Part Two

The test drive was thrilling, the difference between the Oldsmobile rental and the Mustang were night and day and we drove down onto the highway, zoomed through a couple of exits then looped back to the dealership.

It had that "new car smell" and was warm, very warm, the heater worked extremely well on that cold January night and that was an important factor as the Cutlass had to be idled for five minutes to get any sort of heat through the vents.

In addition, it felt so...American.

I was sold on the car when we drove back onto the lot and parked up, the sales guy put his hand on my shoulder and said all fatherly, "lets see what we can do" and we followed him into the office.

The numbers were plugged in to the terminal, and there was intense concentration going on, this time, things took longer, the suspense was building somewhat when he smiled and showed me the screen. The number, with a $500 deposit was $297 a month and I shook my head, saying that was far bigger than the $250 I wanted to pay.

The number crunching continued, he asked what I could comfortably pay and then fiddled for a few more minutes on the screen, in a flourish he showed me the latest revision, same deposit and $272 a month, a few dollars above my updated amount.

The deal was done, all that was left was approval from Ford Credit and we would be running under our own steam in Canada, and you know, that nice man had even put me on his Christmas Card list.