His name was Juan, but everyone called him John.

His main business was selling automotive parts into Mexico.

John old me he was a U.S. Citizen, however he said that he had been born in Mexico, and still had lots of family connections there.

Over the years, John and I became pretty good friends, he would call and speak to me in his Mexican Spanish, and I would answer him using my Cuban Spanglish that I had learned from living in Miami, we were pretty good friends.

I also had another friend in the auto parts business who lived in Chicago, his name was Jerry, and he was in the automotive parts manufacturing business.

One day, I was having a conversation with Jerry in Chicago, and we were discussing the auto parts export business.

I mentioned to Jerry that I had a good friend, John in Los Angeles, and he could represent Jerry’s products in Mexico.

Jerry said he knew his products would sell good in Mexico, but because he didn’t speak Spanish, he hadn’t ever done any business there.

I suggested to Jerry that the next time I spoke to John, I would find out if he wanted to represent Jerry.

If he did, the next time he was going into Mexico, perhaps Jerry could go with him.

It appears that I caught my friend John at the right time, he said he was preparing to drive into Mexico the next week to make a delivery.

He said my friend Jerry could drive into Mexico with him, and he would show him the country and introduce Jerry to some Mexican customers.

I called Jerry, to tell him the good news, and then Jerry spoke with John directly.

They made arrangements for John to meet Jerry at the Los Angeles airport.

John suggested that Jerry stay with him overnight at his home in Los Angeles, that way Jerry could meet John’s wife, have supper with them and they could leave for Tijuana Mexico early the following morning.

Jerry told me later, that when John picked him up at the airport, he was driving a brand new 1975 Ford convertible, Jerry said he was impressed that they were going to be going to Mexico in style.

However, when they arrived at John’s house, Jerry noticed that there was an old beat up 1941 Chevrolet sedan parked in John’s driveway.

In the morning John asked Jerry to give him a hand loading up the 1941 Chevrolet, he said that was the car they were taking into Mexico.

John had already opened the car’s trunk and he had started filling it up neatly with boxes of Champion sparkplugs.

Jerry said John had about 500 boxes of sparkplugs all stacked up in a hallway of his house.

They gently packed them all into the trunk space of the old Chevrolet.

The rear of the Chevrolet was now so heavy that the bumper was only a few inches off the ground.

John closed the Chevy’s trunk.

Then John kissed his wife goodby, saying he would see her shortly.

He started the Chevy and they were off to Tijuana Mexico.

Jerry said he was concerned that with all the weight from the sparkplugs that they would blow out the cars tires, but that didn’t seem to bother John, he said, don’t worry, it was only a short trip to get to Tijuana.

As they approached the Mexican border, John slowed the car down as a Mexican Customs Inspector came over and leaned into the driver’s side window.

It was apparent John and the Mexican Customs guy knew each other.

Jerry then saw John fold up two U.S. Dollars and slip it into the agents white gloved hand.

A moment later the customs agent stepped away and motioned John to drive on through.

John said to Jerry, “Welcome to Tijuana Mexico”.

Jerry said, “John, did I really just see you smuggle all these sparkplugs into Mexico for only $2.00”.

John said, “No. $1.00 was for the sparkplugs and the other $1.00 was to smuggle the Chevy in”.

John then said, “That’s how we do business in Mexico. My wife is waiting for us in Tijuana, she’s driving my new Ford. We can have breakfast with her, deliver the Chevy and the sparkplugs, and then I will introduce you to your new Mexican customers. After that, my wife will drive us home to LA, it’s a good system we have with Mexico.”