but then i called the insurance company and asked how much it would cost to add the thing to all the other cars we've got insured, with me as the primary driver. $2,225 was the answer i got. HOLY FUCKING SHIT. that's basically the goddamn purchase price! my parents will probably want me to pay the insurance on it, because they already pay for the crapwagon, and my dad would be lending me money for betty (i've already named it, i'm totally in love, and i don't know how i will live without this car!) and i have no way of making $2,225 a year. i can't get a job because of my hellish school schedule. i mean, this spring i didn't get home until 8 or 9 every night. plus, i could only drive this car (betty) about 9 months a year, b/c of snow and salt and shit.

but it doesn't seem right to me to pass on it completely. i think i'll seriously regret it in the future, because as the years go on it will be harder and harder to find one of these, especially in that kind of condition for that kind of price. what i'm thinking at this point is i'll buy it and work on it (the interior needs work, and it needs either a new paint job or the original paint needs work, both things my dad can teach me how to do) and just wait until i have enough money for insurance to drive it. it'll hurt not being able to go out and show it off, but i don't know. maybe when my dad goes out to look at it with me tommorrow he'll find something horrid so i won't feel so bad about passing on it.

By the way, my dad's first car was a 1962 Corvair convertible. Since the engine is in the rear, it might do ok in the snow since all of the weight is over the rear tires, but it might not do very well handling at higher speeds. My dad's caught on fire on time because they used to leak oil, and my dad never changed the seals and stuff because he was young and lazy. That caused it to catch on fire. He said it was a good little car. Just don't tell Ralph Nader about it, since he is believed to be the one that killed the Corvair.

Also, since it's an old car, look out for rust and make sure the body isn't all Bondo(plaster filler stuff). If the body is nice, see if you can get it for 2,000 just because people always price cars higher because they expect people to haggle.

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"Hats off to the nun with the man hands."

the thing with the snow is that while the rear engine would be helpful, corvairs are so low to the ground that in deep snow (like, over three inches) it would just float on top. and i can't take for granted that all the roads will be plowed perfectly, because they won't be. at all. those of us out here in western mass get totally screwed over as far as the distribution of highway dept. money goes, because of boston stealing all of it for the Big Dig. bastards.

plus, it would never make it up my driveway ...this winter, when i was driving an electric truck (yes, electric. prototype program from ford. it was pretty kickass, but no good in the winter) which was really lightweight (no engine, just battery packs) and of course no 4wd, we had to tow it up the driveway a bunch of times with my dad's new 4wd truck. since it didn't have a towhook in the front, i would have to get it up the smaller hill to the flat part ass backwards, which was always interesting. the really fun part though would be when my dad's truck would start slipping towing me up the bigass steep hill, to the point where i would have to tow him back down the hill so we could try again. the really frustrating part was that we couldn't just leave it at the bottom of the driveway for the night because if it didn't get charged overnight, i would have no way to get to school. yeah, electric vehicles are not yet practical for wintery places.

but i imagine the corvair would be equally impractical. plus, it doesn't have heat, and after an entire winter of driving the electric truck without heat to conserve battery power and the windows rolled down because i can't turn the defroster on for the same reason, heat is very very important to me.

You might also see if the insurance company gives a discount for completing a driving course.

Classic.

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"Hats off to the nun with the man hands."