REVERE – Wonderland Auto employee Mason Buddy got the surprise of his life recently when a tiny, malnourished kitten was found hiding in an engine compartment of a used car on his lot.Found cuddled up behind the engine block of a used Toyota, Buddy said the 5- to 6-week-old kitten appeared frightened and was merely skin and bones to the touch.Even more incredible is that the kitten had actually survived not one, but two test-drives in the same day and lived through them.”It was just the strangest thing,” Buddy said. “Usually you hear things happen like this in colder months, but it was actually kind of warm that day.”Buddy said the first couple who test drove the car rode around for about three miles and reported hearing a strange noise, but never opened the hood to check out the engine.About an hour later, another family expressed interest in the car, but before they took it out for a spin, they decided to take a look at the running engine first.”And there she was?just the cutest little gray and white kitten,” he said. “When I gingerly picked her up, I could feel every bone in her body, so I gave her food and water.”Immediately named “Zoey” by a little girl with the family, the kitten gulped down her food as Buddy, a Marblehead resident, called his friend Jean Hagberg at the Marblehead Animal Shelter to see if she could help the tiny kitty.”I wanted to keep the kitten myself, but my wife said no because we already have a cat, and the little girl’s mother wouldn’t let her keep the kitten either, so I brought her over to the shelter,” he said.After a quick “tune up” and treatment for worms by Dr. Leslie Siewko at Atlantic Veterinary, Zoey quickly found a home with Siewko’s brother, and an instant companion in his lonely 5-month-old kitten.According to Dianne Hanlon-Druyff, a volunteer at the Marblehead Animal Shelter, Zoey is thriving in her new home and is inseparable from her new friend.”This lucky little cat survived due to a series of acts by caring people, none of whom will soon forget her,” Druyff said.Still uncertain of how or why Zoey ultimately made a used car her home, Buddy expressed thanks to the shelter for their help in almost immediately placing the stray kitten with a loving home.”This cat has more than nine lives,” he quipped.