On Fri, 8 Feb 2013 09:34:17 -0800 (PST), Stanley Schaefer
wrote:

Gotta think like a cat. Concrete=cold and low, freshly parked
car=warm and high. They're looking to keep their tootsies warmed up
and get up higher. So stick a nest together on a shelf somewhere with
easy cat access and warm it up. Make it more attractive to squat there
than on the car hood. My sister uses old boat cushions, boxes and
discarded clothing for rags to line the boxes in her tool shed, her
cats hang out in those when it gets cold. Guy I worked with used to
lose a few semi-feral cats he had outside every year, they'd crawl
into the engine compartment to get warm and the belts would get them
when he started it up in the morning. No other place for them to get
up off the ground or out of the weather but there. Made a hell of a
mess in there, too. Was northern CA, parking outside all the time was
normal there for a lot of folks.

I've caught cats like that a couple times, but both came out alive and
relatively unharmed and relatively full-furred. I believe they never
snoozed by radiators again, though.

That's one SCARY noise, though.

--
Newman's First Law:
It is useless to put on your brakes when you're upside down.
--Paul Newman