[speaker002:] all right so uh what about automobiles
[speaker001:] well I drive a pick up truck
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and uh
[speaker002:] you should live in Texas
[speaker001:] that's probably true it it's a small pickup truck though it's one of those Isuzu uh space cab types with a sunroof so it's actually not a real pickup truck you know it's uh it's got nice bucket seats so it's very comfortable and uh
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] it has uh with the space cab in the back I can carry some storage but I have to admit Fred I I've never had a gun rack back there so I probably wouldn't fit in Texas
[speaker002:] uh oh you're in trouble  you don't have a Yosemite Sam mud flap back off or anything like that
[speaker001:] no no no no nothing like that it my it's pretty pretty I think uh my truck sort of puts me as a uh as as a Baltimore Baltimore suburbanite I think is more uh you know I uh when I bought the truck I was going to buy a boat
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and I needed something that would be able to haul a small boat but then I I um I because I wanted to try water skiing and enjoying some water sports and things and that's one reason why I bought it but then right after I bought the truck I broke my foot and I and the doctor said because of the type of physical therapy I got no sideward movement you know for a couple of months and that meant the whole
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] season uh water skiing you know uh season was over so I thought well okay and then by the the next year I was thinking about doing it again but I invested the money in a house
[speaker002:] oh well probably that's probably a little more sound investment
[speaker001:] you know so little more sound investment yes so so then I still have this pickup truck and then I think well now maybe I'll you know go by the boat again and of course then I broke my foot again uh so the thought
[speaker002:] perhaps you should just uh dispel that thought
[speaker001:] yeah that so that's so I'm not ever going going to own a boat
[speaker002:] but you still like your truck though
[speaker001:] yeah oh yeah I love my truck in fact uh well my wife and I contemplate selling both of us owned pickup trucks actually when we got married so we now we're a two pickup truck family uh hers in in some ways is is a little more convenient and then mine's convenient other ways so it's hard to decide she has a a cap on the back and and uh she has um uh roof racks so we were able to carry things on the roof and able to put things in the back of her truck without them ever worrying about them them getting wet or whatever
[speaker002:] uh-huh right
[speaker001:] but with mine see I have a space cab so you can put like luggage immediately behind the seats and I also have bucket seats and air conditioning so each one has its good points and each one has its bad points in a two truck family yeah uh what
[speaker002:] yeah do you feel that uh you're the always the guy that gets called when someone moves or something
[speaker001:] I think family um I do a little bit but surprisingly I have uh two of my brothers since I bought my Isuzu pickup two of my brothers have bought uh Isuzu Troopers which actually you know can open the back and just take out your backseat and you can haul washers and dryers and almost anything in them so I think um I used to be
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] the one that was called but now everybody owns one themselves you know I do have some friends every once in a while that'll ask me and I'll I'll of course do that you know that doesn't matter
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] yeah it's for for a friend you'd do it anyway so it doesn't really matter
[speaker002:] yeah that's uh it just seems that uh I don't know if I'd ever want to own one because I know I've used guys with pickup trucks two or three times and and they you know what are you doing this weekend well I'm helping a guy move you know and it just seems like they're always getting the call
[speaker001:] uh-huh  yeah that's true what type of car do you drive Fred
[speaker002:] well I have a eighty five Mercury Cougar and I've had it since well eighty six actually so it was still fairly
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] you know it was a new style when it came out and uh my wife drives and eighty seven Topaz or an wait an eighty eighty seven Topaz yeah that's right and so we're a Mercury family I guess
[speaker001:] yeah uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] um not so much on her part but I don't know my dad always bought Ford and Mercury products so and I like the looks of the Cougar
[speaker001:] yeah  yeah they're nice looking I like them
[speaker002:] yeah thanks and uh except for I got a some Texas hail storm damage it's a little golf ball action so I've got
[speaker001:] oh really
[speaker002:] driving driving around a with a Chinese checker board basically
[speaker001:] oh gee
[speaker002:] I got that about a year and a half ago actually two years ago this May and I just totaled out the car
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and uh so it paid for itself and I'm basically driving uh almost a free car so
[speaker001:] yeah well that's see that's what I'm hoping to stop paying truck payments soon you know that's I think that's payments are important what you so but your wife drives a Mercury Topaz they're nice too
[speaker002:] yeah we haven't had a trouble with either of them yet uh her Topaz uh
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] uh my Cougar's got like eighty some thousand miles on it it's made trips because we're both from Indiana and she moved down here first she she pardon
[speaker001:] um-hum yeah so you've gone yeah back to visit family have you driven back to visit family in Indiana
[speaker002:] uh yeah
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] yeah I've made the trip probably ten times because I was still going to school and she was down here and so it's
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] it's just racks up you know about sixteen hundred miles each time
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and and we just started going in Carla's car the Topaz and it seems to make the trip pretty well it's getting around thirty five forty miles per gallon
