[Jeremy]
I was driving to work today, and I saw a guy in a new Mustang. I realized how much I really like my car. It really is fantastic. Whatever problems it had in the past, it's only needed a few minor repairs in the past year. I mean, yeah, it's a 1990's Ford product, and therefore complete trash as compared to a Japanese car, or even my Chevy Van, but still . . . it gives me such great pleasure to have a car that I do not have to make payments on and that is not smoking blue smoke or leaking oil like my Honda did. I guess I see now why my dad drove a Chevy Cavalier from 1984 to 1992. How can you mess with paid for and relatively dependable?
That's why it was so weird to see the kid in the Mustang. He was like 23, with that shaggy hair that is so fashionable among a slightly younger set than myself. Though the new Mustang is a vast improvement in every way from previous Mustang models, I couldn't help but imagine the weight of car payments on that kid, like a giant anchor. I thought of the burden that car would be to his family in a year or two if he settled down. As a Ford, the car payments will be replaced almost instantly with repairs and the burden of worry.
[Spare me the comments, we all know that until the very late 1990's, all Ford products were a grand experiment in dull, cheap-looking plastics, gutless engines, and tiny pieces of electronics that give out inexplicably and require a computer to diagnose].
Anyway, speaking strictly and solely in the realm of automotive purchases, and not in the realm of other worldly goods or luxuries, of which I have all I want, I am reminded of the words of Nancy in Oliver! when she said, or rather, sang "If you don't mind having to do without things, its a fine life". I can attest to this fact. I do not mind going without a newer or better car than the ones I have. I am happy.
Imagine how expensive it would be to be unsatisifed with your car. You'd have to get a new one! What a burden it would be. And who has that kind of money laying around?
Is this smug? I'm not smarter than the kid with the Mustang, I just have an advantage in terms of not caring. It's not a conscious decision, I just don't care.
Maybe he cares about fitness, who knows.
5 comments:
I completely agree Jeremy. Often when I see new a Subaru outback, I think I want a new one, but then I remember I paid cash for mine, therefore I have no car payments. Once I remember that boy do I love my 10 year old outback, with the previous owners dog hair (we spent 20+ hours vacuuming, still plenty left). Brent often fantasizes about owning a BMW but then when we remember we bought his 10 year old Nissan Sentra cash, and albeit it is gutless it has a fanatically built to last engine. And in the Sentra we could careless when our kids get it crummy and muddy, unlike if we owned a BMW.
But chicks dig the mustang!
I think mustangs are white trash. I hate them.
I also find joy in no car payment. Yea.
Some chicks dig no car payments.
Oh man, I miss Air Force One so much! Riding in that thing was like taking a magic carpet ride: smooth sailing. I'll always remember driving home from the bar exam in July with the windows down because the AC was out!
You should also take solace in the fact that you drive a man car. New mustangs are decidedly chick cars. Driving an androgynous car myself, I can only imagine the thrill of driving a car with more testosterone than Sylvester Stallone.
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