Has anyone ever knocked on your door offering to buy your eco-ride?

[Cobb]

I get folks wanting my gas guzzler, the suzuki sidekick. Since Ive lowered it, went up 3 tire sizes and added running boards its a real dude magnet.

[oil pan 4]

I get about 1 offer every 2 months to buy my Camaro which has been parked for 2 years.
Need to sell it.

[War_Wagon]

A few years ago the auction I keep some of my old stuff at went all fancy with some new computer system, and they scanned in all the stuff in their yard and put it in inventory. Then one day someone put all the wrong cars as the equivalent to "Available Online" on their website meaning they could be bought. Cripes my phone rang off the hook with calls from their sales dept asking "How much for x, you know it's been here for like 5 years right?" Ya of course I know, I am the one that parked it there ha ha. No interest on the first gen Insights, nothing on the first gen Prius, nada on the Metro clones, nothing on the Civic VX, or any of the other Civics or Tercels. 17 calls on the 5.0 Mustangs, and 4 on a ratty chopped '82 Chev shortbox pickup. I dream of a day when I won't have to be the only person in my area code that digs eco cars more than some rotted out (though really cool looking ha ha) nightmare of tetanus shots in the form of a pickup truck!

I need to start some sort of "Save the Eco Cars" charity. Like those deals where people rescue old racing Greyhounds and find them homes! I am happy to spend the time and use the connections to find them here, but man they take up a lot of space and the bills for buying them add up!!

[wmjinman]

The other day, a guy came up to me as I was getting into the "gnat" and asked what MPG it got. So I told him I'd hit 60+ a few times, and am always at least in the mid 50's or above. We talked a little bit & he told me about a turbo 3 cylinder Metro (I'd never heard of) that had the turbo just to give it enough poop to go up on-ramps and get into traffic. I told him my 4 cylinder had enough poop, but I almost never floored it and almost always drove it slow.

Then he said he noticed my fender skirts and wondered if I was a hypermiler. When I told him "yes", he shook my hand.

He didn't ask to buy it, but that's the first time someone genuinely acted like they liked what I was doing. Seems like everyone else thinks I'm a weirdo of some sort wasting all my time and energy "for nothing". Even telling them I go 600 miles between fill-ups of 10 to 11 gallons doesn't seem to impress them - or at least, they hide it real well. (Maybe inside, they're as jealous as all hell, eh? Yeah, that's what I tell myself)

[Frank Lee]

They aren't impressed because that math is too hard for them.

[War_Wagon]

Pretty sure there was never a turbo Metro, he was probably referring to the car MetroMPG started this post off with, the turbo Firefly/Sprint. Same car as any 1.0L Metro clone, but it was the Canadian Pontiac version of a Metro/Sprint - the Firefly. Maybe they were produced in other places, but up here you could only get the turbo in the Sprint/Firefly. The Suzuki swift GT was the other "performance" clone you could get, and it was actually pretty cool, big sway bars, "big" engine etc.

[wmjinman]

I may have misspoke. I think he actually said it was a turbo Chevy Sprint. I think he was trying to tell me the 3 cylinder engine, while super economical, didn't have enough power to get out of it's own way, so they had this turbo version so there was some power available to accelerate onto freeways.

So my response was that, although my MPG might be limited by the fact I've got a 4 cylinder, it's kinda nice to know I've got the power on tap I do. Natually, I'll never win a drag race against a strong V-8 sports car, but when I mash it to the floor, it actually takes off with a little pep, at least.

[elhigh]

I had somebody leave me a note on my grandmother's former Plymouth Colt Vista when I had it at the shop. Not for sale, but the guy has provided some psychological support since the thing dropped a valve.

It's not a thrifty ride but crazy roomy inside and my older boy kind of likes it, so I need to fix it for his sake.

[wyatt]

I had a couple guys stop by and ask if I was selling the Suzuki (it had been parked for a while). They asked for details, I provided, they knew folks that might be interested, but nothing materialized. They didn't come to the door, they talked to me while I was mowing with my old reel mower .

[elhigh]

I also get people knocking and asking about the Farmall in the front yard. Also not for sale, and not yard art. Occasionally I fire it up, drive it to the post office.