An old Craigslist ad I posted late in 2011

[MikeCh]

.....I thought it was kind of funny....


You've seen this car around the valley and you know you want it - $1750 (Avon)


Listed here is my beloved 1991 Volkswagen Jetta GL for $1750 obo. This baby is fully NOT loaded (well, it has a nice stereo that's explained below). It has manual everything...windows, locks, transmission, seat belts, headlights, etc. It even comes WITHOUT air conditioning and several dings/chips/scratches in the paint and part of the ceiling headliner is falling down. Nice. The rear bumper shows signs of when somebody gave it a love-tap some years back. The interior is in surprisingly good shape as far as the fabric on the seats, carpets and vinyl dash are concerned. All of these things. . .good and bad. . .simply add character to this vintage valley car.

Lovingly cared for it's entire life (I'm the one and only owner) and serviced on a regular basis, this 1991 Jetta has 221,920 mostly-highway driven miles on it and is capable of many more as long as it continues to receive the care it deserves.

This would be a perfect first car for somebody just starting out and especially if Mom or Dad wants to teach their kid that not everything needs to be glamorous and/or gold plated to have fun while driving down the road. Similarly, if a reliable daily driver is needed, this car can fit that bill too.

Included is a set of Nokian HakkaQ tires that should be just fine for the full winter season. With the Nokian tires this car is a goat on the winter roads. As long as you're not pushing snow deep enough to come over the front bumper, the Jetta is a joy to drive in the winter.

Also included in the asking price is an audiophile grade stereo system. The system speakers consist of (2) twelve inch Kicker Comp sealed woofers in a custom enclosure; (8) 5 1/4" Kicker mid-woofers; (4) 1" Vifa tweeters; center channel containing a single 1" tweeter and 3" midrange. Old School amps include Rockford Fosgate 200ix DSM bridged mono (500w) into the 12" woofers; Rockford Fosgate Power 300 Mosfet running the mid-woofers and tweeters (around 75w per channel I think); Monolithic preamp (this is an exceptionally RARE piece and is likely worth several hundred dollars on it's own). A Sony 10 disc CD Changer with tethered remote controller rounds out the system source and everything runs thru an adjustable electronic crossover that I've forgotten brand/model as it's buried in the installation. Oh, and the car has an original Phoenix Gold high output alternator (135 amp I believe) and one year old Optima red top gel cell battery.

This system is NOT a one-note bass, hip hop/rap system....in other words, it sounds good.

If you don't want the stereo, I will remove it prior to sale and you can deduct $500 off the price of the car.

If you're interested or have any questions about the car, email me and include your telephone number and I'll return the call promptly.

 

[Mike]

Mike - that reminds me of a hilarious ad in the local newspaper back in 2006 or 2007. It was during the peek of the housing boom. Everyone down here was hawking every kind of "home".

This particular ad had a picture of a camper - you know the one you put on the back of a pickup truck. The guy wanted some crazy amount, and his big pitch was that it came "furnished". The picture showed two of those really old lawn chairs and an air mattress.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BayStBroker]

Did the guy or gal who bought the VW appreciate the audio system? If I were 25 that sort of stereo on wheels would have been very appealing.

 

[MikeCh]

Yes, a young-ish couple that came out to look at it really liked the stereo system and the car. The stereo had a few glitches stemming from the CD player tethered-remote control which also had a few display features that stopped working. I think after 20 some years, it was finally wearing out the wire. I placed a strip of Velcro along the top of the remote body and a mating piece of Velcro in the dash storage area ahead of the gear shift. Each time I pulled into a parking lot I'd move the remote to a little cubby hole out of sight, then when getting in the car, place it back on the mating Velcro. 20 years of that wore on the cable connection due to bending cycles.

The couple that test drove it really wanted it for Her as she just moved up from Denver to live with him near Steamboat Springs. They were recently engaged. They were short on funds to just pay in full and take the car. He offered to pay me some that day and then make payments over the next 6 months as they really wanted the stereo as part of the package. Being that it was mid December that year, I said to him, "how much cash do you have with you right now?".....he said, "$1000". I said, "Merry Christmas, it's yours".

I often wonder if that car is still on the road or if not, how long did she last in another owners hands....