It's mine!, Lew's car Options

[billh1963]

I have long been coveting a nice California "rust free" '73 2.0 with FI. After several weeks of waiting I am concluding the deal to buy Lew's 914. As you may remember from the classifieds ad, Lew (whom I never met, unfortunately) passed away last spring. With the help of Kent (and Ethan) I am now the proud new owner.

To top it off, I am planning a big adventure! In early January I plan to fly to California and drive the car back across the country. I have never driven across country before...let alone in a 40 year old car! I'll share more details as they get more defined and as time gets closer.

In the meantime, here is the picture of the car with Lew.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i268.photobucket.com-12871-1355242344.1.jpg)

[JawjaPorsche]

I did not know this thread about Bill's new teener was going to become a punctuation lesson!

From: Ted's Punctuation Guide

http://www.tedmontgomery.com/punctuation/index.html

Click Apostrophe symbol, scroll down to Number 3.

Use the apostrophe with s to form the plural of numbers, letters, signs, and symbols.

• Carolyn has scored 100’s on all her math tests.
• Your written “o’s” look more like “a’s.”
• In Dar’s report, he used “$’s” to indicate money.
• Don’t forget to include “@’s” in all email addresses.


(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[dlkawashima]

Use the apostrophe with s to form the plural of numbers, letters, signs, and symbols.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/2.bp.blogspot.com-12234-1355260680.1.jpg)

I think in this case "914" would be considered a name, not a number. For example, you wouldn't write, "I'm not a hoarder, I just collect car's." Or, to use a non-auto related noun, "I'm not a hoarder, I just collect book's."

While Ted's Punctuation guide says it's okay, other guides say it's not okay. Here's the wiki entry for use of the apostrophe with plurals:

The apostrophe is sometimes used in forming the plural of numbers (for example, 1000's of years); however, as with groups of years, it is unnecessary because there is no possibility of misreading. Most sources are against this usage and advise the use of numerals instead of digits.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe#Us...certain_plurals

That said, I'm sure I've used "914's" to signify plural more than once. English is hard even for native speakers .....