Chapter 10: The Smart Car?

John was in the bank. It was Wednesday morning. It had been three days since the wedding, and he was still laughing as he remembered the scene. A large contingency dressed as Scottish Nobleman. Jenny looking like Marian from Robin Hood. John Nation dressed like what Hollywood portrayed as the head Indian chief should look like. It looked more like a costume party than a wedding. John was interrupted by a man coming into the bank. He had a bag and a note from the hardware store. This gold weighs in at 3.8 pounds at 89% purity. We determine a value equal to 40 gold coins and 14 silver. We recommend offering 36 gold one-ounce coins and 13 silver one-ounce coins.

The man did not speak. When John showed him the note that Herb at the hardware store had written, the man smiled and nodded. John called Patty over and asked her if she had seen a scale anywhere. Patty ran off and brought back a box, a digital scale, and many different sized boxes. The weight-matched Herb’s note. On a blank piece of paper, John wrote “36 gold coins” and “13 silver coins” and drew two lines. He signed it and put it in front of the man. The man signed it and John handed it to Patty, “Can you fulfill this transaction please?”

“Sure.” Patty moved towards the vault.

John looked to the man, “Did it rain where you live?” The man nodded his head. “Are you going to stay in town long?” The man shook his head.

Patty brought out the requisite coins, handed them to John and the two men counted them out to confirm the correct amount.

John shook hands, “Will you be coming back soon?”

“Next week,” James Able responded.

“Mr. Able, have you come in before?” John asked.

“Yes, last Wednesday,” Mr. Able shared.

“How did you get paid?” John was curious now.

“Like this!” He pointed to the gold and silver coins. James Able said “Thank you” and left.

John called up Herb at the hardware store, “Hi Herb, this...”

“Hi, John Taylor. I’ve been expecting this phone call for a while now.”

“How much and where do I look?” John asked.

“Probably enough to do you’re $450 million in projects twice over. Don’t know where he’s kept it.” Herb Fullerton replied, “We’ve had gold mining going on for 100 years and Anthony at the bank became Regional Manager when his boss got into some ice and drove into a tree twenty years ago. No one wanted to live in the area, so Anthony got the job by default.”

“What is your cut in all this?” John asked.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out anyway, so I might as well tell you. I buy some of the repossessed houses from the bank for little or nothing. I hang onto them for six months and then sell them for what I can get.” Herb took a deep breath, “Am I in trouble?”

“Not from me. Got any inventory?” John asked.

“Four houses, you can have them back for what I paid for them.” Herb volunteered.

“That’s a deal. Is that how Anthony made his “working capital” for his gold transactions?” John asked.

“Yeah,” Herb answered.

“Is there a way to make gold and silver coins in this area?” John asked.

“My uncle is a retired engineer. I’ll have him come see you.” Herb offered.

“Did Anthony ever have any coins made?” John asked. He looked up and saw Patty leading a man over to him. The man collapsed into a seat. John mouthed to Patty “Water!”

“Not that I am aware of. The coins Uncle Samuel has made are all dated 1989. For both the silver dollar and the gold eagle. If you see any of those, then you probably are looking at my uncle’s work.”

“The state’s centennial,” John said.

“Yeah. He was 56 and able to retire that year.” Herb shared.

“Thanks, Herb. I got somebody sitting in front of me. Thanks for your information.” John informed.

“You’re welcome, Mr. Taylor. Have a good afternoon.” Herb finished and hung up.

John looked up and offered a thank you to Gaia then he turned to the man, “How can I help you?”

“I’m Cecil Angstrom.” He held out his hand to John when the water showed up, “Thank you miss, you’re a lifesaver.” Cecil took a long drink then reached into his folder and brought out two brochures, one of a battery-operated Smart Car and another for a gas version of the same car. “I hear you guys deal with gold and silver.”

“Yeah, we do,” John answered.

“My rig has 40 brand-new Smart Cars. I’ll sell you all of ‘em for 80 one-ounce golden eagles,” Cecil offered.

“How many do you have?” John took a drink from his water.

Cecil looked at John for a second, “I have a thousand of each, less what I have with me today.”

“Two gold coins for each one?” John asked.

“Yeah, can I see the gold?” Cecil asked, “I would like to make sure I’m not wasting our time.”

“Come with me.” John led Cecil into the vault. Pushed the door button and then lead him into the back room.

“How much do you have?” Cecil asked.

“20 tons.” John answered, “We got 50 tons of silver, too.”

Cecil took a deep breath and said, “Let me call up my plant. They need to get busy, and I’ll also call up my east coast supplier.”

“I’ve got some calls to make too.” John grabbed his phone. One by one, he called his friends and family to let them know about this new opportunity.

“Johnny, hi, how do you like your Smart Car? Do you love it? Can you come to the bank? I’m buying a few thousand of ‘em.”

“On the way, Dad,” Johnny said.

“Margaret, do you like Smart Cars?” John asked.

“Hi John, we were just talking about you, my hubby is here. He says you have a truckload of little cars at your bank.” Margaret laughed.

“Smart Cars.” John shared, “They get really good mileage.”

