The local Model A club celebrated a milestone, a West Ashley woman won a Mini and more Charlestonians these days are transferring out of car leases.
Those are just a few of the tidbits from the local car scene lately.
‘A’-OK
To many people these days, the Model A Ford is a collector’s item, a curiosity, an enthusiast’s pet restoration project.
But there are older motorists who remember when the A model, built in the late 1920s and early 1930s, was a popular mode of transportation.
The Low Country Model A Ford club's 20th anniversary celebration included this large cake.
That feature was made clear at the 20th anniversary of Low Country Model As, marked by a March 11 dinner at the North Towne Greek restaurant off Rivers Avenue.
“We had 58 members and guests at this dinner and some of the original members from the charter membership 20 years ago,” said David Kennedy, vice president of the Charleston area Model A chapter.
Notably, charter member Raymond Allen told the club about his first Model A, Kennedy said. Rather than a car to fix up and display in shows, Allen drove the car as a young man. In the 1940s, he traveled to Charleston in the Model A to attend The Citadel.
The local club meets every second Thursday at Mel’s Filling Station near the corner of Dorchester Road and Montague Avenue next to Melcer Tile.
The gathering starts at 7 p.m., and every one with an interest in Model A Fords is invited to attend, Kennedy said.
Un-leased
It may be a company’s rising exposure in the area or an overall trend.
Whatever the case, LeaseTrader.com has spotted a surge among drivers in the Charleston area employing its services to get into a less expensive lease.
The Florida-based company helps people trade their Car Lease to someone else when they want out of the contract.
“We’ve seen an increase in the number of Charleston people using our trade program to escape a lease they can no longer afford and downsize into something less expensive,” said Evan Sneider, the company’s public relations manager.
He said the sluggish national economy has pushed people to lower their bills, including transferring out of car leases.
LeaseTrader.com offers a vehicle lease transfer program, which it says allows people to avoid “expensive” contract termination fees by transferring the remaining portion of their lease to a credit-qualified individual.
“The program works a lot like an adoption service. When someone can no longer keep their car we match them up with another person who’s willing to ‘adopt’ the remaining portion of the lease,” Sneider said.
“We always track markets of growth,” John Sternal, company vice president of marketing, told The Post and Courier. “Charleston, we are keeping an eye on. It is growing faster than the typical pace around the country.”
Still, Sternal said the increase in lease transfers might have more to do with LeaseTrader.com grabbing exposure in markets outside of major metro areas such as New York than with any economic change in South Carolina.
Jimmy Grill (center) of Mini of Charleston hands the keys of a new Mini convertible to Elisheva Holub (left). Looking on is Jeffrey Cohen of Synagogue Emanu-El west of the Ashley.
When Elisheva Holub found out she had won a new Mini Cooper, she knew which one she wanted. Not the basic model, but a sporty new convertible from Mini of Charleston.
“Why not?” said Holub, who lives west of the Ashley. She won the car earlier this month as part of a giveaway at Synagogue Emanu-El. Jeffrey Cohen, a congregation member, helped coordinate the event with the Mini dealership.
“I test drove this one,” Holub said, pointing to the red new-model convertible she chose to keep. The drive, she said, was “wonderful. This is very exciting.”
This story posted by LeaseTrader.com, the automotive service company that lets people transfer out of their Car Leases early. If you're looking to swap a lease or transfer out of your car lease, please visit www.leasetrader.com