[speaker001:] oh that's really good yeah
[speaker002:] yeah it is especially we we were weighting it down a little bit it get it you know on the
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] it averaged out around thirty five or forty forty
[speaker001:] yeah is uh gas mileage an important reason why you buy the cars you do
[speaker002:] probably uh the Cougar I got it just for its looks
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and uh the the Mercury brand and uh Carla wanted a a car that got good gas mileage a little something to get around town and uh dependable and uh
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] uh it it it's kind of a sportier model than most Topazes it's got the the stripping on the side and it came with uh I think Eagle tires
[speaker001:] um-hum yeah
[speaker002:] some guy had some salesman had decked it out and uh
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] so it it looked pretty sharp
[speaker001:] well I I take it you don't have you don't have kids then
[speaker002:] no no we we just got a new puppy but uh it's close enough
[speaker001:] because if you had if you had kids you wouldn't say anything about sportier looking you'd be saying things like it has a good backseat uh the car seat fits in very easily and we can seat belt it in securely it's that's that's a big difference in conversations there yeah
[speaker002:] oh so you don't you don't have children or
[speaker001:] no we well we're uh just recently married in December
[speaker002:] oh okay
[speaker001:] uh but that's we we laugh now my wife says we should sell my truck and I say we should sell hers and I said well the reason why we should sell yours Laura is because see mine has the space cab and it actually has little drop seats in the space area with seat belts I said and we can seat buckle in a car seat there
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] so we should get rid of yours because the three of us won't be able to go on trips I said but we can go on trips in mine you know we can travel anywhere with my truck so that's uh you know we laugh I laugh about that um-hum
[speaker002:] that's funny uh see that's true I never thought of that and
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] you know oh it's a good child and you know loading up the kids you know we haven't crossed that yet so
[speaker001:] I know we haven't either but
[speaker002:] have you seen these new station wagons they look pretty sharp
[speaker001:] well what the Ford ones
[speaker002:] uh I don't know what it was I just saw it going down and mom and the kids were in there and it looked like a pretty sleek looking car
[speaker001:] yeah I think uh I think Ford was one of the first ones to step into that new um that new almost shuttle space shuttle like appearance and I think they've done they've really come on strong with some of that um
[speaker002:] yeah yeah
[speaker001:] uh wind resistance and energy saving and uh uh developments I think that that's their station wagon I think those are Fords but I do I like those
[speaker002:] okay no more of the the panel station wagons anymore
[speaker001:] yeah yeah now now the station wagon looks sleek it looks yeah
[speaker002:] I know they do look pretty sharp
[speaker001:] and uh and hopefully I think uh you know it's supposed to get better gas mileage and um I think that's that's becoming an important thing too my wife and I've been discussing is you know looking for a car when we do get rid of one of the trucks we'll probably look for a car that gets good gas mileage
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] just because um it it just has become such an important thing I think for the environment and for the economy and everything you know to start to pay attention to that more and more
[speaker002:] so you you bought an Isuzu so you're not a a the buy American crowd or
[speaker001:] no I think I think the reason why I I bought the Isuzu is because you know I looked almost all the small trucks are made by Japanese anyway
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] there's only a couple of them like I looked the first place I went were the were Dodge Chrysler Plymouth and you know I went to a number of them and I priced them all out and I was just the the I was almost going to buy a um a Chrysler which was actually a Mitsubishi truck
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] but the salesman insulted me um the guy the salesman you know they always do that deal with you where they say well I got to go talk to my manager well here the manager's actually the guy that owns the place and in this small town we live on he's always on TV
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and he comes out of his office and I asked him for I I I said well you know it was like maybe eighty three hundred dollars for this truck
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and I said well I I'd like it for eight thousand dollars I said for eight thousand dollars I'll sell you know I'll write out the down payment now and you know because I can get financing I can get financing through my credit because I'd checked about financing and everything you know I said I'll for eight thousand dollars I'll take it you know because it was oh sort of marked down you know and the and the guy came out of the back and insulted me he said he said you want a truck for under eight thousand dollars go back to the used lot it's behind the building and he walked away
[speaker002:] oh man
[speaker001:] I guess it was a sales technique he thought he was going to pressure me into giving up that three hundred dollars that I asked for I don't know and I said I said I looked at the salesman I said I'm I'm sorry your boss just insulted me I can't it's against my pride to buy a truck here now
[speaker002:] that no kidding
[speaker001:] and guy and I felt really bad I walked out and the guy called me at home the next couple of days it was terrible but you know I walked out I got into my brother was actually with me shopping for a car and we drove down the street and he said why don't you just look in here and we went into the Isuzu dealer because my brother always had this love for an Isuzu Trooper he wanted one you know
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and we walked in and here there was a demonstrator model on sale like ninety six hundred dollars with everything standard