Buying A Boat
by Grid Michal
F
orum after forum, the same question: what kind of boat should I buy? The same answers: 25’, 28’, diesel, gas, V8, in-line, Cummins, Volvo, Merc, aft-cabin, shorepower, center console… even one or two replies saying “buy MY boat!” I can imagine the frustration buyers have, and appreciate the generosity of responders who want to see someone enjoy his time on the water. More than a few years ago when I was flying up the corporate ladder at Hertz, one of my jobs in one of my larger cities was to order new cars in the summer. We got to see new cars and colors before even many dealers did. This was pretty heady stuff for a kid whose first car was a ’56 Plymouth Savoy 2-door, flathead six, three-on-the-tree. The order from the top was to order vehicles that would sell immediately if the rental market went to hell,
so no weird options. This was before computers, so the purchase orders had to be hand-written, then given to a secretary to type. One night I had to order five hundred Fords. I started off ordering two black LTDs with power everything, dressup accessories, sound systems. If my boss and I were going to be working 23 hour days, I wanted us to have that hour-commute to be comfy. 498 to go. The next PO was for 30 four-door pillared sedans, AC, whitewalls, body side moldings, etc. 468 more to go, and it’s 100AM. 50 LTD four-door pillared, 25 LTD two-door hardtops, 25 Galaxie two-door sport hardtops….what color? I flipped through the cart. “ROSE.” Absolutely gorgeous. ROSE it is. About 3 am I finished the orders, laid them out for the secretary, showered, shaved, fresh clothes and I was ready for a new day. A couple of months later I drove into work about
500AM and found ten tractor-trailer loads of new Fords being drop-shipped to us. Even at 5 am, ROSE was PINK. Oh my God. I could see my job being history. My boss gave me pure hell for that decision until he saw the color chip I’d used, which really would have looked nice. He got BOTH black LTDs, I got to drive nothing but pink Fords for six months. One of my next jobs in the city was to wholesale cars as the seasons changed. I finally got to see the pink Fords go out the gate to belong to somebody else, but this time, some had vinyl tops, some had portholes. I had turned sows’ ears into semi-silk purses, and made money, but it was luck, and a hard lesson! ctd
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