~ Damn, I keep thinking about this "problem" Scott Fisher has with the $5K
~ that's burning a hole in his pocket. For a bit over $5k, could you get a
~ decent Lotus Cortina? If that's too expensive, how about a Ford Cortina
~ GT with a few modest tweaks?
My wife officially says, "Shoot that person."
I guess it's been a while since I told any of the horror stories
about my Lotus Cortina. Suffice it to say that, given all the
tales we hear and tell about how reliable our LBCs are, the Cortina
that I previously owned could have been singlehandedly responsible
for the bad reputation that all British cars retain to this day.
Every time I would spend a thousand dollars on that car, it would
run for, oh, a week, and then I'd dick around with it, and it would
sort of half-work. Then I'd have to spend another thousand dollars
on it and it would run for a week.
Eventually I hit on the least expensive way to maintain that car.
Every Friday I'd go to the bank and get a $100 bill. I'd carefully
tear it into tiny bits and dump them into the oil filler hole.
It worked every bit as well as performing the required maintenance
on that car, and it cost about half as much.
On the one hand, I sold that car for what I paid for it. On the
other, I sold it six months before Lotus Cortinas were selling
for $20,000.
I don't think I'll be owning another one.
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