Sigh-tings

On the way to work: bright blue Pontiac Lemans, around '72, all shined up. Pea green 70's 4-door Cadillac looking like a cinder block on wheels. And this one, which I've seen on my commute every day for the past month:

For sale, no price on the sign though. There's some rust on the rear wheel wells and a few dings down the driver's side but from a distance it's not bad looking, is it? I didn't get out to take a closer look, just pulled over for the picture. The owners were home and if I'd stopped I'd have probably talked for a bit and gotten home late.

Also saw a roadrunner today.... I mean a pheasant! A real one, nice male ringneck wandering across the road to another field. There is, however, a purple Road Runner (car) over in town. Have to get a pic of it sometime.

The hubby has been pricing dual exhaust kits for his truck. The crossover pipe on his single exhaust came apart again. I said his catalytic converter might be bad and that's why the pipe keeps blowing off, so he's going to replace everything from the manifolds back once he gets the pipes, cats, and mufflers in. He redid the duals on his last truck and rerouted the pipes somewhat and it turned out good. This time he's going to have the tips coming out the sides because we both got tired of burning our legs every time we had to open the tailgate!

I can get a what?

Deciding to buy a car instead of another truck opens up a whole world of options. Instead of "Should I get a Tacoma, or a Ranger?" it's "Oh wow... I never considered a ragtop before!"

Fuel economy and dependability are still the major factors. I have a lot of research to do before I commit to a vehicle, but ya know, I was looking at a Chrysler Crossfire and thinking "Hey, that's kinda cute..." The thought lasted a mere ten seconds, but the fact that I thought about it at all surprised me. I realized that for the first time, I don't have to buy a completely practical car... I can have a bit of fun!

Following that train of thought while browsing the Toyota lineup, I read up on the Solara convertible. Ooh, a drop-top Camry! A FUN Toyota! Then I checked used prices and, after snorting ice water out of my nose, forgot about it. If a used car costs enough to give me brain freeze it is no longer an option. (See Barrett-Jackson link for classic examples... you'll cry.)

I like convertibles, at least the look of some of them, but I prefer hardtops. The area where we live is just chock-full o' critters, both wild and domestic and mostly large. Bears, deer, cows, and horses aplenty here. And the deer must have interbred with squirrels or lemmings because they're suicidal. I swerved to go around one that was almost to the edge of the road, and the dang thing stopped and backed up in front of the truck. Damage: fender trim ripped off and took out entire left side of dual exhaust. Speed: approx. 40MPH and braking. Compensation: none. The deer somehow launched over the embankment (lemmings, I tell you!) and fell into the creek below, no retrieval possible.

So what I'm saying is if I'm going to drive anything smaller than a fullsize pickup, Bronco, or large old land yacht with its own zip code, I would like some solidarity going on overhead in case a deer or stray cow happens to land on the roof. I'm not even real fond of sunroofs or T-tops (exception made for Grand National, natch). A rollcage would be great. Please do not suggest a Jeep. Don't want a Jeep, and in spite of the passing interest in the Crossfire I have no intention of buying any Daimler-Chrysler product. So those are out too.

This explains perfectly why I was just checking out Volkswagen Cabriolet/Cabrio convertibles. *eyeroll* Yep, waaaay over there on the exact opposite end of what I just described. Dunno why, but I always thought they were neat, and it's one of the very few cars I like in red. Looks great with a white top. I have no concept of practicality, do I? Knowing I'm no longer bound by that premise I've gone off the deep end. On the other hand, those little boxes were pretty good on gas!

Honestly, I could probably live with a ragtop, especially after a little road trip we took last year. My husband loves the new Mustangs so I surprised him by renting one for the day. No coupes available but it was such a beautiful, perfect day I was glad we went topless. (My review of the Mustang was less than stellar, since it was NOT designed for short persons like myself, but my very tall hubby had no complaints at all.) Other than seat height and visibility issues, I had a great time cruising and the car was a blast to drive. If it came with a booster seat I'd consider it.

[reality] Back to Subaru. [/reality] I'm kinda stuck on that Baja.

Today's Results

1. The Barracuda apparently belongs to the owner of the lot and isn't for sale.
2. The Matrix was kind of a weird gray/brown sludge color. I didn't think it was possible for that car to get any uglier; I was wrong.
3. Camry was gone. Drat! I wanted to at least test-drive it. We checked the other lots under the same owner, in case it was moved, but no luck. Think it sold pretty quick. Whined pathetically over Highlanders and Tacomas again.
4. Only one Baja found, a black Sport model with no price. It had been traded in and not prepped for sale yet, didn't feel like hunting down a salesguy. They were strangely absent today. Only had one attempt to approach us and that was at a Suzuki dealership. Those guys are probably desperate for sales.
5. Saw a FSBO Tacoma TRD near Eckerd's. It was the "Desert Sand Mica" color I like (something like that), fully loaded... I knew it was going to be $15,000-$18,000. It wasn't, only 10 grand. Say what? Of course I had to get out and crawl around it a bit after seeing the price. It was used, hard, and had 97,000 miles on it. And at least seven dings. It was also filthy. Definitely a work/hunting/fishing/farm truck. Price seemed right after that. Passed it up.

Spotted out and about today: blue Boss Mustang at Denny's, red mid-60's Mustang coupe on the Strip, late 60's GTO rusting away in someone's yard, a clean two-tone brown and cream early 80's El Camino, and this one... we were just talking about this car last night. I'd commented that I always liked the body style and wouldn't mind having one in spite of the tendency towards rust. Once again an oddball car I brought up just magically appeared as if summoned:

Yes, that is a Rambler Marlin! Wasn't for sale, but we had to turn around and snap a shot of it. Look at that great styling, especially the black accents around the rear windows. I love these cars! I'm fond of the fastback Chargers as well but the Marlin just has a bit more "funky factor" going on. Seeing this one made my day.

Today's Agenda

1. Head down Route 11 to check out a red 1965 Barracuda for sale.
2. Swing by another lot for a Toyota Matrix viewing. Recoil from sticker shock.
3. Drive up to Billtown, where a 2002 Camry waits to be drooled over... I mean, looked at.
4. Early dinner, most likely Bonanza buffet. Yay.
5. Some minor shopping, including Wegman's, the Ultimate Grocery Store.
6. Cruise the dealership strip, with a stop at Subaru to see about used Bajas. Point out every burnt-orange vehicle I see. Wish the Chevy HHR had all-wheel-drive.
7. Come home car-less, but with more ideas of local prices. Think about Baja, figure out financing for Camry, dream about Barracuda, ignore Matrix.

Sadly, the Matrix is optioned with everything I want in a new/used car... AWD/4WD, good gas mileage, and it's a Toyota. Too bad it's pretty much the ugliest thing Toyota makes (Prius excepted). Don't get me wrong, I love ugly cars... but this one goes beyond even my tolerance. I wish more manufacturers would follow the Big Three's lead and put out more retro-looking vehicles. NOT Jetsons-type things with tiny windows and short noses.

I leave you with this, an ugly car I can really appreciate: