…may or may not be ready when you need it.
But you will have easy access to the back.
Tag: cars
Saab story
On Saturday, returning from the organic vegetable market, we passed an unusual crowd of parked cars on the entranceway to the Ruta Interbalnearia, and glimpsed a collection of antique cars on display in a most unusual and inaccessible area.
It was a bit before noon. We unpacked groceries, I checked email, then hopped on my bike with camera to document the event.
Alas, there was nothing there, and no evidence that there had ever been anything there. Gone!
So you get this instead, spotted a day or two later in Salinas:
It’s got potential, no?
Impala, Méhari
Like the fuel to run them, cars are ridiculously expensive in Uruguay. I’ve talked about that before.
Here’s a decades-old Chevy Impala (I have been unable to determine the year) for sale. Not in very good shape; I don’t even want to know what they’re asking for it.
Approaching is the quintessential cheap-ass-looking Citroen beach buggy, called a Méhari. They were actually produced in Uruguay from 1971 to 1979. So you can probably pick one up cheap, right? As we say in Spanish, jajajajajajaja!
Interestingly, both are named after African animals, albeit two unlikely to cross paths.
Maseratis in Uruguay
You can buy a Maserati in Uruguay in only one place, Punta del Este (natch). Two Ghiblis were on display when we went for the buffet lunch at the Conrad Hilton Sunday (USD 55, but 45 when you pay with foreign credit card and they deduct the “value added” tax of 22% or so — noice!).
So what would one of these beasts set you back in Uruguay?
Maserati Ghibli 350 3.0 V6 A/T – U$S 174.990
Maserati Ghibli S Q4 3.0 V6 A/T – U$S 197.490
Well, considering things like Ferraris and Lamborghinis, those prices didn’t sound too outlandish — until I looked up the prices in the United States (bold):
Maserati Ghibli 350 3.0 V6 A/T – U$S 174.990 starting from $70,600
Maserati Ghibli S Q4 3.0 V6 A/T – U$S 197.490 starting from $78,550
I can’t do an apples-to-apples comparison, not knowing the customization involved with the UY prices.
Being someone who, at age 17, owned a Volkswagen bus at a time when his friends were wet-dreaming Porsches, I can’t imagine any scenario in which I would throw $70-80K at a freaking car. (For the record, we had hella more fun in Bus than any of my friends “cool” pseudo-sports cars.)
But, 150% markup? Where’s the extra going? I’ll give you a clue: starts with a “g.”
Seen at the zoo
I saw this crazy-looking vehicle parked at our little local zoo today. There is one very subtle clue of the brand in this view.
Can you guess? And hey, where’s the driver-side door?
It’s a 1959 BMW? The whole front opens?
And then there’s a little door for the passengers in back? I didn’t notice the door arrangements until just now, looking at the photos. I would have sought out the owner and asked for a demonstration….
Best. Mirrors. Ever.
Taxi, airport: La Paz, Bolivia.
Hopefully I will have freetime and decent internet next short while to catch up on other notable observations.
What’s wrong with these pictures?
By which I mean, of course, what’s wrong with putting wheels on a totally burned-out VW Fusca and towing it home instead of writing it off?
Who knows, maybe it’s a collectible.
“IDEAL PARA LAS VACACIONES//INTEGRARLO A COLECCIÓN//CLUBES DE AUTOMOVILES CLASICOS. HAY QUE VERLO!!” (You have to see it!)
Someone’s going to pay USD 12,500 for a 39 year old VW Beetle to take on vacation?
See for yourself. They’re not all that ridiculous, but the prices are still pretty horrific.
Road trip!
Saw this at the féria (market) today.
Since I was thinking more about cheese, bananas, and nuts than geography, and despite the fact that I’m sorta-planning a trip there, I had to think exactly how far away that was.
Almost the distance from New York to Los Angeles. And there are no interstate highways in northern Argentina, Paraguay. Bolivia, and Peru. OBTW.
I love that it’s a garden-variety car: Renault Duster. They braved the wilds of South America without something like this or this!
Revelation or anathema?
New passport, tires, and maybe blender
OK, nothing unusual about this. I went to the US spy center in Montevideo to renew my exceptional blue travel document for ten years: 10 minutes and 110 dollars. Concluded with a stop at an obscure repair place in an obscure part of Montevideo to see about fixing a Kassel blender, used gift from Syd and Gundy, that I managed to burn out (trying to process egg shells as a garden supplement).
In between, about an hour finding the tire place, negotiating one-way streets, and getting new tires for USD 59 each, balanced and installed (175/70/R14). In our local shop, they’d be around USD 85 each. Nothing exceptional about this, except that I’m obviously taking pictures inside the shop: anathema to OSHA and all the safety-nanny-priests of the Great North.
If I’m stupid enough to go to the car jack, release it with my leg underneath to be crushed by the weight of the vehicle, well, then, by golly, maybe I have learned anew about cause and effect. Don’t tell OSHA that people tend not to be so stupid.
Or maybe, in “Murka,” coached by their lawyers, they do.
As it is, I move myself out of the traffic patterns of the guys doing the work, and watch with interest.
It works.
Blue sky, orange car
