One Man’s Junk Is Another Man’s Wheels Not-So-Picky Shoppers Seize Chance To Snap Up Slightly Used Vehicles
Some people just want a car - any car.
Who cares about peeling paint, a cracked windshield or ripped upholstery? As long as it runs, someone’s bound to take it.
That was the case this weekend at the Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds and the Greyhound Park in Post Falls, where giant used car sales drew hundreds of people. The Spokane sale advertised vehicles for as little as $49.
Inevitably, those were among the first to go.
A brown ‘79 Datsun B210 was sold just 10 minutes after the sale started Friday. The buyer, dealers say, drove it all the way back to Ford, Wash.
“It was a piece of junk and it smoked a little,” said Don Castle, owner of I-Deal Auto Sales. “But it was cheap and it ran.”
The car sale, which ends today, features 1,000 used cars from 24 Spokane-area car dealers.
Across the state line at the Greyhound Park, Lake City Ford and Tom Addis Dodge were successfully moving cars from their low price lot.
Entrance signs to the roped off bargain coral read: “The dog pound, high mileage mutts.”
Saturday morning, 27-year-old Lona Lindstrom of Coeur d’Alene was sitting in the teal 1987 Oldsmobile that was announced as the $10 giveaway car.
“I was bawling,” said Lindstrom, who has two young children and doesn’t have a job or own her own car.
Lindstrom had heard about the $10 car gimmick on the radio and, though she had no purchase plans, decided to take a chance at winning the giveaway. She had $12 in her pocket.
Car dealer Tom Addis was so pleased with the promotion’s outcome he offered to pay the taxes and fees for Lindstrom and then filled the car with gas so she could drive it home.
In Spokane, hundreds of people endured Saturday’s heat just to check out cars that ranged from a ‘70-something baby blue Ford Pinto to a sleek, silver-blue Jaguar. Some made it a daylong event as they wandered throughout the fairgrounds parking lot eating German sausages and hamburgers.
While the prices range from $49 to as much as $30,000, most cost about $6,000 to $7,000. The event offers practically every brand of car from minivans and luxury cars to sport utility vehicles and pickups.
Those at the show were just grateful that the event was allowed to take place.
Days before the car sale, three new car dealers sued Spokane County for scheduling the event at the fairgrounds a week before their own car show. The judge ruled against the new car dealers, noting that the county has no written policy that would prevent competing fairground shows from being held days or weeks apart.
On Saturday, the last of the $49 cars was a 1981 chocolate-colored Chevy Citation, decorated with silver helium balloons blowing in the breeze. Ten people had already checked it out by 11 a.m., said Cliff Grout, owner of Cliff’s Quality Auto.
“A lot of people need a car just to get back and forth,” he said. “It’s worth the parts. If nothing else, it runs.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo