I Got No Car and it's Breakin' my Heart.
The prospects are few. The candidates are mostly lame, unqualified and or out of reach. There were four in the running at the beginning that had my interest. One turned out to be a total scam artist and a liar, she is disqualified and should probably be exposed as the crook that she is. She was even selling herself as continuing her husbands good work. She is not, she will say anything to anyone to get the deal sealed. Jenni caught her in a simple but damning move yesterday. She asked for the vin number and she supplied it. It is not even the same car, the one that was on Craig's List was black (too good to be true) coupe in pretty great condition. The vin # belongs to a convertible in NYC. Don't lie to my cyber-geek wife Allison.
The next candidate is a beautiful '84 533i currently in Angola, right in our price range but with a foible in the tranny, she won't take 3 gear. Owner says he will probably replace the tranny in the summer if she doesn't sell as is. Says there are trannys available for $500. The latest entry into the race is a peoples car, the little man, the conscientious mans BImmer. This one will need little at the start to just be a daily worker-bee, and could grow into a formidable presence with a few bucks and some TLC.
This guy? A '85 325e which should get around 34 mpg highway and over 22 in town work-outs. Definitely in my budget and ready to drive and ride the hours away. With a little work I could triple the value of this pretty nice foundation. And Gas prices are a big concern too.
The last entry, and Jenni's favorite, is the blue '86 535i in the drive that will take
as much moolah to get road worthy again as the little '3' costs, and that depends on finding the parts for the transmission (sounds like the Angola nominee has the same problem that sidelined the blue horror) and getting a real deal on the exhaust system too. Ev en on the road and in peak shape again the Blue is going to drink a lot more gas. Speaking of which, she has a gas leak at the tank or filler neck which could cost me lots of gas in evaporation.
My problem is the primaries are over on Monday morning when I return the Spec-Kia and pay that mini bundle of much needed green for the favor of tempo-transpo.
I like number 3 and I know, like all cheep used cars, (anything in my range money wise) there will be more problems soon, but that will be true of any of the legit choices in my future. If I win the lottery this weekend then we have way more choices, don't we?

Chuck Pace © 2008 |