Q: I’m interested in a car I saw for sale online. It’s a 2009 Pontiac Solstice with only 641 miles. It is supposedly in perfect new condition and has been in storage. That’s what concerns me. Could anything be damaged from not having been driven? They want $19,000 for it.

— Alice Hart

A: Hmmm. These are fun little cars, quite the head turner, and are no longer made. Pontiac built about 60,000 of them for U.S. and Canada drivers during its six year run. The like-new condition and low miles is intriguing, but comes at what seems to be a many thousand-dollar premium! Is there reliable information available regarding the car’s history? I’d keep my guard up on this unless all the facts make good sense. Check CARFAX?

I’d have some concerns also of the effects of stale fuel and possibly rusty brake parts. If the car runs and stops well, and passes an emissions test, I’d be satisfied. Another slightly unsettling thought is the car has not yet traveled far enough to really prove out all of its mechanisms, yet is already out of warranty, based on time. Do your homework and compare it to other Solstices with typical miles and lower prices. This could be a somewhat collectible car down the road because of the low production numbers.

Response to previous question

Wow! In all the years I’ve been doing this, I can’t recall ever receiving the amount of feedback that resulted from the Model A Ford jumpstarting question. Model A owners are resourceful and helpful folks. Suggestions so far have ranged from finding the hand crank and employing a strong kid to use it, putting two strong kids to work push-starting the car, and a huge host of clever techniques to drop voltage from the 12V donor vehicle or battery. I’m working on compiling the ideas and will forward the collection to Jerry, and others who request it — very interesting reading! Thank you all for helping with this.

One gentleman, Walt Baker, told me a fascinating story of his 6V jumpstarting experiences while stationed in the Air Force during the frigid winters in northern Michigan. I think the modern Optima 6V battery would be easier to employ as a jumper than his clever means of dropping voltage and later recharging his 12V battery, but it sort of takes the fun out of it. I thought his words below regarding -32 degree cold starts would be fun to share:

Across the street from where I lived off base, a company that cut wood for pulp during the winter started their large trucks by using a bag of charcoal dumped into a large stainless steel tray, using a little gasoline to get it burning. When the charcoal was ready, they pushed the tray under each truck’s engine area until the motor would turn over and then moved the tray to the next truck down the line. Even the local fire department had to tow their truck down the street one winter to get it started and they had a garage to keep the fire truck in. We endured some really cold winters in the UP of Michigan while I was stationed there!”