They make good police cars, too

For some reason I have always liked the Ford Crown Victoria, one of the last full-size sedans made an American car manufacturer. I could see myself buying one if I needed a new car, which I don't. They're roomy.

At the gas station this evening I was admiring the Crown Victoria that belonged to a woman at the pump across from mine. We both were waiting for our gas to finish pumping, and I began asking her questions about the car. It's very roomy, she noted.

Something else she said made me laugh later. She was not quite elderly, but she certainly was a woman of a certain age, perhaps 65. When I asked what year her car was, she laughed and said -- this woman in her 60s said -- "It was my mother's. We don't let her drive anymore." I'd estimate the mother, then, to be in her 80s, which mean I share a predilection for this car with a woman in her 80s.

People in their 80s have refined taste. They've been around long enough to know what they like.