“Save me one, we are on the way.” Margaret’s smile came through the phone.

“Sheri, how are you guys doing?” John asked his sister, “You don’t know what to do? Do you want to manage a car dealership? I have 40 smart cars and almost 2,000 more coming our way. There is also a place to live on the property. Come to the bank. See you soon.”

“John, there is a Chester Turner who roomed with me at WSU. He’s a good guy, but he’s bored to death working as a mechanic for his dad. I would recommend you have him involved somehow.” Just then Cecil got a call, “Yeah, Percy?” Cecil mouthed, “This is my supplier.”

Cecil listened to what had happened to the east coast, “Lose any cars?” Cecil listened and smiled, “Got any to sell me? I’m out of inventory. We’ll need four thousand, half electric and half gas. What are you willing to take for money? One and a half ounces?” He looked to John for confirmation. At John’s nod, he said “I think we can make that work. I’ll call you back.”

“Cecil, do you have Chester’s phone number?” John asked, “I think I’ve heard his name before.”

“Yes!” Cecil reached for his phone again.

“Can you call him, get him here?” John asked as Cecil nodded and put the phone to his ear.

John saw Margaret and John Nation show up. They were looking at all the different colors on the car carrier. John saw his son Johnny and Teresa show up and start talking to the Nations. Samuel and Sheri walked into the bank parking lot, followed closely by a man he did not recognize. The man put his phone away at the same time as Cecil.

“Chester’s here,” Cecil said.

“Let’s move to the table.” John pulled a ninth chair to the table.

Everyone came in and took a seat. Patty brought water for everyone. John also had her bring in 80 gold coins. After everyone was seated, John asked, “I heard today this area has had a gold mining operation for close to a hundred years. Anybody know anything about it?”

“I’ve heard some rumors. I’ve been given gold coins as donations that I’ve held onto. Something seemed different about them.” John Nation shared.

John laid the heavy plastic box full of gold he had exchanged today on the table, “This has over three pounds of 89% pure gold. A man came in today and from the few words he spoke, I gathered he has been coming in here every week for a long time.”

“Who is he?” Margaret asked.

“He signed his name James Able.” John shared.

“The only James Able that I know of died a while back.” John Nation shared.

John only had blank faces to read, so he went back to why they were here, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Cecil Angstrom. He has an assembly plant ... actually, did you say where you’re based out of?” John looked at Cecil.

“Coeur D’Alene, Idaho.” Cecil filled in.

Gesturing to the other newcomer at the table, John said, “This young man is Chester Turner, an associate of Cecil’s.”

“Chester is my cousin’s, son. How is your dad treating you, Chester?” John Nation asked.

“He says I work too fast.” Chester laughed. Everyone laughed with him.

“Mr. Angstrom is willing to sell us Smart Cars at one and a half ounces of gold each.” John looked around the table, “We could sell them at $1,100 each,” John suggested.

“By way of introduction, I wondered if I might offer a couple of suggestions. You folks seem like you’re new to the car selling business.” As the table collectively nodded, Chester said, “Electric vehicles need to have charging stations. I suggest two things, sell the electric cars at $1,250 and the gas-operated at $1,200. The additional fifty bucks per battery-powered vehicle will go towards paying for the charging stations.

At this, Cecil broke in, “To run a viable dealership, you need at least 20% for overhead, and sales commissions just to break even.” Cecil suggested. “That won’t give you much of a profit.”

“The bank makes our profit on a car loan with a 4% interest.” John smiled, “This looks like a win all around. The community wins by not needing as much gas, the people win by being able to stay mobile, and we have another industry and more jobs.” John smiled.

“Cecil, do you have a dealer’s package?” Samuel asked.

“What’s a dealer’s package?” Johnny asked.

“A dealer’s package has parts to be able to fix your cars. Ours consist of four of each type of car, thousands of air filters, gas filters, spark plugs, et cetera. I would suggest a dealer package for every two thousand cars in the area. They are going to run about 15 gold coins each.” Cecil shared, “I have several.”

“They come in mighty handy when the maintenance department tries to fix a car.” Chester shared, “Parts for things are getting really hard to find.”

John moved the 80 coins to Cecil across the table, “Let’s do this. Unload them here for now. We will get the other site prepared for selling cars.”

“Dad, I think I know more about the features of the Smart Car than anybody else in town. It will be a low pitch sale, but I can do this.” Johnny shared.

Cecil turned to Chester, “Want to give me a hand?” Then he turned to Johnny, “Are you also interested in helping?”

Both Chester and Johnny got up.

“Me too, I can answer phones, process payments and write up loans, I’ve done all that.” Teresa shared, “It was for the furniture industry, but it can’t be that much different.”

“Teresa, I can show you the ropes,” Sheri said.

So, it went around the table. Margaret wanted the pink one.

“Take it home Margaret.” John suggested, “Maybe we can put a sign on the back of it that says, ‘Cars for Sale.’” We’ll never get advertising like that from anyone else!

John Nation just looked at John Taylor, “Well if we don’t do something, I believe we’ll be riding horses again.” John Taylor smiled.

“I haven’t ridden a horse in a long time.” John Nation shared.