Fortunetelling

I just realized a strange thing.  I have spent the last several years writing about cars, forcing the people I know to read these musings.  These early articles are what inspired me to start this blog.  I intend to publish these previous writings on this blog, and have been looking through them in an effort to determine if any light shines from the words.  As it turns out, my facts and figures are now wrong.

One article, written three years ago about what cars could be purchased for about the price of a new Camry, is now off the mark.  I stated you could find a Ferrari 348 for about $30,000.  I know you could, because I checked when writing the article.  Now there is NO Ferrari that can be purchased for anywhere around $30,000.  OK, possibly a Mondial, but that doesn't count.  Nobody wants to buy a Mondial.  The cheapest 348 I can find right now is about $50,000, they average about $65,000.

I stated you could get an Acura NSX for the same $30,000.  I found one for sale at $35,000, but it was not a nice car.  The average price is more like $50,000.  I had offered a Porsche 911 for Camry money.  While a 996 can be had for $15,000, every other 911 is much more expensive than any Camry.  No running air cooled 911 can be found for less than $40,000.  I finally came to the conclusion that a Lotus Esprit would be the best $30,000 car.  As it turns out, the Lotus has not skyrocketed like the other examples.  An Esprit SE can be found in the price range of a new Camry, but it is the worst possible Esprit.  And that is quite a statement, like finding the worst kind of country music, or the worst kind of cancer.

My premise was that a very neat car could be purchased for the same money people were comfortable spending on a vanilla sedan.  As it happens, that pool of cars has thinned to a puddle.  Why is the same car worth twice the money only three years later?  The only explanation I can offer is it seems the economy has recovered to the point that cheap supercars are disappearing.  People feel confident enough to spend money on things they didn't in 2012.  Had I followed my own advice, I could have reaped a $40,000 profit.  It doesn't make me feel as if I missed an opportunity, though.  I would have a very hard time buying a car as in investment.  I invest much more than money in a car.  I don't buy anything I don't really want, I connect with my cars, and I don't let them go easily.  My next car will be a 996 model Porsche 911.  With a car like that, I will never sell it, even though newer, faster, “better” 911's are made every day.  A few modifications and some maintenance and I have bonded with the car, like my little Honda.  I doubt I will ever sell my CR-V, to me it is irreplaceable.

I do not care what anybody thinks of my car, so spending money on a Ferrari because everybody knows it is a Ferrari, or because it may appreciate in value leave me cold.  I love a Ferrari because of its uniqueness, its purity of intention, its passion, and if I could pay for one I might consider the purchase.  I would buy one to drive it, and that would ruin its value.  And my checkbook, I'm sure.