Thursday Night 11/11/2010
So for quite a few months I’ve been on carsales.com searching for that perfect mx5. The one that I’ll have a look at and get all the right feelings from.
I’m very particular about my cars. They have to be clean, and by clean I mean “new looking” inside and out. It is actually possible to have a 20+ year old car that looks new inside and out. I know, I own one, and have had a couple in my family.
The last time I bought a car for myself was Friday, 23 April 2004. That day was an amazing day (I’ve typed up the story previously in my personal blog). Everything that day felt right. The car was perfect, interior and exterior clean, engine bay clean, the drive was perfect, the seller was genuine and honest.
I was hopeful that if I looked at cars again, a similar thing would happen. It did, but it took a very long time. This time around, instead of having to only look at a handful of cars to find “the one”, I ended up looking at quite a significant amount more.
This year I decided I might want something a little less modified, without a roof, something that allowed me to blend in but still have fun while driving. A car that allowed me to enjoy the winding roads like I once use to, without fear of repercussion from the law, or the disapproving looks of others.
Prior to the interest rate hikes I was looking at Lotus Elise’s. My heart wanted to jump there, but my head wouldn’t let me.
“So what else out there matches the same criteria met by the Elise but won’t break the bank,” is what I asked myself. The only answer that I could come up with was, “Mazda MX5”.
I let my OCD run rampant. Not a single morning or night was without a few hours spent browsing carsales.com. This eventually turned into a ritual. The more car’s I found and looked at that disappointed me, or sold before I got the chance to look at, the more I wanted to find “the one”.
For months my girlfriend and my weekends and some week nights were filled with anticipation and disappointment. I’d find a car, make a call, go to view the car, and either have my heart sink at the first sight of the exterior of the car, the interior of the car, or the engine bay.
Or I’d fail to pull the trigger soon enough and have the car sold out from under me.
That said, none of those really gave me the right feelings. None gave me that feeling I got when I found my car nearly 7 years ago. None really met all the criteria I look for in a car.
After awhile I put together a list of questions that I either asked during the first phone call, or sent via an email. This helped save my time, and save me from some disappointment.
That said, you would not believe how different people’s opinion of “excellent”, or “immaculate” can be. To me, covered in visible swirl marks is far from “immaculate”, and a ding in every panel is far from “excellent”. These owners were obviously not enthusiasts.
I also found that I have one pet hate.
Quite a few people, when confronted with questions about damage, or the few failings of the condition of their car’s (asked politely ofcourse), replied with,
“Well, the car is over 10 years old, you’ve got to expect that.”
This got on my nerves. If a car has been maintained correctly, it can still appear “new”. Deep gouges in the paint don’t just happen because the car’s ten years old.
…Oh, and for the exorbitant amount they were asking for their cars, saying that just made me….ARGH! (/end rant)
Anyway, I digress. By the end I had quite a few cars lined up to look at after emailing and calling, but the blue one that I bought was the first in that line.
Prior to the week of Thursday 11 November 2010, I was adamant about the age of the car that I would allow myself to buy. I did not want to look at any below 1997. But then I read on a thread somewhere on jdmstyletuning.com (and I’m paraphrasing here), “…that the physical age of the car shouldn’t matter, because there are owners of older vehicles that look after their cars much more than many new car owners.”
I’d been thinking this for quite some time. But I never allowed myself to believe it. This one post seemingly allowed me to give myself the green light to look at older vehicles.
So I found the blue one on carsales. It had actually been advertised for most of the time that I had been looking for an MX5. It’s just that it was out of my price range before, plus it was older than I wanted.
But with my new found vigor (or whatever) I looked up the number, made that phone call, and I was met with an automated answer! Not even voice mail! But I was asked by the pre-recorded voice if I wanted to send the recipient my number. So I did thinking nothing would come of it. At this point I thought that maybe the blue car wasn’t for me.
Feeling rejected I put the phone down and walked away from the computer, and attempted to rid my brain of all thoughts about the blue car, or any MX5 for that matter. I was protecting myself from the possibility of more disappointment. I didn’t even want to try calling about one of the other car’s I had lined up in the list.
Later that night, I got a phone call from a number I didn’t recognise. It was the owner of the blue MX5 that I had called earlier! I was quietly excited. I walked quickly to my study and brought up my list of questions. Nervously I went through them, and I think the owner could tell I was nervous. But he obliged. Answered every one of them, at one point I even think he questioned himself on the validity of this potential buyer he was speaking with (ie. me). I think he thought I was a tyre kicker at one stage.
But we ended up talking for 20 minutes or more about his car, what work he’s done with the car, the history of the car, the reason’s for selling, his history with MX5’s, and even about my experiences looking at other used MX5’s.
With more than suitable answers to my questions I organised a viewing of the car for the next day...
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