tarantulas ruin brentwood womans road trip in Brand NEW PT CRUISER.

[1 bad white turbo]

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Tarantulas ruin Brentwood woman's road trip in new PT Cruiser

Wednesday, June 27, 2001

By Al Lowe, Tri-State Sports & News Service







Chris Goughler of Brentwood can laugh about it now, but encountering a tarantula in her new car while driving the Pennsylvania Turnpike proved to be one of the most horrifying experiences of her life.

The Moon postal employee spotted the spider as she attempted to pass a tractor-trailer truck while on a business trip.

The dark brown, hairy visitor with yellow stripes on its legs came out of the visor of her brand new PT Cruiser and crawled a quarter of the way down her windshield.

"People have told me they would have freaked out and wrecked the car if it had been them," Goughler said.

"It was the size of a half-dollar and would fit into the palm of your hand. We learned later from the zoo [that] spiders aren't hairy. But tarantulas are."

Her daughter, Jessica, a Brentwood 10th-grader, was later consulted on a cell phone and learned through the Internet it was a Mexican spider.

Goughler tried to scoop it up with a newspaper so she could throw it from the car, but it was too fast for her. She pulled over to the side of the road, got her courage together and decided to continue the trip.

Then she saw a second one, even larger than the first, exit the visor. It was also too quick and scrambled back under the visor.

Goughler somehow managed to get the car to a post office parking lot in Philadelphia and never used it again.

In some ways, she found her dealings with Philadelphia officials, Chrysler Corp. and Pleasant Hills Chrysler, where she bought the car, scarier than the two spiders.

Goughler's husband, Thomas, learned from the car dealership the Cruiser was made in Mexico. She called the zoo, animal control, county health and federal agriculture departments but got little help.

The zoo referred her to Steve Kanya, who ran an exterminating/learning center operation. "He was very nice at first" but was later unresponsive as to what happened to the tarantulas, she said.

The car was eventually taken by the dealership back to the lot, she said.

"All I did was look out for the safety of my customers," lot manager Larry Antonucci said. "The car was towed back, and I'm out of the loop now. What happens next is between them and Chrysler."

Chrysler spokesperson Marc Henretta referred to the car as "the alleged PT Cruiser with spiders in it. ... We had an exterminator inspect it and found no evidence of rodents."

He said the Goughlers turned down the offer of another PT Cruiser. "I don't know what else a manufacturer can do. We bent over backward to make it right."

Chris Goughler said Chrysler insisted she pay $5,000 owed on the car she traded in, which they had already sold. She said she and her husband have agreed to do it. "We want to get out of the deal."

But she admitted she was amused when a co-worker drew a cartoon of a family of tarantulas driving a PT Cruiser. A baby one asks, "Are we there yet?"

"I laughed at it. But I want everyone to know what really happened."
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Anyone heard this one? it happened in 2001.
kinda weird.

[Spiderman]

This sounds like a job for Super Marc

But she admitted she was amused when a co-worker drew a cartoon of a family of tarantulas driving a PT Cruiser. A baby one asks, "Are we there yet?"

"Lucky it wasn't me. I would of wrecked the car. I have Aracnafobia...."

[KR8Z4BULEEPT]

I like this part of the Chrysler Rep's quote:

Chrysler spokesperson Marc Henretta referred to the car as "the alleged PT Cruiser with spiders in it. ... We had an exterminator inspect it and found no evidence of rodents."

yeah, but did they find any arachnids?

Originally Posted by 1 bad white turbo

Anyone heard this one? it happened in 2001.
kinda weird.

No, but I've heard of people finding burritos in their cruisers!

[heart_of_dixie]

Yikes! I would have wrecked cause I would have died from heart failure! I haven't heard of that happening but......when my mom brought home two of the tropical plants from my grandfather's funeral they apparently had 2 scorpions hiding in them. She found them crawling around her house a couple of days after she brought them home. Since Alabama isn't known to have an abundance of scorpions, we figured they had to have come from the plants.

[cokebear1]

Ohhh my God!!! I would have definitely crashed right there and then! I am petrified of spiders. Especially BIG ones!!!!!

[JOEM]

Man! I've heard of getting into the Halloween spirit but that's a bit over the top.

[Jeff]

The Moon postal employee spotted the spider as she attempted to pass a tractor-trailer truck while on a business trip.

Gee, I didn't know they had Post Offices on the Moon.

[Dave Pgh]

OK, let's put this one to bed.
The dealership mentioned is the one we bought our cruisers from.
First, no taratulas were EVER seen by anyone other than the woman.
The car was not just inspected, it was fogged and sat in the back row of the lot for a month. (I saw it there myself)
No spiders at all!
The woman was offered a new cruiser, turned it down. She asked for a new Grand Cherokee, loaded, for the same payment as the cruiser. She also fought the $5,000 payoff until her lawyer told her that was her only way out of the deal. I don't remember what her trade was, but I believe she was 'upside down' on the deal. (the trade was worth less than the payoff)
Chrysler bought the car back from the dealer, towed it away.
General concensus among the dealrship was that the woman bought the cruiser on a whim, decided she didn't like the car, and tried to find a creative way of getting out of the deal.

[PT_Sean]

Originally Posted by Dave Pgh

OK, let's put this one to bed.

General concensus among the dealrship was that the woman bought the cruiser on a whim, decided she didn't like the car, and tried to find a creative way of getting out of the deal.

Do you think they will fall for my "I keep seeing an image of Harry Houdini in the rear view mirror" claim??

[CranTerri]

Oh my, something like this would freak me the "you know what" out! I don't deal with spiders well and to have to deal with a big hairy tarantula is too much for me to deal with.