An Ohio man with a hatred of paper money slapped down $8,000 in coins at a car
dealership to buy a Chevrolet pick-up - then paid the rest by cheque.
James Jones, 70, produced 16 coffee cans full of coins to buy his new Chevrolet
Silverado in Cincinnati and staff spent 90 minutes counting it.
But his coin hoard only covered half of the $16,000 ( 8,500) price tag.
The man's son said the most amazing thing for him was his father deciding to
replace his 1981 pick-up at all.
As far back as he could remember, Dennis Jones told the Cincinnati Enquirer,
his father had always had coins.
He gave me lunch money in coins and each time he ever gave me money it was in
coins, he recalled.
Paper money will burn, but it is hard to damage coins
James Jones
I am amazed that we were able to talk him into buying a new truck, because he
is pretty tight with his money.
According to the paper, James Jones walked into the Jake Sweeney dealership,
plunked down his cans and said: I want that Chevy truck.
"In my 19 years in this business I have never seen anything like this, said
Biff Arnold, finance manager for Jake Sweeney.
I have seen many buyers come in with a lot of cash money, but never this much
money in coins.
Salesman David Crisswell said the coins included "dimes, quarters,
half-dollars, silver and Susan B Anthony dollars".
The new owner of the Chevy says he does not trust banks or paper money.
Paper money will burn, but it is hard to damage coins," the retired engineer
pointed out.
"I bought four or five rolls of coins each month. I don't know how long it took
me to save this amount, probably all my life.