If you have a car, how old is it?

[moniss]

40. On a purely dollar basis

if a person is considering laying out $20k -40k for a new vehicle it makes way more sense to me to buy a well restored classic and drive it for your needs. You will be able to drive it for several years and still sell it at the end for a great price.

On an environmental basis your mileage may vary but on a cool look basis you will be the champ. Financing for classic cars is now readily available and so you can go monthly payments if you want. Likewise insurance.

I certainly favor wanting a vehicle that doesn't cramp me in to a bucket seat with a center console hemming me in on the right and the door doing likewise on my left. I miss the bench seat and leg room. How can I ask my sexy senior dinner date to slide up next to me when there is a console etc. in the way? We're supposed to be on a date and not be just like two people carpooling to work.

From a safety perspective you may not have the latest airbags or any at all but if you drive reasonably your chances of needing them goes way down. Remember defensive driving? You don't need all of the "driver assistance" hoopla if you just pay attention. We all know we certainly don't need the "self crashing" features of the Tesla.

2002 F250 Super Duty. Bought new. 145,000 miles. Bench seat. Looks like hell at the fine dining places but it perfectly expresses my lifelong "don't give a damn what others think of me" attitude. I'm eyeballing a nice big 1977 Ford LTD 2 door. If you watch "Barnaby Jones" at around 3:00 a.m. you'll see him driving one.