Date:         Fri, 3 May 1996 10:32:40 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         jim@atcweb.atc.1dc.com (Jim Ellis)
Subject:      $5.00 Eurovan Westy? (Friday, longish)

Saved this for Friday:

Last weekend Camelback VW in Phoenix, AZ, USA had a promotion sale
advertising that four vehicles would be sold for $5.00.

I found out about this too late but here's the scoop:
Prospective buyers showed up and "claimed" the vehicle of their choice and
sat in it until a sales rep came around to verify the name of the person who
"claimed" the vehicle. The origial windshield prices were lettered in the
typical car lot paint in red paint. If the vehicle had been "claimed" then
they left the price alone. If no one had "claimed" a vehicle the windshield
price was then updated in white paint. The white price was to be the final
markdown.
I found out about it that morning. When I arrived I saw a Eurovan Westy and
almost ran to "claim" it. No one was sitting in it! Yea!!!! Yahoo!!! Yassir,
er I mean Yes Sir!!!
It was at this time that I was told about the mark down thing. The Westy had
already been marked down to the $19,000.00 range. Just a tad above my
budget. =(((
People were sitting in 450SELs, VOLVO Turbo Stationwagons, 96 Celicas,
Porsche 911variations, etc, etc. Over all some pretty tasty vehicles. At
intermittant time intervals throughout the day the sale staff would draw a
vehicle inventory ID # and mark it down to $5.00. A couple of cars (mid 80's
Buick Regal POS, and a Subaru (somewhat sporty model) were the first two to
go for $5.00. The nice thing was that a 16 year old young lady won the red
Subaru as her very first car. It was a Dad and Daughter adventure. Sure to
be a family legend and memory. The Buick went to someone who looked like
they simply could use a car. The other folks sat in the 100F heat all day
for the chance to win. I felt bad for the folks who showed up by themselves
for obvious reasons. If they left the vehicle they would then be
disqualified and someone else could "claim" the vehicle (or it was marked
down in white).
VanBondo was appropriately greasy from head to toe from helping a friend
move his machine shop. We're talking zillions of head, case and tranny
cores. Most everyone else at the sale were dressed in clean street clothes.
Typical...
I had a full day planned and could not stick around all day for nada. I was
not going to win a thing.
Point is that I or someone else could have claimed the Westy and been in
line to win it for $5.00! Hopefully other folks won their dream car for
chump change! =)
-ellis\