The Salvage Auction...

So a few days ago I bid online on a 1991 Chevy S10 on a national salvage auction site.  They have a local lot by the railroad tracks, across the street from the refinery.  I didn't go look at it.  It was kind of a spur of the moment thing.  They said it ran and moved under it's own power when it hit the lot, and I thought it was worth a try.  The best bid was $400, and I bid $425.  Six seconds later I had won.  Oh, happy day.

Then, I found out this auction had a minimum price that the seller had set.  It was $550.  They had the option for 24hrs to approve the sale at my $425, or I could just pay the $550.  I decided to stay at the $425, and wait to see if they went for it.  They didn't, and it was to go back to auction today.

This time I decided to go out there and look at it to see if I thought it was worth $550.  I got there late, and didn't know my member registration number, but they looked it up and let me out into the lot.  It was kind of fun.  You walk around in this enormous muddy lot full of rows and rows of smashed up vehicles.  Some of them are whole, like the one that I was thinking of bidding on.  They are usually ones that have been donated to some charity that contracts with the auction company to sell them.

So I went out and poked around, and eventually found the truck.  It was terrible.  In way worse shape than it had appeared in the pictures, and when I opened it up and put the key in it wouldn't start up. The frame was straight, but super rusty.  And the front tires were almost totally bald.  I'm not speaking hyperbolically.  You almost couldn't see any tread, except in the middle.  Bad, bad shape.  And worst of all, it wasn't a manual transmission, like it said in the ad.

Also, the instruments in the dash are about the grimmest, most terribly dull design I've ever seen.  Seriously.  it's the Soviet apartment bloc of vehicle interiors.

The other truck I was considering was in even worse shape.  It looked like a complete derelict.  It seemed like one of those cars that gets left to rust away at the edge of a field.  You couldn't even get in to try the engine, which like the other was supposed to run, because the door handles didn't work.

I did however find a 1979 Ford F150, with an amazing, though austere interior.  I love the old gauges.  They are so much cooler.  And even though dash boards now are made of soft plastics and rubbers so your face doesn't split open when you crash, I so much prefer the look of the steel dash.  In fact, everything about the looks of the truck were better than what you see today.

So I stuck the key in and turned, figuring that given it was as old as I was, and had obviously not been maintained or refurbished  that I wouldn't even get spark, but it started right up and ran beautifully.

If only I could get past the fact that I'd be lucky to get gas mileage in the low teens from it.  I'd definitely have preferred it to any of the others.  Not only do I prefer the style of these old trucks, I like that they are so simple.  I look at vehicles today and all I see are networks upon networks of gadgets that can break.  And even though they aren't necessary to the essential function of the vehicle, if they break the can render it undriveable, or at the very least, unsaleable.

I'd be very happy to just have something that was just an engine, some gauges, windows you can open and close, a heater, and that's all.  I don't even need a stereo.  I'm happy to listen to my little mp3 player.

Oh well.  I'd better go back to the classifieds, because I can't get over that gas mileage thing.