I am about to purchase what may be, at the very least, the penultimate car during my lifetime. When I was a teenager, I was fortunate my father was an airman who collected cars, fixed them up and sold them. He gave me an army green 1951 Mercury stick shift to learn on. It was a clean car but huge for little me. The state of Florida would not let me drive it unless I sat on a pillow. We could never get the trunk open so we took whatever (body?) was in it at the time of the sale. Of course Dad handled the entire transaction.
“Wrap this car around a tree, put a dime in the phone, I’ll come get you and there will be no hard feelings” Dad said as he handed me the keys. I handed him a mouthful of gravel from the drive as I learned to use a stick shift. That car was so huge, one day I dragged home a young sapling from the church parking lot. That was just cause to go on to my next neat car, a stick shift little Chrysler convertible.
My graduation from high school and my safe entrance into a good college were just causes for me to graduate to a white Ford Thunderbird two-seat convertible, 1967. It was like a roller skate with an engine. Only the Jaguar XK-E had a longer hood out front IMO.
Dad died and my brothers got mother to sign over the car to buy a Corvair convertible we three siblings could share. You will remember that was the car Ralph Nader took off the road. The wind picked up the front end of that car and sent my eldest brother and his girl sliding down the side of a large hill in the Finger Lakes region of New York.
So much for my protection when Dad had died. I saved and bought the first Ford Mustang. I was my father’s own girl. It was my first car purchase – one of many in which I was taken to the cleaners but selected the car of the moment. I just wanted it over and the car salesmen knew that – especially since it is women who are this way. Men will hang in there forever because it is one way to get out of doing the dishes or taking out the garbage.
OK GM et al. Build that retirement home for us automobile sales victims and “[we] will come.” I am weak from a lifetime of car sales transactions preceded by weeks of research . This time I got lucky. A male colleague has offered to help. Is this a mirage? Is help REALLY on the way? Can I accept the help without jeopardizing my independent woman status? And when it is all over, can I park it in front of my new condo in a retirement community for recovering car sales victims? The automobile industry owes us that. If you can’t do that, then count on a million old ladies who can’t afford to live anywhere driving RVs. Think we sink below the wheel in a car? And it will be exciting to see us go into reverse. Yes American car dealers, it would be a public safety measure if you would give us safe harbor.
blackwatertown
September 22, 2010
This is hilarious – especially the sapling bit.
Perhaps you and your male friend could pose as strangers to each other and get offered separate deals to compare and contrast – then take the better one. It could be entertaining to find out if you are treated differently.
The main thing to do is to scrunch up your face and exhale loudly any time you are tempted to look eager. Also aim for the end of the month, when the showroom staff are keen to hit sales targets. (Or the end of whenever their sales period is.)
One of my worst buys was a Volkswagen Golf. My previous car, a Vauxhall Astra estate, had been written off when a minibus taxi rammed into the side of it. I needed a new car in a hurry. I managed to avoid buying the good-looking good value Saab, which I learned had one significant careful owner – a drug dealer who encountered recent bother. Best to avoid that one – especially as my Irish accent was already attracting attention from the local police. I didn’t want to add disgruntled customers to the mix too.
However, the innocent Golf was a bit rubbish. It had difficulty coping with rain. Wipers on, engine falters, it all starts to go wrong. And as you can imagine, there’s a fair bit of rain in the UK.
Unlike another previous car, I was unable to get it going again with the aid of a lollipop stick. So that might be my worst one.
I suppose the moral is – don’t be in a hurry when you’re buying.
samhenry
September 22, 2010
How old is your golf? It has one of the highest ratings here. I must look up to see how it handles in foul weather here. Our climate is rainy like Britain. Very green and anytime you’s expect “And did those feet in ancient time…” to ring out. Actually, that was the unofficial school song at the school my mother went to. I also love “I vow to thee my country.” The words and Holst or Holtz tune remarkable. I am glad you got a laugh out of this one old thing. I had fun writing it. You should have seen my father then bellowing in the front door from the driveway in my direction: “See here, what is this tree you have brought home with you.”? I couldn’t see out of the damn thing. Backing up has always been a problem for me. I will go way out of my way so I don’t have to. And the passenger side of my car is disreputable. If I go anyplace nice in public, I am careful to drive in with all of that mess on the opposite side of the car. I have an old Passat. Can’t afford that and they have made that bigger. The Golf will be bigger this year so I’m after a 2010. The seat is really comfortable on my back and so I hope you will say yours in about 4 years old. What a mess. I can’t stand this. I am like a caged lioness. I’m not so eager as just turned off by the salesmen and their drivel. I have an aversion to slick.
I’m on my way north to what I call “the Emerald City” – Rochester, NY. I was born and grew up there. It is green, green and green. The international conference on Canals is being held there this week. We have the fabled Erie Canal. Here’s the famous song about it:
I’ve got a mule, her name is Sal,
15 miles on the Erie Canal
She’s a good old worker and a good old pal,
15 miles on the Erie Canal
We’ve hauled some barges in our day
filled with lumber, coal and hay
And we know every inch of the way from
Albany to Buffalo.
Chorus:
Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge for we’re coming to a town
And you’ll always know your neighbor, you’ll always know your pal
If you’ve ever navigated on the Erie Canal.
We better get along on our way ol’gal,
15 miles on the Erie Canal
‘Cause you bet your life I’d never part with Sal,
15 miles on the Erie Canal.
Git up there mule, here comes a lock,
We’ll make Rome about 6 o’clock
One more trip and back we’ll go, right back home to Buffalo.
I can’t believe it. I getting spam from nursing and retirement homes over this “Modest Proposal.”
The Morb
September 22, 2010
Quite amusing Sam !! … It mad me recall my ‘ 66 convertible MG Midget … ’77 Chrysler Cordoba ( another LARGE hooded beast ! … coulda parked the MG on the hood !!! ) … and many other vehicles I purchased … Some deals good … some … not so good … Some …TOTALLY REGRETTABLE !!! .. But live and learn I suppose …
But what is the one you’re planning to by now ??? … And how is it to be ‘ penultimate ‘ ? … Tad confused !!! …
samhenry
September 22, 2010
What I mean to infer is that at my age and given the fact that I keep a car a long time, this will probably be the next to the last car I even buy. I have to get a used one – no cash to spare. I am thinking Kia or Golf (VW).
The Morb
September 22, 2010
‘ MADE ‘ me recall … Ooops !!!
DarcsFalcon
September 23, 2010
I am so jealous of those old cars you had! But not the tree hood ornament. 😉
I hope you find one that suits your needs at a price you can live with. Sheesh, imagining a car payement these days sounds so scary to me.
samhenry
September 23, 2010
My brother advises to keep all the cash I can and to get a used car. That will be the route. Don’t be jealous of my old cars – they were just cars.
samiam60
September 23, 2010
Good Morning SamHenry 😀
I agree with your brother on the used car thing. First and second year depreciation on a new car is outrageous and a two year old low mile car can cost only half as much. Be sure to get the extended drive train warranty taking your coverage up to 100,000 miles. Don’t pay more than $1,200.00 dollars for it either. Deductible should only be about $100.00. That’s the way to go Babe.
samhenry
September 23, 2010
Thanks so very much for confirming this Sami and for the critical needed info. VW of America is giving me the runaround about this car. That’s it. I tow it to another VW dealer and get a used car from them. I have to have a VW because the have the only seat in the industry that is good for me with a spinal curvature. It is designed by a military aircraft manufacturer – no doubt in China!