Daily Podcast Lieberman Edition: EBay Motors is Like Crack

Justin Berkowitz
by Justin Berkowitz

Hours, days, weeks. I can’t even begin to tally the time I’ve wasted – flushed away, evaporated, murdered – because of eBay Motors and Craigslist and even Hemmings. I know that half the listings are frauds, and the other half are overpriced. I know that “excellent condition!!1” means well beaten and abused. And that “shows signs of wear and tear” means it was previously used to haul broken toilets. I don’t care. It’s just the ultimate window shopping, tire kicking, fantasy dreaming experience. That’s why Murilee Martin (Jalopnik) puts up those wonderful project car hell posts. Because they inevitably will be hell. Just ask Stephan Wilkinson (or to save him precious time, read his book). But I don’t have to worry about that when I’m on eBay Motors. Once I see that the engine has been replaced with a hamster on a wheel, I can just move on. “What would it be like to own a stick shift Land Rover Discovery?” Surf eBay, find one, sift through the pics, and imagine yourself in that ridiculous ride. Car picture porn online? Nothing comes close. Don’t know much about a model? Pop over to Wikipedia for some misinformation, then hit up YouTube to hear how it sounds. Best of all, the auctions last just long enough for my passing tastes to expire. Oh sure, I like the idea of a Peugeot 405 wagon this week. But next week it’ll be gone. And I won’t care, because I’ll be looking for a Buick Grand National. Or a Mercury Marauder. Or maybe an Olds Rocket 88! It doesn’t matter what your poison is, because between eBay, Craigslist, and Hemmings, they’ll cover it all. In today’s podcast, Lieberman and I have another silly argument about the wonders of Italian sports cars, among other delights from Autofiends.

Justin Berkowitz
Justin Berkowitz

Immensely bored law student. I've also got 3 dogs.

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  • Justin Berkowitz Justin Berkowitz on Oct 04, 2008

    @David Holzman: You might enjoy CrazedList.com, as well. UGH!

  • Vj Vj on Oct 04, 2008

    @David Holzman I looked up the Peugeots, however i ended up at a 1969 LandRover. Window shopping on ebay is addictive

  • Theflyersfan I know given the body style they'll sell dozens, but for those of us who grew up wanting a nice Prelude Si with 4WS but our student budgets said no way, it'd be interesting to see if Honda can persuade GenX-ers to open their wallets for one. Civic Type-R powertrain in a coupe body style? Mild hybrid if they have to? The holy grail will still be if Honda gives the ultimate middle finger towards all things EV and hybrid, hides a few engineers in the basement away from spy cameras and leaks, comes up with a limited run of 9,000 rpm engines and gives us the last gasp of the S2000 once again. A send off to remind us of when once they screamed before everything sounds like a whirring appliance.
  • Jeff Nice concept car. One can only dream.
  • Funky D The problem is not exclusively the cost of the vehicle. The problem is that there are too few use cases for BEVs that couldn't be done by a plug-in hybrid, with the latter having the ability to do long-range trips without requiring lengthy recharging and being better able to function in really cold climates.In our particular case, a plug-in hybrid would run in all electric mode for the vast majority of the miles we would drive on a regular basis. It would also charge faster and the battery replacement should be less expensive than its BEV counterpart.So the answer for me is a polite, but firm NO.
  • 3SpeedAutomatic 2012 Ford Escape V6 FWD at 147k miles:Just went thru a heavy maintenance cycle: full brake job with rotors and drums, replace top & bottom radiator hoses, radiator flush, transmission flush, replace valve cover gaskets (still leaks oil, but not as bad as before), & fan belt. Also, #4 fuel injector locked up. About $4.5k spread over 19 months. Sole means of transportation, so don't mind spending the money for reliability. Was going to replace prior to the above maintenance cycle, but COVID screwed up the market ( $4k markup over sticker including $400 for nitrogen in the tires), so bit the bullet. Now serious about replacing, but waiting for used and/or new car prices to fall a bit more. Have my eye on a particular SUV. Last I checked, had a $2.5k discount with great interest rate (better than my CU) for financing. Will keep on driving Escape as long as A/C works. 🚗🚗🚗
  • Rna65689660 For such a flat surface, why not get smoke tint, Rtint or Rvynil. Starts at $8. I used to use a company called Lamin-x, but I think they are gone. Has held up great.
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