This is long, sorry for the novella.
This weekend, instead of driving to Kansas City, we went to Little Rock to
shop. Well, the wife did the shopping, I luckily checked the mail before
we left and got an issue of British Car magazine, so I got to camp out in
the vehicle.
Well, Little Rock has a BMW dealership and I've been wanting to see a Mini
Cooper for a good while, so we drove a while longer until we finally found
the dealer. The salesman said they haven't gotten any Minis yet, and that
the closest place to find one would be Memphis. He said that the Mini's
prices are being jacked up by dealers because of popularity anyway, and
that we should wait a while. Paying $26,000 for a compact car, regardless
of who makes it, does seem a bit silly.
Leaving there, we headed for a mall and stopped in a Volkswagen dealership.
I've been wanting to drive a New Beetle for a good while also. I picked
the Cadillac of Beetles. It had ALL the options, except for the turbo, and
being dark blue, it looked slightly masculine. I really liked that car.
My wife, who hates cars, loved it and wanted it (for me...). It was
$21,500. They came down to $20,500 and we of course told them we would
have to think about it. I called them the next day, offered $19,500 if
they would throw in a CD changer for free, and they declined. Oh well. So
I'm driving my old Toyota truck a little longer.
This brings about the subject of this thread. I got to thinking on the
drive home. For $20,000, I could have a lot of cars. An outstanding MGB,
a decent MGA, or a REAL classic Mini sent over from the UK, easily come to
mind. But, while I could imagine going to my local bank and asking for
$20K and telling them it is for a 30 or 40 year old car, I couldn't imagine
them handing me the check. Am I wrong about that? Are there institutions
that loan money for classics as quickly as for new cars (other than the
shady guys in pin-striped suits)? It's unfortunate really. People wonder
why it's only older men (and women) you see driving classic cars. Perhaps
that's because it takes so long to save up the dough to buy one. Meanwhile,
the younger guy can easily go in debt to buy a new car, but not one that
actually increases in value (or one he can actually work on).
Kevin Smith
'68 MGB Roadster (under restoration)
'72 MGB Roadster (rust growth experiment)
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