Well, maybe not Germans, but German automobiles. On my way back to the office from lunch at Culvers (I love their concrete frozen custard malts) I stopped at a stop light. Instead of noticing a Japanese car trying to be German I noticed a fine German vehicle in front of me. Nothing like the Maybach Steve, Linzy, and I saw at the theater, but a respectable Mercedes Benz S55 AMG, I’m thinking about a 2002 model year. “Wow”, I thought, “Those are quite nice, and likely expensive.” Though not as expensive as a brand new one. Indeed, while $55K-$60K isn’t necessarily the most exhorbitant car price around, it’s on the upper end of the scale. When the light turned green I glanced up in my rearview mirror and what should I notice? But a shiny Porsche! The Germans had me surrounded. (I didn’t look to my right to see if there was a VW or Audi over there) Once we got on the free way I was able to discern that the Porsche in my sights was a 2003 911 Turbo, still worth a hefty $95-$100K. To be sure, that’s less than the $130K you’d pay for a brand new one, but still a lot. My little black Honda was feeling very inadequate for a little bit. But I cranked the stereo and peeled around a corner when I got closer to work to make it feel better.