Date:         Tue, 23 Nov 2004 07:28:45 -0500
Reply-To:     jesse johnson <jjmojo@BLAZENET.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         jesse johnson <jjmojo@BLAZENET.NET>
Subject:      Fwd: 1989 Carat Vanagon For Sale... Southern Pennsylvania
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

>
> What's your point?
> You just want to make me feel like an ass? seriously... does my van
> have rust holes in it? no...
> are there areas where there is super minor surface rust? yes... is the
> van almost 16 years old? yes? has the van been used in the winter?
> yes... of course there is going to be rust...
> can you push your finger through seams on the van.. no... what else do
> you want me to say? my van is very nice for being almost 16 years
> old... and i have taken really good care of it...
> jesse
>
> On Nov 18, 2004, at 1:24 AM, George Goff wrote:
>
>> In a message dated 11/17/04 10:03:50 PM, jjmojo@BLAZENET.NET writes:
>>
>> << Van is not rusty at all.. super minor seam rust on drivers side
>> that i
>> have addressed and stopped. >>
>>
>> From time to time I see statements such as this both here and in
>> other venues
>> and I have to wonder why such things are said.  These incongruities
>> often
>> cause me to doubt the discernment if not the integrity of the
>> speaker.  Although
>> it is not a legitimate word, "rustfree" means NO rust, none, zip,
>> nada.  "Not
>> rusty at all" means the same.  Mint means MINT.  Cherry means CHERRY.
>> Pristine means PRISTINE.  When we are cutting deals more and more at
>> greater and
>> greater distances, these words take on even greater import.
>>
>> I just drove 500 miles to buy a car which was offered up as rustfree.
>> Although the seller seemed to be accurate and honest whenever I spoke
>> to him, I
>> still was compelled to parse his every word to the point that I had
>> him on the
>> ground with phone in hand checking every seam I had known to rust on
>> the type of
>> car he was selling.  Fortunately, he was more of a mechanic and less
>> of a
>> salesmen, so evasiveness was not his forte.  Even after all that I
>> put him
>> through, I still expected to be greeted with disappointment whenever
>> I would see the
>> car.  Well, hallelujah!  Tell Diogenes to snuff out his lantern
>> because I
>> finally found an honest man after viewing cars advertised on the
>> internet over the
>> past 10 years.
>>
>> Last year at this time I bought another car at distance.  The
>> experience was
>> not as uneventful as my recent one, but it was salvageable.  The car
>> was 140
>> miles from me and it was succinctly offered up as "pristine".  In
>> speaking with
>> the seller, I detected an accent so I kept hammering him on the word
>> "pristine" until I was sure he appreciated its meaning and also
>> appreciated the fact
>> that I was about to travel nearly 300 miles on the weight of that one
>> word.  As
>> it turned out, the car was very, very nice, but not pristine.  As it
>> also
>> turned out, the seller was an Argentinean with a Ph.D. in poli sci
>> from Columbia
>> so whenever I handed him a sheet of paper with the definition of
>> "pristine"
>> printed on it (P to the sixth power - Prior Planning Prevents Piss
>> Poor
>> Performance), this man of letters was most accepting of my offer.
>>
>> George
>>
>