In the early 1960’s my landlady ran a filling station in Brighton, MA. Whenever some idiot – whose gas tank she was filling – dumped his ashtray out the window she would get a broom and dustpan, sweep it up and dump it back into his car. Lost a few customers but the station always looked neat.
My “new” car is a ’06 Highlander with 80,000 miles on it. It will (most probably) go another 220,000 with no major problems. It cost (outright) less than the down payment on a new one.
In the mid 1960’s in Harvard Square I saw a girl wearing a tee shirt that said, “Warning, under my clothing, I am naked” D***, that thought never occurred to me before!
My father bought a ‘53 Caddy in 1955 for $75 when the cops made its owner take it off the road because of the smoke. (It was a simple fix: diaphragm in the vacuum booster was punctured. – Now, Anybody got a clue what I’m talking about?)
First new car was a loaded up ‘65 GTO $3000 (yes, three thousand) & worth it . Second was a ’68 Plymouth Satelite, also $3000 and not worth it. Haven’t had a new car since ( I learn fast!) After a bunch of Nissan Maximas that each went over 300K, I’m now into Toyota Highlanders. Have one with 185K and a second with 145K. Both going strong!
Paper mill: Bucket of steam