I was stationed in Germany in the mid-1980s.
There was down in the Heidelberg/Mannheim area....this Army Warrant Officer who'd gone and bought a 10-year old Jaguar. No one ever spoke of the condition of the car....just that it was a 'beauty' and worth in the $6k range for what he bought.
A week or two into this ownership....problem #1 comes up...with the car going to a shop and around $200 spent.
A month passes, and another maintenance issue pops up....some amount of $500 was spent.
Another month passes, with another issue....in the range of $500 to $600 spent.
At the one-year point, the guy has spent upwards to $9,000 (1984 dollars) on maintenance.
One day....between Frankfurt and Mannheim.....the car stalls on the side of the road. The guy was in a fit of anger.....just imagining another $100 for the tow, and probably $1k for the garage.
He opens up the gas-cap....there on the autobahn, he puts a rag into the tank opening, and lights it up.
Yep, the car is set ablaze. Traffic was backed up for miles.
German fire department comes (with the police). Basically nothing they can do....other than detaining the Army guy and clearing the junker away.
No one ever said if there was a mental eval on the guy, or if charges came up. Several folks commented that the fire department folks probably handed the bill to the Army, and they probably deducted something from the guy's pay-check.
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