What’s your dodge?

Maybe I should ask, “What’d you pay for that Dodge?”

In an old, 1930s way, a person’s avocation, job or trade was sometimes known as his or her “dodge.” I’ve long been a fan of old 1930s expressions – like the immortal “Write, if you get work.” Apparently that’s what Dust Bowl types told their siblings, sons and daughters as they walked off the famished farm, headed to California in a desperate search for the green – which in those days referred not so much to recycling as to moolah, cash, cabbage, lettuce, loot, simoleons, the legal tender, clams, bread, the do-re-mi.

Well, maybe 1930s expressions are on their way back in. Some 1930s prices seem to be. Like this deal: buy one new Dodge car, get another new Dodge FREE. It’s being offered by at least one car dealership in Miami, according this report in the New York Daily News.

The News quotes an analyst at Edmunds.com, a reputable automotive review service. He says a 2-for-1 new car deal is being advertised by dealers in Ohio, Texas, and Florida.

Leaving aside the fact that right now, you could probably buy two big city newspaper companies for the price of one, let’s look this thing square in the face.

I asked around to see if anyone was interested in joining me in a share in this Detroit Deal of the Decade – and just cast your peepers on this response:

“But I think I’m better off with my ’94 Toyota than a new Dodge.”

Friends, let that sink in.

That is the most remarkable and sad sentence I have yet read about the economic specter stalking industry after industry in the United States.

Someone driving a 1994 Toyota likely has 200,000 miles of wear and tear on the thing. Comfortable in a well-worn-in sense, absolutely – but, but, but – I’m speechless (an atypical condition for me).

For home textiles suppliers, don’t be surprised if retailers give you the brush-off when you offer them a two-for-one deal.

Twenty-three skidoo. “See you in the funny papers.”