SpaceEVDriver
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- Aug 26, 2021
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- Ground-based: CA Route 1 AWD, ER
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I've been trying to figure out what all of this waiting reminded me of...
Then today it hit me.
In late 2000, Toyota announced the first mass-produced, hybrid-electric vehicle for sale in the United States. We tried to get on the waiting list at several dealers in our town, but could not (well, we did, but they were multi-year waiting lists).
We tried to find one available out of town. It was not available anywhere in the southwest US.
We went to a new auto auction website, "Ebay Auto" — which was sketchy as hell — and bid on several vehicles, only to be outbid immediately.
We called Toyota and they said, "you have to go through the dealers."
We called the dealers again. Nobody had any allocations that weren't already spoken for.
It was like trying to find a Beanie Baby.
In mid 2002, we finally almost got our hands on one. It was the top-line trim model that the person who had ordered it had declined to purchase, and the dealer had an ADM on it that made me sick. We turned it down. At that time, $28k was out of our price range. My partner was pregnant at the time and that was just way too much.
In late 2002, the same dealer had another one that was the base model. It wasn't the color we wanted. But it didn't have ADM. We snapped it up. Several people came in to test drive it while we were signing paperwork. We told the dealer to let them test drive it but if there was any damage, we wouldn't buy the car. The testers were super jealous that we were getting it. Some offered us cash not to buy the car. We didn't accept, in part because the car we had driven to the dealer was a junker and we would have had no way to get home.
Anyway, that's sort of what the Mustang wait feels like to me.
Things are much better in some ways and not so much in others. First, it's much easier to order than it was in the past. Second, we have some amount of (muddy) insight into the process. It's also much more frustrating. Because we have some very muddy insight into the process and that process seems like a mess. And, of course, the chip shortage and the pandemic are making the waiting more troublesome in some ways.
[made some edits after memory correction from my partner]
Then today it hit me.
In late 2000, Toyota announced the first mass-produced, hybrid-electric vehicle for sale in the United States. We tried to get on the waiting list at several dealers in our town, but could not (well, we did, but they were multi-year waiting lists).
We tried to find one available out of town. It was not available anywhere in the southwest US.
We went to a new auto auction website, "Ebay Auto" — which was sketchy as hell — and bid on several vehicles, only to be outbid immediately.
We called Toyota and they said, "you have to go through the dealers."
We called the dealers again. Nobody had any allocations that weren't already spoken for.
It was like trying to find a Beanie Baby.
In mid 2002, we finally almost got our hands on one. It was the top-line trim model that the person who had ordered it had declined to purchase, and the dealer had an ADM on it that made me sick. We turned it down. At that time, $28k was out of our price range. My partner was pregnant at the time and that was just way too much.
In late 2002, the same dealer had another one that was the base model. It wasn't the color we wanted. But it didn't have ADM. We snapped it up. Several people came in to test drive it while we were signing paperwork. We told the dealer to let them test drive it but if there was any damage, we wouldn't buy the car. The testers were super jealous that we were getting it. Some offered us cash not to buy the car. We didn't accept, in part because the car we had driven to the dealer was a junker and we would have had no way to get home.
Anyway, that's sort of what the Mustang wait feels like to me.
Things are much better in some ways and not so much in others. First, it's much easier to order than it was in the past. Second, we have some amount of (muddy) insight into the process. It's also much more frustrating. Because we have some very muddy insight into the process and that process seems like a mess. And, of course, the chip shortage and the pandemic are making the waiting more troublesome in some ways.
[made some edits after memory correction from my partner]
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