Comment by ElevenLathe 3 days ago
I assumed Detroit (or possibly...Pontiac) from the Pontiac reference. I think this is right, as I can't find any reference to a Pontiac engineering division in Italy before the late 70s (which AIUI is when electronic fuel injection become a standard feature, and the described vapor lock issue couldn't really happen). Is ice cream after dinner really a peculiarly American/Italian habit?
Yeah I understood it was about the make of GM car, hence the thought that its likely in Southeast Michigan (aka Metro Detroit) somewhere. At one time Pontiac Division (of GM) had their own engineering which AIUI was actually headquartered in Pontiac, MI (aka in Metro Detroit). IMO it only makes sense to send an engineer out at supper time for a week or more if the engineer is in the same metro as the letter writer, hence the assumption. I doubt they would have sent the engineer to Italy for that long, but maybe I'm wrong -- midcentury America was a land of lavish expense accounts!
Anyway we can speculate all we want (either about the location of the original story or about TZubiri's cryptic reply) with any satisfaction unless somebody has some new source of information, so have a good day.
It might not be the original intent of the story, it's just a tool to establish the daily routine that lends to experimentation.
But it ends up giving a very American feeling.
As with most Myth, folklore and urban legends, there is a part that is exxagerated and a part that might be based on a real case. This story is much more likely to propagate in the US as that very daily detail doesn't immediately give away that it's an urban legend.
If all I saw was "we eat ice cream for dessert", I'm not sure I'd be able to get a geolocation any more precise than "Earth".
The Pontiac in question was the car brand. Someone, somewhere, who drove a Pontiac and ate ice cream for dinner wrote the letter to GM.