thedrifter
02-22-07, 08:24 AM
Marine's Cadillac prize just isn't his style
By JEFF JARDINE
BEE LOCAL COLUMNIST
Last Updated: February 22, 2007, 03:47:00 AM PST
If nothing else, the price was right.
Now, Chad Van Rys says, "Let's Make A Deal."
He wants to sell his brand new, barely driven, 2007 Cadillac before he leaves for Tennessee next week.
The 22-year-old from Modesto, who will officially muster out of the Marine Corps tomorrow, won the Caddy on "The Price Is Right" game show in January.
With all due respect to folks at General Motors, Van Rys isn't your luxury car kind of guy. Never mind Cadillac's most recent slogan: "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit."
He did three tours of duty in Iraq as a firefighter, extinguishing blazes in helicopters, planes and on vehicles damaged by roadside bombs, and saving lives.
Now, if he'd won a Chevy or GMC pickup instead, "I'd keep it," he said.
The platinum-colored Cadillac is loaded with extras.
"The seats move, like, about 12 different ways," said Van Rys, who plans to spend the next year and a half in Nashville training to become a diesel mechanic while taking advantage of the GI Bill. "It has all the Caddy trimmings — satellite radio, fully everything. A Northstar V-8 (engine). It's beautiful."
Van Rys and his wife, Rachel, decided it doesn't fit into their plans. She, too, prefers pickups.
"I don't like cars," she said.
So they've put the Caddy on the market, just waiting for a buyer who will pony up their $37,000 asking price, more than $5,000 below the manufacturer's suggested retail price.
Van Rys, who attended Turlock Christian and Hughson high schools, returned in September from his third go-round in Iraq. Stationed at the Marine Corps' Air Ground Combat Training Center near Twentynine Palms, he and eight Marine buddies went to a taping of TV's longest-running game show in Los Angeles on Jan. 4.
"We were having a good time, being loud and obnoxious," Van Rys said. "We figured maybe we'd get to see ourselves on TV."
Audience members meet with the producer before entering the studio. One of his Marine pals mentioned Van Rys was getting out of the Marines in a couple of months.
"When we got into the studio, the guys were saying, 'You know what, Van Rys? They're going to call you up there and give you a Cadillac,'" he said. "I said, 'Why would they do that?' And they said, 'Cause you're gettin' out of the Marines, and they're going to give you a Cadillac.'"
A Cadillac? He and Rachel need a washer, dryer and kitchen appliances more than a Caddy, he told them.
The taping began and Rich Fields, the show's announcer, called the first four contestants. Van Rys wasn't among them. When the first game ended, Van Rys told fellow Marine Anthony Thomas, "See? They're not going to give me a Caddy. And wouldn't you know it, right then they called my name."
"Chad Van Rys, come on down."
Come on down he did and joined three other contestants whose challenge was to guess the price of a game table that could be used for poker, bumper pool or as a regular table.
Van Rys won with a guess of $580. The suggested retail price was $600. He moved on to the next round to play for the Cadillac. Show host Bob Barker asked him about his duties as a Marine.
"I'd love nothing more than to give a Cadillac to a Marine firefighter," Barker said.
Van Rys had to pick numbers from a bag, then arrange them in the order that matched the price of the car.
He drew a four, a nine, a six, a seven and a two. He put them in the correct order of the manufacturer's suggested retail price of $42,976 to win the Cadillac.
At home in Waterford, Rachel was nonplussed when he called to say he'd won.
"I said, 'Uh, OK,'" she said. "I'm not the kind of person who gets excited. I don't scream or yell."
Van Rys had to pay sales tax on the car — $3,580.29 — to register it in his name with the Department of Motor Vehicles. It arrived at his in-laws' Waterford home at the end of January. And he'll have to pay income tax based on the car's value at the time he won it, not on the amount he gets when he sells it.
Sorry, but three tours of duty in Iraq won't buy you a tax break. The government doesn't work that way.
"No one deserves special treatment like that," he said.
No matter, Van Rys said. It's still a windfall. He and Rachel will stow away whatever's left for a down payment on a home someday.
Meanwhile, the show aired Feb. 12, and he got to see himself on tape as hoped, the short-timer Marine who won the Cadillac.
And tomorrow, he becomes a contestant in that reality show known as civilian life.
His first challenge? Sell a car.
To comment, click on the link with this column at www.modbee.com. Jeff Jardine's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays in Local News. He can be reached at jjardine@modbee.com or 578-2383.
