Driving A Hard Bargain

You see what Neiman Marcus is pushing as a Father's Day gift?

Feel the need for speed? This truly remarkable NASCAR Winston Cup Ford Taurus is the real deal. It's not a show car.... It is an actual race car built by Roush Racing and it's been driven by Mark Martin in Winston Cup competition.
—$125,000.00

O.K., what's Needless Markup trying to pull here?

Hey, I know used cars. My brother is in the used-car game. I've owned more used cars than Crazy Freddie. I've bought toothless Barracudas and gutless Probes and aimless Pathfinders. Never once did I pay asking price. One hundred twenty-five grand? For a used car?

"That's about right," says Jimmy Fennig, crew chief for Martin.

"Let's just see about that," I said, reaching for the old blue book and slapping it into the palm of my hand a couple times for effect.

"What year?"

"Ninety-eight," Fennig said.

"Mileage?"

"It's only got two races in it," he said. "About 2,000."