Meet Meringue
As in Lemon. After many an discussion of sinking $700 into a $500 car, we decided it would be best to simply drive around and look for cheap used cars in parking lots. That plan worked better than I would have thought.
For $200, we picked up this beast. The brakes need work, there's no coolant, the fender is... not straight. But she's got six cylinders under the hood, half a tank of gas (hey, that's 20 bucks right there!), and she starts right up. The cavernous trunk even included a spare tire and a tiny broom. For tiny witches.
I'm pretty sure my parents have never bought a new car in their lives. Consequently, neither have I. The Cavalier, the BMW, the Saab, the Cabriolet, the Westfalia: all used. Maybe it's because new cars start at around $12,000, solidly twice what I've paid for my most expensive automobile. I suspect, though, it's because taking a several thousand dollar hit in value just for rolling it off the lot doesn't mesh with my old-man sensibilities. (Why eat mashed potatoes at the buffet? They're only 30 cents a pound.) Then again, I sold my last car for 13% of what I paid. That was the real lemon.
2 comments:
Is that the Cutlass Ciera or the classier cousin, the Cutlass Calais? The time to rock the mullet is now my friend!
I work with a guy who lives by the rule of never paying more than $300 for a car. He has a dude at a tow-yard who he goes to and snags whatever cheap old american POS he can and then drives it until it drops. Usually about three months, but its still cheaper than a bus pass...
That's the Ciera. All boxy and white, it reminds me a bit of the ol' Celebrity.
When we showed up to meet the guy, another couple was there to look at it, too. All five of us hopped in and took it for a spin around the lot. At the helm was the owner, a 6'2" black man decked out in gold. The other guy, a skinny white dude, had just finished his shift at the Kentucky Fried Chicken. I felt so... lower middle class.
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