Ellie
By JEFF JARDINE
BEE LOCAL COLUMNIST
Last Updated: February 22, 2007, 03:47:00 AM PST
If nothing else, the price was right.
Now, Chad Van Rys says, "Let's Make A Deal."
He wants to sell his brand new, barely driven, 2007 Cadillac before he leaves for Tennessee next week.
The 22-year-old from Modesto, who will officially muster out of the Marine Corps tomorrow, won the Caddy on "The Price Is Right" game show in January.
With all due respect to folks at General Motors, Van Rys isn't your luxury car kind of guy. Never mind Cadillac's most recent slogan: "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit."
He did three tours of duty in Iraq as a firefighter, extinguishing blazes in helicopters, planes and on vehicles damaged by roadside bombs, and saving lives.
Now, if he'd won a Chevy or GMC pickup instead, "I'd keep it," he said.
The platinum-colored Cadillac is loaded with extras.
"The seats move, like, about 12 different ways," said Van Rys, who plans to spend the next year and a half in Nashville training to become a diesel mechanic while taking advantage of the GI Bill. "It has all the Caddy trimmings — satellite radio, fully everything. A Northstar V-8 (engine). It's beautiful."
Van Rys and his wife, Rachel, decided it doesn't fit into their plans. She, too, prefers pickups.
"I don't like cars," she said.
So they've put the Caddy on the market, just waiting for a buyer who will pony up their $37,000 asking price, more than $5,000 below the manufacturer's suggested retail price.
Van Rys, who attended Turlock Christian and Hughson high schools, returned in September from his third go-round in Iraq. Stationed at the Marine Corps' Air Ground Combat Training Center near Twentynine Palms, he and eight Marine buddies went to a taping of TV's longest-running game show in Los Angeles on Jan. 4.
"We were having a good time, being loud and obnoxious," Van Rys said. "We figured maybe we'd get to see ourselves on TV."
Audience members meet with the producer before entering the studio. One of his Marine pals mentioned Van Rys was getting out of the Marines in a couple of months.
"When we got into the studio, the guys were saying, 'You know what, Van Rys? They're going to call you up there and give you a Cadillac,'" he said. "I said, 'Why would they do that?' And they said, 'Cause you're gettin' out of the Marines, and they're going to give you a Cadillac.'"
A Cadillac? He and Rachel need a washer, dryer and kitchen appliances more than a Caddy, he told them.
The taping began and Rich Fields, the show's announcer, called the first four contestants. Van Rys wasn't among them. When the first game ended, Van Rys told fellow Marine Anthony Thomas, "See? They're not going to give me a Caddy. And wouldn't you know it, right then they called my name."
"Chad Van Rys, come on down."
Come on down he did and joined three other contestants whose challenge was to guess the price of a game table that could be used for poker, bumper pool or as a regular table.
Van Rys won with a guess of $580. The suggested retail price was $600. He moved on to the next round to play for the Cadillac. Show host Bob Barker asked him about his duties as a Marine.
"I'd love nothing more than to give a Cadillac to a Marine firefighter," Barker said.
Van Rys had to pick numbers from a bag, then arrange them in the order that matched the price of the car.
He drew a four, a nine, a six, a seven and a two. He put them in the correct order of the manufacturer's suggested retail price of $42,976 to win the Cadillac.
At home in Waterford, Rachel was nonplussed when he called to say he'd won.
"I said, 'Uh, OK,'" she said. "I'm not the kind of person who gets excited. I don't scream or yell."
Van Rys had to pay sales tax on the car — $3,580.29 — to register it in his name with the Department of Motor Vehicles. It arrived at his in-laws' Waterford home at the end of January. And he'll have to pay income tax based on the car's value at the time he won it, not on the amount he gets when he sells it.
Sorry, but three tours of duty in Iraq won't buy you a tax break. The government doesn't work that way.
"No one deserves special treatment like that," he said.
No matter, Van Rys said. It's still a windfall. He and Rachel will stow away whatever's left for a down payment on a home someday.
Meanwhile, the show aired Feb. 12, and he got to see himself on tape as hoped, the short-timer Marine who won the Cadillac.
And tomorrow, he becomes a contestant in that reality show known as civilian life.
His first challenge? Sell a car.
To comment, click on the link with this column at www.modbee.com. Jeff Jardine's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays in Local News. He can be reached at jjardine@modbee.com or 578-2383.
Ellie