A few weeks ago I first spotted Sally. Like the first glance across a crowded bar, she caught my eye and began playing on my mind. Each time I have seen her since, I have looked for a bit longer and last week I even stopped to introduce myself.
There is some potential for a love affair, I am certain of it. I have even made enquiries of her family.
All dressed in beige, looking a little tired, lonely and rather forlorn, she wouldn’t be everyone’s idea of a love interest. But I can see through her dulled makeup and frayed clothing to her potential and I want to get to know her better.
Sally, for she has to have a name, (and to address any nervousness at this point) is not a female to compete with Mrs B. but instead is a mid-seventies Saab 99.
Sally the seventies Saab
I have never owned, nor wanted a Saab for that matter, but this little car has fired up my imagination and I have thought about her regularly.
And regular readers will be familiar with my “thing” about old cars, there are plenty of them featured all over this site. But none of them are actually mine.
My last classic was a 1973 Vauxhall Firenza, but moving to Daventry, marriage and children put an end to my indulgence, disposable income, free time, youth, good looks etc. (Blimey that feels depressing, so I’ll stop). In the five years, well damn nearly anyway, since this site became operational, the old-car pleasure has all been vicarious.
But imagination (mentioned a few lines ago) is a wonderful thing. I am already envisaging a new area on my website dedicated to storytelling about Sally and our adventures together - trips/challenges/motoring events/maintenance/loads of photos etc. There could even be a book in it.
I think she’d look great on my site, she’d fit in just fine and be very relevant from a vintage theme perspective. Do you agree?
But like all dreams of romance, reality is inevitably less perfect.
Sally is a resident of my local Intapart scrapyard and because of that I had naively hoped to acquire her for little outlay i.e. the scrap value or thereabouts (though, less naively, I know full well that old cars become endless money pits - initial outlay is only the start).
Having contacted her guardians Luke and Edward, it turns out that she is still a bit of a goer and priced accordingly. That’s good (less work required than expected) and bad news.
Bad because I can’t fund what amounts to an impulse buy at the price point offered. And even if I could, Mrs Baldwin would shoot me if I did - which would end all the adventures I am imagining as effectively as not buying her.
The timing of such an acquisition is not ideal either if I am honest with myself. But either you buy something when you see it or you lose the chance to buy it at all.
So what to do?
Walk away obviously!
And watch her sell on ebay!
But…
Maybe there’s a way, a deal to be done that doesn’t just rely on cash. Maybe the next thing I should write is a business case or a marketing proposal for delivering greater value than the sale price. I am used to negotiating with suppliers and skilled in the ways of relationship management; promotion is genetically coded - marketing is what I do for Saab’s sake.
Or I could just buy a motorbike.
Or be sensible and stick to blogging rather than dreaming.
The dreaming was fun though, but just the one blog post rather than a series.
There is some potential for a love affair, I am certain of it. I have even made enquiries of her family.
All dressed in beige, looking a little tired, lonely and rather forlorn, she wouldn’t be everyone’s idea of a love interest. But I can see through her dulled makeup and frayed clothing to her potential and I want to get to know her better.
Sally, for she has to have a name, (and to address any nervousness at this point) is not a female to compete with Mrs B. but instead is a mid-seventies Saab 99.
Sally the seventies Saab
I have never owned, nor wanted a Saab for that matter, but this little car has fired up my imagination and I have thought about her regularly.
And regular readers will be familiar with my “thing” about old cars, there are plenty of them featured all over this site. But none of them are actually mine.
My last classic was a 1973 Vauxhall Firenza, but moving to Daventry, marriage and children put an end to my indulgence, disposable income, free time, youth, good looks etc. (Blimey that feels depressing, so I’ll stop). In the five years, well damn nearly anyway, since this site became operational, the old-car pleasure has all been vicarious.
But imagination (mentioned a few lines ago) is a wonderful thing. I am already envisaging a new area on my website dedicated to storytelling about Sally and our adventures together - trips/challenges/motoring events/maintenance/loads of photos etc. There could even be a book in it.
I think she’d look great on my site, she’d fit in just fine and be very relevant from a vintage theme perspective. Do you agree?
But like all dreams of romance, reality is inevitably less perfect.
Sally is a resident of my local Intapart scrapyard and because of that I had naively hoped to acquire her for little outlay i.e. the scrap value or thereabouts (though, less naively, I know full well that old cars become endless money pits - initial outlay is only the start).
Having contacted her guardians Luke and Edward, it turns out that she is still a bit of a goer and priced accordingly. That’s good (less work required than expected) and bad news.
Bad because I can’t fund what amounts to an impulse buy at the price point offered. And even if I could, Mrs Baldwin would shoot me if I did - which would end all the adventures I am imagining as effectively as not buying her.
The timing of such an acquisition is not ideal either if I am honest with myself. But either you buy something when you see it or you lose the chance to buy it at all.
So what to do?
Walk away obviously!
And watch her sell on ebay!
But…
Maybe there’s a way, a deal to be done that doesn’t just rely on cash. Maybe the next thing I should write is a business case or a marketing proposal for delivering greater value than the sale price. I am used to negotiating with suppliers and skilled in the ways of relationship management; promotion is genetically coded - marketing is what I do for Saab’s sake.
Or I could just buy a motorbike.
Or be sensible and stick to blogging rather than dreaming.
The dreaming was fun though, but just the one blog post rather than a series.
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