One wrecker's take on XR6 values

[Citroënbender]

Out of necessity, I had to cross paths today with a breaker. By preference I tend towards the "backyarders" as there's always the potential for an interesting find or snippet.

So there I was, in a small fenced yard of outer north-western Sydney, surrounded by AU-BF corpses. It was pretty clear the operator was a "buy low" character, so I asked him what a manual XR6 ute would fetch. Not that I was thinking of selling, but curious what he thought someone would pay up to.

Was $600 the going price, I suggested? To the contrary, he averred that a manual XR6 ute with rego, wearing original but aged body/paint and with rust, would still command up to $2500. "Keep it. They're only going to go up."

Murphy's Law. What I've really loved about this ute was how it wasn't particularly special - OK, it looks reasonable, goes alright, has a bit of a rap in the exhaust. But so do thousands of other cars on the road. I've felt wonderfully anonymous, and even cringe when I chirp the tyres.

Like the kid with the dog: "He followed me home, can I keep him?" - somehow I've ended up cussedly bonded to Foster Ute. The car with more perforations than a pepper shaker, the car which stranded me on a weekend, new moon at midnight in the middle of nowhere on the Hume when it threw a water pump pulley. A tray too short to sleep in. And so useful it doesn't even have a bloody towbar.