On Mon, 05 Sep 2005 15:13:07 +0000, Robert Allison wrote:

I have found one silver lining in this gas price surge. 35
years ago, cowboys, ranchers and construction workers drove
trucks. They were fairly reasonable back then. No frills,
but you could get a good truck without taking out a second
mortgage on the house. Since everyone and their mother wants
trucks and SUVs now, the price of those vehicles have
skyrocketed. Typical construction workers can barely afford
to buy what they NEED to do their job.

You can still buy "work trucks". They may not be sitting on the showroom
floor, but they can be ordered. OTOH, I see them all the time in the
Boston and NYC papers as bait.

Now that gas prices are shooting up, the demand will go down and perhaps
those of us who NEED those types of vehicles will be able to afford
them. I am constantly looking at trucks and the first sign that demand
was going down was the Chevy employee discount on trucks. I am hoping
that that trend continues and that prices get back to reasonable levels.

Do you NEED fancy interriors? Power windows/locks? AC? 4WD? Work
trucks are available for about 60% of what the weekend-warrior pays for a
car replacement. Though when my son grew up and I no longer needed two
"cars" (or minivans) I bought a small pickup. As a weekend warrior myself,
I like to be able to fetch a sheet of plywood (or snowblower , or take
stuff to the dump. I also like some of the creature comforts of a car.

--
Keith

--
Keith