keeping old Audis or dead puppies or something

[Roger M. Woodbury]

When I sold my 200 TQ Avant last fall, I figured out that including the
transmission rebuild that I had done on the car in the spring, it had cost
me around 8.6 cents per mile, excluding insurance, taxes and tires.
Insurance, taxes and tires would have been largely the same for any car that
I would have had for the miles that I put on the car.

The car had around 135,000 miles on it when I sold it, and it had had 61,000
miles on it when I bought it.  It had been a one owner car, and I had copies
of all service work orders that had ever been written on the car, as it had
been serviced since new by the selling dealer.  It went half a continent
away to a summer visitor who fell in love with it, despite the miles.  The
car looked like new, because I am VERY careful about the way the cars are
kept....clean, waxed, etc.

The only reason that I sold the car was that my new wife couldn't drive
it....a stick...so we bought a "new", 1994 Audi 100 Quattro Avant, that was
a one owner car with 39,000 miles on it since new.  I expect to have that
car a long time, as it is perfect for what we need it for.

I do none of my own work.  I am in the property business and there is always
a wall to paint, or a pile of rocks to move, so turning wrenches on my
vehicles isn't an interesting prospect.  What I have found with my Audis is
that basically, if they are right, and they are maintained in accordance
with the way that Audi says to maintain them, they are reliable, rugged and
dependable cars.

Last June, knowing that the wagon was going to be sold, I indulged myself,
and found a nice '93 V8.  I have a pretty good history on this car, too, and
think it will be as good as I want it to be.  It had 60-odd thousand on it
when I bought it, and it is so clean inside, and under all the plastic etc,
that it is original...I don't drive it a whole lot, keeping it mostly for
longer trips, but the rules, hopefully, will work well for that car too.

Neither of these cars is deductible for tax purposes.  Hence, the age, eight
and nine years old.  Excise tax and insurance is less on these than on
ANYTHING new that I could buy, and since I have a chronic allergy to
spending more than fifteen thousand dollars for a car, I have far nicer
vehicles (TWO) that represent less money than a new Ford Taurus.

Roger