Sweet, cherry, Volkswagen 411- found on Flickr...I promised myself I would do a lot of things before my 40th Birthday. Three years later I still haven't learned to fly a plane, and I haven't had sex with John Cusack. On a more realistic note, I have always wanted to own a vintage wagon. Become my facebook fan and you will see that I collect cool cars vicariously with my camera. I love old cars.

Scott and I are having fun searching Craiglsist for "wagons" under $3k. Why a wagon? I bought a minivan when I moved here and I nearly bored myself to death driving it. We upgraded to the Eurovan a while back, sold it last week, and now we're back to our trusty mini-cooper and a few bikes in the garage. A wagon is the best fit for us right now.
Another sweet photo of a 411 - these great photos are just as hard to find as these cars!

This is what I've found so far: a lot of cool Mercedes wagons, a BMW convertible, a couple Land Rover Discoveries and lots of Volvos because Portland is the "City of Volvos." Point being that there are a lot of luxury cars out there selling for the price of magic beans. And that should actually be the point of the entire blog. Who knew you could buy a  luxurious Mercedes wagon for less than a Jeep? The cheapest ones are usually at the dealers and they fly off the lots very quickly, go figure.

Surprisingly, what caught our collective eye was a 1971 Volkswagen 411 automatic wagon. A very rare car indeed, and when I say "rare" I mean "hard to find because no one bought them in the first place." But I like the styling; a little more Dragnet than Herbie the Love Bug, and the lines in the back remind me of my Dad's much more impractical collection of Citroëns that I rode in during my childhood (and when I say "rode in" I mean "held onto for dear life at maybe a 100 miles an hour in a school zone.") My main motivation is that I want to look cool because looking cool is the MOST IMPORTANT THING in the whole world.

Shhhh... If you can hear someone in Stamford, CT screaming that I am an idiot at the top of his lungs, it's my brother. He is most likely turning beet red and sending me endless links to Subarus, Hondas and Toyotas that he will insist I buy instead of this totally impractical, yet amazingly cool car. He might as well send me pictures of Dick Cheney to jerk off to, it's not going to get me excited.

Why risk it? Turns out the parts are straight off the VW MicroBus and these babies are really easy to fix. Apparently Scott is envisioning himself under the hood of this car with his friend and VW Sensei, Brian, who is equally excited about our potential purchase. Also, the fact that Scott is animated about anything besides Yahoo Sports is always a sign from God that we're on the right track (if he and I agree on anything it's got to be a good idea.)

OK, we'd love some feedback but I'll go ahead and argue my case right now: Why would I want to buy such and old car? One... I have always wanted a vintage wagon and who would guess that being a totally broke loser would lead me closer to mid-life actualization? Two... we recently found the best VW mechanic in Portland so we're happy to stick with a VW. Three... it's in mechanically stellar condition and the rear engine makes it a powerful, fun drive. Four...it's cheap AND cool and I suspect that a trip to MAACO will make this car a beauty. Five... it is going to make me feel a little less like a cougar-status-reject and a little more like the pretentious Portland hipster that I "wannabee."

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