For Sale, Slightly Used

As the DuckMobile is pushing 15 years of age, I've been looking for a replacement.  This involves a lot of head-shaking on my part as I can't really afford anything these days, but occasionally there's a "For Sale" ad that's hard to ignore... to whit:

MUST GO, ALL OFFERS CONSIDERED!  30 years old, needs work but in decent shape.  Good mileage.  In stock.

It's British, too.  Well, can't hurt to look...



Oh.  Just a bit larger than I was expecting.

That's right, the Royal Navy is flat-out selling one of their "through-deck cruisers."  The ski-jump "harrier carrier" HMS Invincible (R05) saw action in the Falklands against the Argentinians and was involved in the Balkans, Yugoslavia and Iraq.  But Top Gearheads remember her for another reason.

She was decommissioned in 2005 and was on 18-month reactivation notice.  However, her machinery was stripped for parts for her sister ships, the Ark Royal and Illustrious, making that 18-month goal pretty much unobtainable.  Her engines and generators have since been removed, as has all armaments and electronics.  In theory she could be re-engined and turned back into a ship, but according to the RN she is likely to be sold for scrap.

Where?  Why, eDisposals.com, an eBay-like website.  So far no bids have been received, and all offers have to be in by January 5th... but she's listed there as being "in stock."

I don't have a garage big enough to park it in.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 10:04 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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