For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for November 05, 2022

dreadful

Don’t listen to Gordon, Mike.

Getting it out of the ditch will cost more than the car.

But the Dodge station wagon is clunky. It has wood panels.

Must have updated this if it is an ’06.

Here is a strip that needed updating badly. Originally in 1993, the $350 car they went to look at was a ‘86 Pontiac Acadian. I can hardly remember but the Acadian was even uglier than the Ford Pinto! If I were buying I wouldn’t pay $350! No more than $150 if it was in running condition.

Best to get your car from a dealership Mike. You’ll pay more. But most places have some sort of ‘Lemon Law’, to protect the buyer from hidden defects and fast talking salesmen.

At least Mike didn’t put a down payment on that wreck before he saw it.

BTW, the editors must have upgraded the years on this strip from when it first ran.

I could do a whole arc about a couple of used car search adventures.

My favorite personal used car story: One day during the late ’80s my husband & I were looking through a lot & narrowed it down to 2. While they were different makes & models, they were pretty much similar, so we went to get a closer look at them, him going to one & me going to the other. My husband heard me scream & came running. “This one has factory-installed 8-track!!!” Yeah, we went for that one (which was a ’75 Thunderbird).

Went to a used car lot and demoed a Vega, it got up to 25MPH after a few minutes which was good as the brakes barely worked! Dealer confess that it needed a “little work”!

Good luck finding any (still playable) 8-track cassettes. LOL

Have ya ever noticed how good your friends can be at spending your money.

Well, I suppose it is instructive to take a look at some of the things you can “afford”, if for no other reason, to make the one you decide on look like a better deal.

Now having your “friends” rush you into a car deal at this stage of life? I don’t recall how this story arc developed the first time, but I imagine that it didn’t end well.

I am guessing that this man was expecting people would use it for parts or scrap metal.

A good movie about this is Used Cars with Kurt Russell.

What’s this?? Extremely cheap cars for sale that are 2005 and 2006 models?? But wait… Isn’t this supposed to be, like, 1994? How can they be buying future models for very low prices? How can this be? Do you think, maybe, that the re-run is supposed to be set in the PRESENT DAY….?? There you go.

“2005 Cavalier”? Lynn stopped drawing in 2008, at which time Michael was already married with kids. Looks like this one was “brought up to date.”

Flip it over and it’s as good as new.

Owned by a little old lady who only drove it on Sunday. Unfortunately, she was half-blind and posied.

My dad had a used car lot so I used to drive some of his cars that he wasn’t quite ready to get rid of…

Towing not included.

Turn it over, see if the engine turns over…see if the guy’ll sell it for a hundred.

https://youtu.be/tHQcchiuohQ

That is unusual for Gordon. He normally spends $0 on cars. If Gordon likes a car, he steals it. Case in point with the boosting of Elly’s new car.

I mean if you can flip it over it’d work. Also not really loving the updating the years thing. I get it for newspapers and such, but at the same time it just feels like anyone left reading a newspaper knows these are reprints andyone online knows the strip ended a decade ago.

In this strip it’s arcs like this one that make me glad I can’t remember almost everything from when I read them the first time. It’s new again!

A more affordable way for Michael: use a skateboard, eat a burrito, then light a match behind him when he feels one coming and….BLAST OFF!

I unfortunately had to look for a “beater” last month after my car was totaled. My new car won’t be in until March at the earliest.I can verify the prices needed another zero on the end. One place I went by had an 05 Corolla on blocks for $4000, and another $150 if I wanted the tires. (Someone else was considering buying it while I was there)

That car in the last frame reminded me of when coming home from school as a child I saw a VW beetle flip over on it’s roof. I thought it was too funny. I was thinking of a “dead bug” pose.

If you’re going to update the years you need to update the prices too.

For that matter, kids these days don’t read the classifieds.

Okay,it’s time for the horror stories on used car purchases.I’m sure 50% of you have at least one.