I don’t know if this is still true, but when I worked in baseball a player’s contract for the upcoming season (if he wasn’t already under contract) had to be tendered to him by December 20, which is today in case you’ve lost track.

The first year I worked for the Orioles the General Manager’s secretary sent the contracts via regular mail, not registered mail or by any other way to confirm receipt. When the GM found out he really lost it. “We could lose a player just because you were too lazy to send the contracts by registered mail! How could we prove he received it by December 20?” I don’t think the secretary, who had been at the job a long time, was around by the next December 20. Apparently, she had always sent the contracts via regular mail, but the previous GM had never made an issue of it.

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Sorry, 56packardman, but Hagerty listed the 1953-56 Packard Caribbean as one of the collector cars whose value declined the most in 2018. Regular readers of Disaffected Musings know that I am also a big fan of the car, so much so that the sight of one at a local auto show in September moved me to tears.

From the Hagerty article and, apparently, Mecum is this photo of a 1956 Packard Caribbean. The article states that restoration costs are very high and that parts and trim are difficult to find. Hagerty also predicts that the value of the Caribbean and other cars like it will continue to decline in 2019. Despite the “market value” of the car I still think it’s highly desirable. Many of those in the collector car business advise people to simply buy what they like because it’s impossible to predict the market 5, 10, or 20 years out. At least one should enjoy a car while they own it.

 

The non-supercar whose value increased the most in 2018? The first generation (NA, 1990-1998) Mazda MX-5 Miata, which according to Hagerty increased in value by 48%. Do you want to see a picture? OK, from the same article:

Is this car not “Throwback” enough for today? How about this Mazda?

From silodrome.com a picture of a Mazda Cosmo 110S. This was the first generation of the car (1967-1972) and the 110S designation means that this particular vehicle was intended to be exported from Japan for sale. I think this iteration of the Cosmo bears more than a passing resemblance to the first-generation Ford Thunderbird.

 

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

 

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Welcome to the first Disaffected Musings reader from Finland! The high school brainiac I mentioned in this post was of Finnish descent. Not surprisingly, he was fluent in Finnish.