I love you, and thank you, but I don’t really want a new or newish car.

I would much rather invest in these two new old ones, or something very like them.

I am about $9K into each of them, and neither of them has ever been wrecked, or developed any rust, or exhibited any other problem that is fundamentally structural.

To the extent I can perceive, they got good bones.

With a shiny new one, you just don’t know; can’t know.

You want me to be in something safe and reliable. I want the same thing.

I think making what I have mechanically pristine, and being financially and practically agile enough to rebuild an engine or transmission as necessary, is a much more sure and sensible path to that goal.

I honestly believe that.

It will probably be cheaper too, but that’s beside the point.

So is the retro-cool factor, ultimately, but damn, they are cool, in a way no Hybrid Wilderness Forester ever could be.