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I hope he does get $20K for his car. That means mine has quadrupled in value and then some. I wish mine got 45-50 mpg. I’m a little leery of the title being held by the Police Department, though. Things that make me go hmmmmmmm.
I hope he gets his $20k too! Or course he won’t, but let a guy dream, eh?
The title is not held by the police department. It’s held by the Houston Police Federal Credit Union. Which means the guy has a loan on this car? Oy!The whole ad is delusional!“A 100,000.00 CLASIC FOR A FRACTION OF THE PRICE”? Um, anyone check out the prices for original restored MG TDs lately? A hundred k? NOT!“NEVER HAVE TO ORDER PARTS FROM EUROPE?” I was pretty sure that VWs are German. Just sayin’!I think this one is Freudian, “HAGGERTY INSURANCE UNSURES HER.” You bet. Hagerty is not the only one that is unsure about this car.“FUEL ECONOMY IS ABOUT 45-50 M.P.H.!” Ignoroing the typo, all I can say is… Yeah, sure you do!Ah well. Good luck with the sale there, Lloyd!PMOSSBERG2013-11-25 11:22:25
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
A disconcerting number of our fellow Americans are functionally illiterate. This is the problem.
Ed, functional illiteracy may not be “the” problem, but it’s one that causes me growing concern. I’m a newspaper copy editor, and part of my job is to monitor reader comments to our website. It’s been my observation that the readers who seem to have the least command of the language are the ones who don’t seem to think logically about — well, just about anything. It’s more than sad; it’s frightening.
1981 Lafer TI
1600 cc Type 1 engineEd and Bill. As a technical manual writer for 28 years the standard was to write to a 9th grade reading level. They are now thinking of lowering that standard to the 6th grade level because most mechanics do not know the difference of various words. For instance many do not know the difference between insure,ensure and assure. So…they are suggesting strongly that we use “make certain”. I definitely feel your pain.newkitman2013-11-25 18:48:29
Allen Caron
VW based 53MGTD - "MoneyPenny"
"If one thing matters, everything matters" - from the book The ShackWhen I retired from the USN in ’85, I went to work for SEACOR and had a great crew, a beautiful office, a secretary, and a generous salary. My gang wrote operation and maintenance technical manuals for gas turbine engines. In 1987 when they told me to “dumb down” our manuals to the 9th grade reading level, it so offended me that I quit. I had previously taught graduate level courses so, I decided to teach high school for a while. Big mistake! I lasted a whole 3-1/2 months and quit when the school superintendent insisted that I give my students a 3rd re-test because of poor grades. “Because he didn’t study!” was not an acceptable answer to mom’s question of “Why did Johnny fail?”. I later wrote for a newspaper on the condition that they would never change one single word or misspelling of mine…..and they did not for 3 years. I often intentionally misspelled a word – just to see who, if anybody, was paying attention. I loved it when the paper came out and the phone rang. Our education system is embarrassing. But, it really is the parents’ fault. (Which is even more embarrassing.) In the 5th grade, I remember having to write a (God forbid) 200 word composition about the proper uses of and the differences between “your” and “you’re”, because of a slip on my part. Does anybody care any more??
(Sorry, …..a raw nerve.)Now, my occasional grammatical or spelling slips can be blamed on my age. But, I am still embarrassed by them.Yup.
You don’t read, you get taken. That’s part of what I was getting at. The man who wrote the ad above was almost certainly told all the things he put in the ad. The person who told him is almost certainly the same person who sold the car to him, for a price well beyond market. That’s why there is a loan on the car.We’re looking down the back end of a scam here, not the front end.BTW, interesting the number of writers on this board. Roy. Tex. Wobby had his own column in his local VT paper for a while. Not sure if he still does.edsnova2013-11-25 20:00:25
We can probably go on forever about today’s lack of education. My pet problem is that most younger people can’t make change without the help of the computer and just try to give them an extra few pennies (example the bill is $9.23 so I give them $10.03) so I can get rid of them and they look at you like you have two heads and try to give you the pennies back.
Got to get my 5 cents worth in(inflation from 2 cents). I also retired from the military (USAF) in 85 and went to work for the National Weather Service as a meteorologist. A big part of the job was writing why I forecast what I did to other Mets. They were mostly just out of college with a BS or MS. I was “told to dumb down because they could not follow me.” I used to teach weather to pilots, now I refuse to fly. But that is another story. JohnnyB about to recover from a messed up wrist.
edsnova wrote:A disconcerting number of our fellow Americans are functionally illiterate. This is the problem.I would question whether they are truly functional… 😀Early FF TDr on 69 VW pan
Slowly coming back from the ashes...Sometimes I wonder myself if I am functionally illiterate – never could spell or put my thoughts on paper very well – thank goodness for spell check etc.
That being said – there are many in this world ( not saying anyone here ) that might be able to put some great thoughts on paper and be a great wordsmith but can’t do anything else.
I deal w/ many rich people in my line of work ( doctors/lawyers etc. ) that cannot think through the simplest explanations to common problems in their lives – be it their own home or car or almost anything else.
Some of the buyers of my homes could put a multinational deal together but not figure out how to install a light bulb in a light fixture.
Although I agree that younger generations can’t do many things we take for granted one must be careful to lump those w/ writing shortcomings in the same pot w/ a lack of intelligence.
I know all my kids have been forced to help me on my construction sites and w/ car maintenance etc. along w/ their college degree so in the end they will be well balanced.
At some point in their lives I believe there will come a reckoning when pushing paper at your desk will not keep you alive and it is my hope that they will have well rounded life skills.
My two cents.Well said, Schu. Right with ya.
Here’s a correction:My first long-term job was working for a man who, years later, admitted to me that he was “somewhat illiterate.” He owned a service station (still does, actually) in my home town and did about half the wrenching in it, and maybe 5 percent of the gas pumping. He was nobody’s fool, and he could diagnose and fix a car, and charge righteously for it. My first encounter with an MG TD occurred at that gas station, and it’s where, with his help, I did my first engine swap.Sam was smart enough to know he had a real weak spot though, and he had to work extra hard to keep from getting taken. He trusted slowly, but once he knew you were on the level, he was loyal. I could call him today (the phone number of the shop pay phone is burned into my brain) and ask his help with Bridget. I might yet.Still, all that work making up for his poor reading ability contributed to making him a mean SOB, and in those days (the 1980s) he was very sharp-elbowed with customers. He took any question as a challenge, and I saw more than a few confrontations that didn’t need to happen and which, in the full light of 30+ years’ reflection, obviously stemmed from his insecurity.He overcame it by the mid 1990s. Night classes, I think.Anyway, all that to say that my use of the term “functionally illiterate” in my first post was imprecise. I meant it, in that example, to signify the too-trusting, not-researching type of person I see more and more of these days. Literacy (lack of same) often plays a role in this behavior, as does low general intelligence.But as Dale points out, many people of comparatively high intelligence still blunder this way, because they believe the salesman. Then, to recoup their loss, they must search out the “greater fool,” which continues the cycle.So it’s a totally different problem.Except for the cashier at Bojangles, where the cash register for dummies calculated my total and how much change I was to receive, had to call over another person to determine which coins constituted the amount of change she owed me.
Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"Schu: overheard at home depot, I swear this is true
Customer wants to buy a basketball backboard and HD guy says assembly is easy with ratchet. Customer says he hasn’t got a ratchet and HD without missing a beat says “so you’re a lawyer?” Everybody’s got something, nobody’s got everything.
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