IT''S NOT LIKE THE L.A. CAR scene, where you are what you drive," says Sherri Walker, editor and publisher of The Catalina Islander. A quiet woman with short blond hair, she sits on a bench by the sand, steps from her office door. She looks up Avalon''s main street at the line of nearly identical white golf carts parallel-parked nose-to-tail along the curb. "No one points and says, `Wow, look at that golf cart.''"In 1979, suffering from choking traffic congestion and a critical shortage of parking, this mile-and-a-half-square town passed City Ordinance No. 656, mandating negative population growth for cars; two must leave Catalina Island before another is allowed on. "The last person to get a new auto permit signed up 13 years earlier," says Bill Loomis, the harried local vehicle clerk, "and the wait is getting longer." Only 718 cars remain, but the ordinance does permit one "autoette," in official parlance, per dwelling unit, so Avalon has slowly become a city of golf carts. About 1,300 populate the town.

Keith/U.S. Tsubaki: The overall costs of a locking device must be balanced against the requirements of the application. Keyless locking devices handle both high torque and thrust, while increasing shaft strength. They are not affected by torsional load reversal or impact, which can damage keys and keyway connections.Jeff/Tollok: One commonly mentioned advantage of keyless connections is that no secondary processes are necessary. The mechanical interference fit principle of a keyless locking assembly precludes having to cut keyways, tapers, splines, or threads. A straight cut hub with a good surface woodworkerchopsaw finish by a machine tool is sufficient. Assembly and disassembly is easy and quick, and angular adjustments can be carried out on the spot. And because the connections are backlash free, you don''t need to compensate for mechanical inefficiencies elsewhere in your machine or controls system. It was a quiet Tuesday morning, about IS minutes before opening the shop doors. All the techs were busy performing their morning rituals -- drinking coffee, reading trade publications and oiling their air tools. Without warning, our otherwise tranquil morning was interrupted by a horrendous screech of brakes as a late-model, metallic-blue BMW M3 slid into the service drive. Steam was billowing out from underneath the engine compartment. The driver, a moderately dressed, thirty-something suburbanite, jumped out and opened the hood. Instantly, a huge white cloud engulfed him and the entire front half of the car. I fully expected that when the fog cleared, at least one of them would have vanished -- like a magician''s disappearing act.

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