In an effort to get the bad taste of last week’s 1997 Camry (which did, incidentally, come with the most entertaining CraigsList ad I’ve read in quite a while) out of my mouth, I decided to go hunting for a proper Car Geek’s car for Cheap Heap of the Week. I present to you this 1997 Jaguar XJ6 Vanden Plas available on eBay in Bloomington, California with a Buy it Now price of just $1,100 – and yes, according to the seller, it starts, runs, and drives. Heck, the air conditioning even works!
In a world where sketchy Fiat 850 Spiders are selling for nearly US$10 Grand, there are few classic European roadsters that can still be bought for that amount in anything but “fixer-upper” condition. The Triumph Spitfire stands out as an anomaly, and although far from powerful, a subtly upgraded Spitfire like THIS car available on CraigsList in Southern California for $8,500 makes a great case for driving a slow car fast. Add good looks and an open top, and the case just gets stronger.
First things first: let’s get the inevitable Grey Poupon jokes out of the way. “Pardon me, but…” yadda, yadda, and so on. Great. There. Now, let’s take a real look at this beautiful old world luxury yacht automobile available HERE on CraigsList in San Diego, California, with an asking price of just $8,600.
I visited an old friend last night – and before you start asking me about social distancing, mask-wearing, and all that, it wasn’t that kind of visit. David E. Davis, Jr. actually died in 2011, but his was one of the voices that instilled in me the passion for cars and the desire to write about them professionally. Davis was a Car Geek, a racer, an Ad man, and a motoring journalist. HE was also a quintessential “renaissance man”. His book “Thus Spake David E.” is a collection of his editorials and articles from throughout his career, and they are some of the best automotive and life reading out there. There is the obvious automotive content, but beyond that are stories about women, whiskey, camaraderie, adventure, the outdoors, and style. As a pre-teen Car Geek, I wanted to BE David E., or at least to know him.
Every now and then a vehicle comes out of the woodwork that is so interesting, so different, your humble narrator feels the need to surface and poke some words into a keyboard.
These days that vehicle has to be genuinely out there. It’s not going to be a Webasto-roofed youngtimer Mercedes-Benz with a random-colored velour interior, or an engine-swapped BMW using one-off pieces milled from solid unobtanium, or another something interesting I’d consider buying but ultimately decide was just too much effort.
About that last bit: I absolutely would not buy the Ford you see here. I have no room for it, we’re hoarding cash, and while I haven’t looked at it in a while – plus the fact at least half is written in Hebrew – I’m guessing there are clauses in my marriage contract about these sorts of things.
But you, dear reader, should dip into your own cookie jar of adventure without hesitation and snap up this, the one and only Trunnel.
The Car Geek Life, During And After COVID-19
If history teaches us anything, it’s that we humans forget things – even bad things – pretty quickly. You might argue it has something to do with our resilience as a species, but it’s equally likely we are just slow learners. In either case, the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all of us on a global scale, and there is a good chance things won’t be exactly the same once the planet re-opens for business, or at least lands on what becomes the “new normal.” We’ve already talked about how to enjoy our car addictions in lockdown mode, but now we’re looking forward. As Car Geeks, we’ve been pondering and debating what that means to us as individuals and to the car hobby in general. Here is a short list that we here at Totally That Stupid agree on (more or less).
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