Torn From the Virtual Pages of the Maine Craigslist

The Maine Craigslist is a hoot. It mostly features stuff for sale that the owner would be hard pressed to give away. In general, the prices look slightly higher to my eye than if the article in question was new. More than a few things look like something you’d have to pay folding money to get hauled away, so the owner is selling them instead.

Maybe Craigslist is like that everywhere. How would I know? We mostly give away things when we don’t use them anymore. It’s not because we’re wealthy. Just the opposite. Poor people, by definition, can’t be cheapskates. There’s nothing to part with, so there’s nothing to part with grudgingly.

Of course I featured the Most Maineiest Maine Thing in the Maine Craigslist already. It was a tank.I don’t need a tank, so I’m out of the running. Don’t get me wrong; I want a tank. I just don’t need a tank. But I bet someone did. There’s a butt for every seat, as they say.

This is in Craigslist today:

That’s a 1959 Rambler American. When I was little, my parents toted us around in a Rambler American station wagon, and I have a soft spot for it. I want that more than I want a tank.

There’s lots of reasons I want it. It’s only 5 grand. I don’t have five large, but it’s not IPO-type money or anything. The number hangs around in my mind in the future cardfile, not the hereafter microfiche.

I can fix that car. It doesn’t need fixing right now, but if the ballast resistor blows, I know where to look for it. You can sit right in the engine compartment and work on the engine. In the winter you can leave it running while you bang on it. That’s cozy.

It’s blissfully free of encumbering devices like seat belts. Fine with me I don’t want to linger. Most of all, I want it more than a tank because there’s more steel in a ’59 Rambler than in a tank, so it has higher scrap value in the long run.