Urban myths #147: My mate's friend's dad's uncle's friend's brother
My dad, being from The Dayes Of Yore^(TM) would regularly take his car to his trusted mechanic, who told him of a little old lady who had complained of her new car that it didn't start well if at all, and would he come out and look at it. It seemed fine on initial inspection, so he asked her to drive it for him, and when she'd got in, had said "One of the things I like about it is that it's got somewhere to hold your handbag", pulling out the choke.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Mon 3 Oct 2011, 15:35, 6 replies)

CD drives, cup holders, etc.

( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Mon 3 Oct 2011, 17:03, closed)

I might just be thick (my experience of chokes are limited to outboard boat engines as I am too young to have ever owned a car with a choke or even a carb) but presumably the old lady pulls the choke out to hang her bag, thus creating a rich fuel mixture ideal for starting on cold...?
(tyrellsOwl, Mon 3 Oct 2011, 17:51, closed)

Although I'm not yet a pensioner,
and thus have limited experience of driving with a manual choke, simply pulling, and leaving, out the choke will not lead to a pleasant driving experience.

Plus, this story is a very old, urban legend.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Mon 3 Oct 2011, 19:05, closed)

It closes off the air supply
But the choke butterfly is sprung so it will flap about a little. So, if you drive very gently the car will actually be more-or-less okay, if a little thirsty and petrolly-smelling. As soon as you try to accelerate at speeds beyond that experienced by octogenarian retired district nurses, the engine will fart, splutter, backfire and generally misbehave. If you're really lucky you'll get a big puff of smoke and possibly some flames out of the exhaust.

Citroën AX GTs are very good at this, because pulling the choke out allows the choke to close on a spring; this gets stuck and pushing the choke back in means that the bit that lets it open get stuck underneath the thing it's supposed to push. So, the choke is now well and truly stuck closed, until you lose your temper and slam the door. By this time you've basically been pouring a gallon of petrol per mile into the engine, which has all puddled in the exhaust pipe, so the next time you accelerate away from a set of lights you leave the twat in the Audi who is sitting 2" off your back bumper (because his car is newer so therefore must by rights be in front of yours, or die trying) in a gigantic cloud of sooty smoke, and a big orange fireball.

Jeez, I wish I had a camera when that happened.
(gordonjcp, Tue 4 Oct 2011, 1:08, closed)

I can't like this
enough.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Tue 4 Oct 2011, 19:41, closed)

Different version
I've heard a version of this story where she likes the car but finds that it uses an awful lot of petrol. Which is a surefire consequence of driving with the choke out.
(flimflam_machine, Tue 4 Oct 2011, 11:08, closed)