Car-Shopping Is Fun!

Car-shopping is fun! And sometimes incomprehensible!

For example, let's take a look at this random listing from craigslist:

1968 american rambler - $2500

very original 4dr 6 cly 3 speed with over drive white blue int have original papers int is great dash perfect trunk great call will text pic 865 315 4007 it has 59242 real miles

Okay, just forget the fact that the guy doesn't understand the use of punctuation (or got one of those keyboards that doesn't have any punctuation keys on it). 

We are, of course, to understand the abbreviations, as any good reader of classifieds should. Even when they're misspelled so that it looks like the car has 6 clays, not cylinders, but other than that, the standard shorthand is used.

I am glad to know that the white/blue interior looks great, that the dashboard is perfect, and that the trunk is great (I would have preferred to hear that the trunk was wonderful, or fabulous, or capacious, though that might have been giving away too much info). I wonder if the car runs?

My favorite turn of phrase is, "Very original." I'm glad it's not one of those "sort of originals." 

That reminds me of the name of the repair shop that I recently helped my friend take her Jeep to. It's called Just Jeeps & More. Do they know what "Just" means?

Next fave in the ad is the last few words, "59242 real miles." That's pretty profound, if you think about it. How many of us know how many *real* miles we've covered? Of course, it reminds me of that beautifully written short story by Raymond Carver, "Are These Actual Miles?"

You might be able to see why, now, it has been close to two months, and I still haven't found a replacement for my wrecked Miata. It takes awhile to thoroughly digest these ads.