New Ride

Perhaps you remember me mentioning that I was able to talk down the price of a used car with help from an unlikely source....and here's...the rest of the story.

As I'm situated in the countryside and required to drive to work three days a week, the company provides a car for teachers to use. We can also use it for personal use, charged at a rate of Y20/km. BUT...I much prefer to have a car of my own to be used when, where, and how I please. I actually brought over an extra $1000 just for the purpose of getting a car, so it was something I had planned to do. Soooo..I have been looking for a decent used kei car since I arrived. Pickings have been pretty slim and the cars were either butt ugly, had to many km, or were just too expensive. So last Friday I mentioned the fact that I'm looking for a car to my student Kenji and he told me a tenant in one of his buildings was selling a couple of cars. Long story short, I decided to go check them out the next day and later meet with the guy.

I made plans to check out the car first, then would go to Matsumoto to check out the castle there. I arrived around noon, and liked what I saw. It was small, but it was what I was looking for. Kei cars have a much cheaper cost of operation than standard size cars. After I gave it a good looking-over, I went to take a look at the inside and was a bit taken back (to say the least) when I opened the door and was greeted by a snake coiled up in the door well!!! Needless to say, I shut the door and took a few steps back. I called Kenji and asked him to let the seller know I was here. After the seller arrived, I explained there was a snake in the car, which he didn't believe at first. When I opened the door to show him, the little bugger looked at us, then took off towards the engine compartment and out of sight. Greeeat...what do whe do now? We know there's a snake...but don't know exactly where it is....and btw, it was of a posionous variety!

Long story short---er, we couldn't find the snake and the dealer offered it to me (with the snake) for a substantial discount. I eventually accepted, and we shook on it. THEN... in a great turn of events, as he closed the hood (it closed with a loud BANG!), the snake jumped down from the engine compartment and started to slither away at which time he jumped in the car and ran over it. Yep, thanks to that poor little guy, I got a great deal!! I'll be picking up the car on Friday.

Pics:

Notice the sporty fin on top....dual wind guards....turbo with intercooler....and...it's a convertible.... Muhahahahahahahahaha!!