Used car dealers have eclectic inventories by default, and buy-here-pay-here places almost invariably more so. But the finest, strangest example of their kind is to be found in Chichester, New Hampshire, which lines up the likes of a Chevy Lumina alongside a Lucid Air to lure customers in. And that’s just scratching the surface—like someone has been doing with many of the cars sold there.
This Oblivion Gate bears the branding of Auto Sense North, a chain of used car dealers with in-house financing. Buy-here-pay-here lots often take bigger risks financing customers than conventional dealers, which outsource the job to professional, more risk-averse financiers. Naturally, that draws in people with poor or no credit who often end up paying higher interest rates just to get a set of wheels under them. They’ll take what they can get, and what they get from this dealer’s Chichester location might as well be pulled from a hat.
You’ve got the standard used car dealer fare, with Honda Accords, Nissan Altimas galore, and then the kinds of cars you expect to come with 21-percent APR loans. Dodge Challengers, a used Land Rover, and cheap Jeeps out the wazoo (just like at actual Jeep dealers). Then you get into the desperation specials, like the visibly dented 1999 Chevy Lumina, a 2009 Kia Rondo, and a ratty 2002 Chrysler PT Cruiser that’s riding on an emergency spare. For you oddity spotters, there’s a 2011 Suzuki SX4, plus a random assortment of bikes and UTV-type vehicles. God knows what they’re doing here.
But the first real strange turn is taken down memory lane, through a collection of vintage Fords. It seems like the dealer scooped up a collector’s garage at an estate sale, because there’s a 1965 Ford Galaxie 500, a 1951 Ford Custom Deluxe coupe, and a 1955 Ford Crown Victoria coupe. Also, a 1975 VW Type 2, because the theme here is no theme. That’s also why the final tangent is in the expensive direction: supercars.
I’m not talking about the 2022 Lucid Air either, but the 2018 Bentley Continental W12 and 2019 Lamborghini Huracan Performante. $99 down, baby. It’s hard to say what any of these are doing parked next to a shambling $1,300 Chrysler—maybe they have some title trouble, flood damage, or an existing history of questionable financing behind them. In a place like this, it all somehow makes sense.
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