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This was the first car of the lady in the photograph. It cost $60.00 IN 1975. It was sold by an elderly gent who reckoned that it was unroadworthy and it could be felt by us that he thought that he had found a mug to unload it on. The work required to achieve roadworthiness was to generally clean up rhe brakes and the mechanic asked me to buy a block of chocolate which we ate and then he rolled the silver paper into a ball which he then lodged into a tai llight achieving an electrical cicuit and the car was now issued with a Roadworthy Certificate. We had the car for some years and apart from a change of tires and some general servicing the only repair was to replace a broken exhaust pipe supporting flange for which the mechanic charged me one dollar. The silver paper served on to the end. One night I received a call saying that it would not go and so I got out of bed and drove over to where it was sitting in the middle of a flower garden. I started the engine, that was OK but when I let out the clutch it wouldn't move an inch. The steering also had apparently been stripped as it spun from lock to lock effortlessly. I got out and looked underneath and saw that it had ben backed onto a large agapantha bush and that all 4 wheels were off the ground. It was pushed off the bush and was thus able to be driven home without a problem. The gardener had a few words to say however. There was something almost human about this car (named Daffy, by it's original owner, after Daffodil, it's color and we retained the name). It was a pleasureable thing to sit in the drivers seat, pull out the choke, turn the ignition key and hear the tick- tick - ticking of the petrol pump and then after all of that you pulled out the starter knob and it instantly sprang into life. It was with a sense of being as one with the car as you appropriately manipulated the choke until the car ran clearly and happily. The long gear stick moved effortlessly through the gears and the gentle burble of the exhaust was music to the driver's ears. It was our second car for years and was part of the family. We eventually lent it to a relative in need who complained that there was no heater and it was too slow. He then passed it on to family of no-hopers who finally wrecked it in a matter of weeks and so it was gone. It was a special car.

Which of these three cars costs $75K? Well, it's not the white Maserati on the left or the yellow Porsche on the right...it's the silver Honda ! (The other two cars cost much more!).

Owning a car in Singapore means that you must first buy a Certificate of Entitlement (COE), which is basically a license to buy a car. The COE is a program designed to limit car ownership and hence the number of vehicles on the country's roads. This system in effect requires residents of Singapore to bid for the right to buy a motor vehicle, with the number of certificates deliberately restricted.

The COE allows holders to own a car for a period of 10 years, after which they must scrap or export their car with financial incentives or bid for another COE at the prevailing rate if they wish to continue using the SAME car for a further 5 or 10 years.

The cost of a COE for the Honda (1601cc engine size and up) is about $35,000 USD. The cost of the car (with the Singapore 150% import tax) is about $40,000 USD. So, total cost to buy this low-end Honda is about $75,000 USD.

As for the Maserati or Porsche...don't worry, if you have to ask, you cannot afford it !

This is just a typical parking lot in Singapore. Lots of wealth here ...