Posted on 04/05/2005 12:22:02 PM PDT by ex-Texan
The MGB GT's weigh in at #2400lbs a copy. A true lead sled. It's why you can take a turn at full speed. That much weight that low to the ground isn't gonna budge from it's track. My GT6 has a supercharger and the 5 speed gearbox from a Toyota Supra. It'll do 140 on the open flat. God help you if you need to stop......not much braking and what there is applies itself unpredictably and at random, as do all fine British cars. You never know which way you're going to have to wrestle the steering wheel when you apply brakes in a hunk of British Iron.
Is that why household wealth is at an all-time high?
I have made implements and attatchments for my old Ford that do everything. Bale spears, middle buster rigged with a pipe laying form to dig/bury/and repack down water line installation, saw-rig, hoist, post hole digger, tandem puller for twin hayrakes(doing two swath's at a pass), snowblower, snowplow, front end loader, vibratory heavy roller(using an old LP propane tank filled with sand), Aircraft towing bars, various blowers, generators, and much more.
I'm done with cars.
When I was younger, I bought all the fun stuff I could "afford". After the kids arrived, I scaled back to new sedans. Now, I just bought a 1998 Lumina with 80k on it for $1800 cash. It'll get me to work and I'll put a new kitchen in my only asset that is appreciating.
consider the effects of the baby boomers moving towards retirement - they are pulling their asset base with them - back when people owned their cars, their homes, didn't have credit card debt, etc.
outside that demographic, most americans probably have negative actual net worth when you consider their mortgages, car debts, credit cards debts, education loans, etc.
Debt, its the New Wealth. Catchy slogan, don't you think? Maybe Greenspan could use that for the slogan at the Fed.
Just picked up a Lincoln Navigator with 22k miles for $20,000 cash.
Owned by a little old lady, it cost SIXTY GRAND brand new.
(borrowed the cash from the in-laws, who don't want to charge interest, hehehe)
How does one pull their asset base with them?
outside that demographic, most americans probably have negative actual net worth when you consider their mortgages, car debts, credit cards debts, education loans, etc.
Interesting theory. Anything to back up your probably?
Dang, you got the shaft on that. I still have my '99 ZX2 I bought new in grad school and use it as a commuter car. My payments were only $288/month for 4 years. I intend to keep it for at least 4 more years and get my money's worth out of it.
The ZX2 is the last car I will ever buy without the cash to buy it outright. In this case I found that as a broke graduate student the repair bills for my POS Chevy were adding up to a new car payment every month and it was easier and less expensive to finance a new car than a used one.
Another amen. We haven't made a car payment for at least ten years.
Six years ago we replaced our Audi with a 1984 Mercedes 300TD (station wagon). My husband is using it for commuting to the Bay Area here in California. Two years ago we bought a 1993 BMW 525i for our teenage girls to drive. I have been driving a 1978 Mercedes 300D (with 1985 engine and drive train), yeah mom gets the beat-up car. But then, last Friday, we picked up a 2000 BMW 528i with 60,000 miles, certified, in pristine condition except it needed two new tires. Got the tires on this morning so this mama is ready to rock and roll in the pilot's seat of this loaded car. Now if I could just figure out what all the buttons on this new-fangled computerized car does and how to find the best radio stations.
We paid cash for every single one of those vehicles. Of course, it helps that my husband is a fantastic mechanic of German autos and my father-in-law has a business with a partner who searches out good deals while my father-in-law checks the mechanics of the used cars they find. If it gets their seal of approval, we know we have a good deal.
Go with cash if you possibly can. There are great cars available.
Let me know how you like it.
That's a HECK of a lot of bike.
People will spout off ad infinitum about "how stupid it is to buy a car with cash - you know, due to depreciation" blah, blah, blah. Yeah, well, I'll tall y'all what. I go buy a car tomorrow with cash, and you go tomorrow and use your fancy financing. Then, one week later, we both sell our cars. Which of us comes away with the lower loss? [Econ 101 question ... ].
LOL... reminds me of a Sunbeam Alpine I helped rebuild. An old Ford Cortina/Lotus, too. Now *there* is an interesting little car.
Also, to your "home garage" post up above, I'd specifically include a pneumatic impact wrench to go with that air compressor. People who've never used air tools are amazed at how they make tough jobs seem easy.
It depreciates the same no matter how you pay for it. People fool themselves into paying banks rent on "their cars" with the foolish "depreciation" argument. The recoverable value of a car will be greater if you pay cash. It's a law of the universe ;)
I've been a mechanic since 1970, so I fix 90% of car problems too. The newer ones with the computerized systems are not so easy. Sure helps to be able to fix cars.
My neighbor works for one of the local Dodge dealers, and has access to various manufacturers' codes. He also keeps an eye peeled for those "sugar puffs" when they get traded in for new cars. He found a pickup for his son about 6 years ago, and that was a sugar of a deal if I ever saw one.
This is a good rule of thumb for people to use in all aspects of their finances. Vacations, for example, should be paid off immediately because they're "spent" by the time you receive your credit card bill. And there's nothing wrong with financing a car over five years if you expect to keep it for at least that long.
A lease is OK if you don't drive more than a little over the lease milage allowance. Otherwise you get nickel and dimed by milage, and hammered by the lessor being a prick about wear and tear.
A like nice cars, but I would never do more than a 48 month loan on a used car, and that only for a Porsche or BMW. If I can't wreck it without getting chest pains about what it will cost me, I can't really afford the car. Same goes for houses, about which I'm very glad I bought mine 15 years ago and refi'ed into a 15 year fixed when rates bottomed out.
I buy nice low milage luxury cars and own them outright in 3 or 4 years. Then I luxuriate in the money I'm NOT spending on them for another 5 years at least.
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