The motor trade

[billblank]

In my late teens I spent some time in the trade as the spotty oik in the corner. I saw things done to customers that made my hair curl. My experiences over the years confirmed this impression with a few notable exceptions that I cherish and buy biscuits for at christmas. Over the recent months I've been searching for an S at the right price. I was going to sell my old 8 but despite the large amounts spent on it, just couldn't bring myself to pass on a car with, in my humble opinion, was going to die soon. Bad karma and all that. It drove well but it was time to get rid of it. I was going to scrap it on finding it's replacement but the trader I purchased my S8 from offered to take it off my hands, I had informed him I was probably going to scrap it and that I believed it to be worth sod all due to it's many defects, he offered the same as I would have got for scrapping it and it made it convenient and easy so I took him up on it. 2 days later it's on the web. For legal reasons I make no comment nor express opinion on his description of it, hell I'm too scared to link to it but I will admit a creeping paranoia about my purchase from him that has only been assuaged by handing it to my garage for a couple of hours and it's as straight as I thought it was. I paid a little (okay, more like A lot) over the odds but I liked it. It still cost less than a week in bloody Bulgaria earlier this summer. 5* hotel my arse. So many others failed in that regard. I am now the happy owner of an anthracite 98 S8 with 75k miles and a new box (£1800 just for the box, ouch)fitted in march. Couple of scuffs on the bumper, crappy tyres on it but it felt nice when I got in it and drove right. Glowing blue needles, fantastic seats, slightly nicer hifi, proper avus wheels and Noticeably quicker accelleration. Lovely woosh. Just feels so much tauter and better controlled and damped than a normal 4.2. Everything works apart from the one thing I didn't check, sunroof tilts but doesn't slide. Puzzling as there's an invoice for a replacement motor from Ian and co. that previous owner said he'd fitted.

I can only conclude that I should not be allowed out of the house with more than lunch money. I liked the bloke but his mercilless capitalism terrifies me.

Feel free to insert guesses as to what I paid below and your opinion of the correct price. It was an £X+my car deal.

Bill