by Jim Linder
Knowing how much he wanted to own this car, many more joined the hunt. If this man was spending so much time looking for this car, many speculated it must be spectacular! Pretty soon it was a certified cult movement. People met specifically to exchange stories and reports of the fabled car. Eventually the man moved from Europe to Hong Kong to take up the search in Asia. He spent many years touring Asia inquiring about the car. Still he did not find it. He moved to Australia, America, and South America to continue his search.
Just as he had given up all hope, he happened across a posting on the Internet. It showed a picture of the beloved vehicle parked in a garage of an unknown collector in California.
The man hopped the first plane to California, drove 35 miles from the city to the home of this collector. He raced up to the house, ran from the car, and banged on the door.
No one answered.
He banged louder. Finally, a small little gray haired man slowly opened the door. He stood back from the door in fright at the sight of the man.
“Don’t get many visitors out here.” The old man said. “What can I do for you?”
“I saw a picture of your car on the Internet, and I simply must own it. I have been searching all my life for this one thing, and yours is in perfect condition” The man said.
The old man rubbed his chin as he regarded the exuberant man. This fellow must be serious to drive 35 miles out here in the middle of nowhere.
“You mean my old Betsy?” The old man asked.
“Exactly!” The man said.
“I’ve had that car for 50 years” The old man said.
“I know” The man said, “and you have taken such great care of it. It looks brand new!”
“Why should I sell it to you?” The old man asked.
“I have been searching for this beautiful machine all my life!” The man started. “It is a tremendously beautiful dream of mine to own it. I will take better care of it than anyone else. I will keep it in new condition until the day I die. I will keep it in a special garage with climate control. I will hire people to maintain it and polish it every day. I will never drive it, but have it moved to car shows in a specially constructed truck. And even then only displayed behind a secure glass case. You must trust me that I will take the very best care of this exquisite machine!”
The old man though a few moments about this. This man certainly seemed serious about his old car. He had in fact been thinking lately about what he was going to do with it when he died. He wanted to give it to someone who would preserve it and not modify it.
“Just a moment young man”, the old man said. He disappeared into the house. He came back a while later and held out a small cloth bag.
A huge smile began on the man’s face. He had searched all his life and now his dream was going to come true! He reached for the bag.
The old man pulled it back a bit and asked, “How much is it worth now? I kinda lost track over the years.”
“The consensus estimate is about two million dollars.” The man responded.
“Really?” The old man said. “That much huh?”
“Yup,” the man said, “And it’s worth every penny!”
“Great!” the old man said, “I’ve been thinking about what to do with the car for a while now. I’m actually quite glad you found me. How soon can you get the money?”
“Oh, the money.” The man said. “I need some time to get it together.”
“How much time?” The old man asked.
“Well, I’m really not sure. I’m not real sure how to go about getting that much money. I might have to do some research into how to raise that much money. I mean I have a few thousand saved, but this is a big investment. I should probably look into some tax advantages or holding company strategies.”
This shocked the old man. He put the little bag in his pocket and regarded the man in a new light. Was this man sincere? How could he make such grand promises without having made any preparations? Was he one of those people that only wanted what they didn’t have?
“Well at least you have a special garage and display truck, right?” The old man asked.
“Not yet, those are just some things I thought out while I’ve been traveling.” The man answered. “I figured I would build them after I found the car.”
“It sounds to me like you don’t have this all worked out.” You better come back when you’re ready.” The old man said rather gruffly.
“Sure. OK.” The man said. “At least I found it. I’ll be back as soon as I have the money.”
It took the man five years to raise the money. He formed a corporation to purchase the car under a tax shelter using a little know California historic car law. He was now more ecstatic than ever as he boarded the plane to California one last time. In his briefcase he had a cashier’s check for two million dollars. He had just left the building site where he made the final walkthrough on his specially created garage.
He walked up the aisle of the plane and sat down in his seat. He stowed his briefcase on the floor and stretched his arms. As he did he glanced over the aisle at the man seated there reading a paper. He glanced away just as he realized that the car, his car, was printed on the front page of the paper.
He reached across the aisle and ripped the paper from the man’s hands. He quickly read the front-page article. The car had been sold 3 weeks ago! How can this be? The man had promised to sell to him! He even had the money! This can’t be right. The article must have been printed in error.
He fretted over the car the entire flight. Not only that, but he had to tolerate the angry glances from the man who’s paper he had taken. He finally decided that it simply MUST have been a misprint. Maybe the paper new he had the money and was trying to get a jump on the story.
When the plane landed, he quickly rented a car and drove like a madman to the old man’s house in the woods. He raced to the door and knocked loudly.
A young woman answered the door. “Hello.” She said, “What do you want?”
“I came to buy the car. Can I speak to the old man?” the man said.
“You’ll have to speak real load, because he died a month ago.” She said.
“What? What about the car? It’s still here isn’t it?” he asked.
“Afraid not.” She said, “We had to sell it to pay for the funeral. Uncle Frank said he was waiting to sell it to someone, but we couldn’t wait. Some hot-rod company paid a million bucks for it”
The man just stood and stared at her with his mouth hanging open.
“You goin’ to be alright?” she asked.
The man just turned and walked to his car, and drove slowly away.
He was never seen again.