We're finally heading to an auto dealer tomorrow to look at a few prospects. I'm sure it will be an education since the last time I actually worked with a car dealer and purchased a new car was nearly twenty years ago. The car I acquired was what you see pictured above -- a 1989 Nissan 240SX SE in Platinum Blue Metallic which, to 99 out of 100 people surveyed, looked Silver.
I didn't have a lot of luck with my only new car purchase. I managed to wreck it to the tune of $7200 within the first twenty-five hours of ownership. I then somehow persuaded the credit union that I should be allowed to take the car with me to Germany when I moved there in 1990. The company I had secured a job with went belly-up within six months of my arrival so I could no longer make payments, nor could I afford to ship the car back to the States.
Ultimately, the credit union informed me that they would never make the same mistake again. I had defaulted on the loan due to ill circumstance, not malice or dead-beatery. So I continued to drive the car for another few years until one unfortunate morning when I was pulled over by a grumpy, old German cop who complained every time he saw me about my lack of a proper German license plate.
On that foul day, Karma and circumstance caught up with me as it was revealed that my Passport, residency permit, work permit, registration and insurance were all out of date. Ouch. The last I saw of my car it was being secured on a roll-back at the local police station. I spent only a few hours incarcerated before my company sent down their own lawyer and my friend with 1000DM to spring me.
I never saw my car again. A German friend accompanied me to the Customs Office where they seemed a bit more than happy to inform me that it would cost thousands to get my car out of impound. Apparently, if I had declared the car as a personal possession when I moved to Germany, it wouldn't have been an issue. Instead, they viewed it as something of value I brought into Germany and hadn't paid import tax.
So my car was sold at a police auction to a cop and was seen here and there around Hamburg for a few years after my return to the States. I harbored a secret hope that the new owner would get an unpleasant surprise his first time on the Autobahn when he discovered that the car had a governor that kicks in at 114MPH -- practically a crawl.
My new secret hope is that this purchase won't delay my acquiring a Harley....much.
4 comments:
It ended up in the hand of a customs agent, and was just "beat to hell" the last time I saw it on the "Strassen von Hamburg".
Think about the good times you had in that beautiful automobile; your trips to Denmark, Italy, Swiss and Austia (if I remember correctly). Cruising over to Berlin, or down south to that huge "Burg" with Rob. Our business trip to Rostock (when we almost got killed by that East German in his Trabant). Oh, and the girls! We had models in that car (lots of models), chicks from work, curious Chinese government representatives.......you name it!
The "death" came suddenly, but the "life" of that car was enjoyed by you. Don´t ever forget all of that fun!
KaiserMichi
Hamburg
And never forget that you got out of a country that has debtor's prison, with your skin. Or most of it. If they wanted a pound of flesh my guess it that it too is on the autobahn...Schotz
KaiserMichi - You have a way of applying a reality check that appropriately re-adjusts my perspective. And rightly so....
I miss the car, but the memories are priceless.
True, Schotz - A slice of shoulder and a chunk of knee was my offering at the alter of the German Autobahn system....not to mention a barely used motorcycle.
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