Super Cars and My Pipe

 I have an Aston Martin Formula One racing ball cap one of my son's gave to me as a birthday gift.  I wore that hat Sunday as the Miami Grand Prix was held that afternoon.  I sat down with my pipe beside the pool at my son's house and checked the results of the race.  Aston Martin came in third, out of twenty cars.  Red Bull was first, followed by a Ferrari.  As many of you know by now, I watch a lot of videos related to cars and I know that unless one has money to burn, it is not really a good idea to buy an exotic sports car due to the cost to maintain one.

Aston Martin is among the worst of the offenders.  But years ago, as a birthday gift, my wife bought me a ticket to drive an Aston Marin Vantage around a mile and a half track for five laps at the Las Vegas Exotics Racing track, which is located on the interior of the Las Vegas Speedway.  I first fell in love with Aston Martin cars in 1965 when Goldfinger was released, staring Sean Conneey as agent 007, otherwise known as James Bond.  But through the years, I had always believed that Aston Martin made the most beautiful cars.

Ford owned part of Aston Martin for a while, and then Mercedes.  Now a Canadian businessman invested $650 million of his own money into the company to keep the company afloat.  I visited their website a number of times building my own Aston Martin car.  But over the years I began to realize just how expensive Aaton Martin cars are to own.  They cost more to own than a Ferrari.  I have matured over the years realizing the cost of owning an Aston Martin.  

I debated with myself as to whether I would smoke a cigar or my pipes in a brand new Aston Martin.  I found that a brand new Aston could be ordered with a silver ashtray for cigars that slipped into the cup holder for an additional $400, which seemed like chump change at the time.  But really, even today I have only smoked a pipe in our Avalon a couple of times with the roof open and the windows down making sure I was careful not to get ashes on the seats.  

If I owned an Aston today, there is no way I would smoke anything in it.  Further, I found out that driving such a car with depreciation and insurance is about $50 a mile.  And what could such a car do for me that a 20 year old Corolla can't do?  I became much more practical in my old age.  I am not very impressed with the DB11, stull believing that the DB9 is the most beautiful car ever made.  I'll root for Aston Martin in F1 races, but the fact is I wouldn't ever own an Aston no matter how much money I had.  

I'm happy to see Aston involved with F1 racing and I hope for the best for the manufacturer.  I'll always think fondly of Aston Martin and want  the company to survive.  I'll smoke my pipes and watch the races when I can.  But my favorite hat is my Aston Martin hat.  There will always be a place for Aston Martin in my heart, but not in my wallet.  I thank you for your time and Peace to each one of you.

Dave