Three for the Road (Third car a trend?)

NewsWeek via MSNBC ^ | 11/23/2003 | Keith Naughton

[PeteFromMontana]

For today’s American family, two cars just aren’t enough. We need a nice ride for every occasion. Date car, anyone?

Dec. 1 issue — Robert Baller is an American everyman. The earnest 40-year-old software engineer works out of his stucco-style home in suburban Sacramento, Calif. He has a wife, a 13-year-old daughter and an 80-pound Labrador. But inside his three-bay garage is nearly a hundred grand worth of heavy metal: a Honda Civic, a Toyota minivan and a racy Nissan 350Z. “The Z is our date car,” he explains. That’s fine, but isn’t three cars for two drivers a bit much? “Some people might think it’s excessive,” says Baller, “but our friends haven’t said anything.”

[Schwaeky]

I like cars and I used to keep several of them around, but I found it just took too much money. If you have a car you need to maintain it, insure it and license it and it depreciates all the while. It works out to be an extremely expensive luxury.

Try old classics, no need for expensive insurance, you can fix them yourself, much safer than toy styrofoam bumpered "compacts". Love'm! There was nothing like big American cruisers on the road.

That's what I did. My first car was a 77 Datsun F-10 sport wagon, which came from my pop and he had drove it for six years prior to that. I ended up working on my 83 Cutlass Supreme, which was a long term work in progress (still is), but five years later almost, I went from an underpowered grocery getter beater to a street rod. I didn't want to ruin the collector value of an old classic car, even one that was a run of the mill model, but I took and dropped a hot drivetrain in my modest looking beater and turned it into a very fast car--to be specific it has a 455 Rocket in it for speed and off the line torque, and for mild manners it has a 4spd automatic in it. 300 hp, 22 mpg on the highway, and yet because it was a V6 from the factory, only pay $425 every six months for insurance, and its cheaper to maintain, despite bigger engine, than it was stock because Olds parts are pretty cheap (though not as cheap as Chitty parts)..

[umgud]

1 Suv for general purposes. 1 Pickup for work and 1 Jeep for hunting........ oh, and 2 motorcycles for???

[Joe Hadenuf]

Ah, they're full of it.

Three vehicles with insurance, registration, fuel, up keep repair costs, etc, etc....LOL! I currently have three vehicles now, all used, old, paid for and well maintained.

And I am currently selling the third one now. If I could get away with one vehicle, I'd do it in a minute. Maybe in the near future.....

[chilepepper]

Three cages and a BMW motorcycle...

The "newest" cage is a 7 year old Caravan, the oldest is a 22 year old CJ7. the motorcycle is four years old...

[stands2reason]

The cooking teacher just shrugs, saying everybody has spare cars in his Seattle subdivision: “I’m just trying to keep up with the neighbors.”

The giant -size hole in your soul won't be filled with more toys. Try religion.

[Samwise]

LOL. Dad used to say you needed three cars just to keep one of them running.

But that's a different story.

[Joe Hadenuf]

I used to go out of my way to be "unhip", since the whole concept of being "hip" struck me as being pretty dumb to begin with.

I can remember not too long ago when only the cool and successful had cell phones.

Now, it's cool not to have a cell phone leash....LOL!

[tubebender]

Come on Pete. I know there are a lot of multi-car owning families in Montana. I have seen them myself...up on blocks in the front yard. :-)

[teancumspirit]

I have 4 cars, A jeep grand cherokee, a friend wrecked on the freeway, Im repairing it, givin to me. A buick lesaber, wifes car, Ford tarus wagon ( my car) and a mini van. I bet I dont have 5k in all of them. As a mech I find cars that are broke and usally get them for nothing or very little, fix and drive untill I find something I like better. I try to spend very little on cars as it is a fast way to flush money down the drain. Insurance auctions are my hobby. My love afair with the car goes back a long long way.

[stands2reason]

I think I've told you this before, but I love your tagline. Korzybski helped remodel a good section of my brain. If you didn't use it, I probably would have. But I like mine, anyway.

[PeyersPatches]

We have one for hubby (truck/work) and one for me (car/college) and one car for times one of the other 2 are in with the car doctor. Neither of us can afford to miss work/college.

[nutmeg]

read later

[teancumspirit]

Oh yea, Im in seatle and I could care less about keeping up with the neighbors, I dont have to impress anyone. I like myself.

[chilepepper]

I saw the phrase first in Robert Anton Wilson's Prometheus Rising, a really great book that was also my first exposure to Korzybski. Now some of the stuff Korzybski actually wrote is a bit "funky" to use a funky word, but it did the trick for me and got me out of my rut and onto the path of truth and righteousness.

alfred da bomb!

[CholeraJoe]

Howdy, Pete.

As you well know, any sports car up here in Montana would only get used four months out of the year. I drive a Chevy Avalanche. Half SUV, Half Pickup, three tons of DEEEtroit iron. If I were going to get a second vehicle for up here, it would be a mid size GM sedan, either a Buick Regal or a Pontiac Grand AM.

[Trajan88]

This is the reason bankruptcy laws must be strengthened.

Here in N. Texas the number of foreclosed homes has exploded - one can turn many folks upside down and not even a penny will fall out of their pockets, they're so over extended.

My rule = spend less than one makes.

I thought I'd never be unemployed - I worked in the high-flying telecom sector for nearly 10 years and was uninvited to the employment party in 08/02. Luckily I saved quite a bit over the years that helped me ride out the storm; I got back on my feet after 4 months - in the software security business.

Thank G for a good work ethic and a marketable degree/experience.

Trajan88

p.s. Texas aTm Aggies... beat the hell outta t.u.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

I always felt that way as well, that might be a conservative thing

Another one here. I've long held I would have been happier in the 1940s. I even prefer the music from that era, and I'm only 31. If we could have the 1940s back, with modern medicine grafted onto it, I'd be pretty happy. Only drawback, no Free Republic.

[gieriscm]

My husband and I have a two-driver four-vehicle household. His daily driver is an M1009 CUCV, while mine's an M1008 CUCV. We also have an M35-A2 deuce and a half truck for hauling really big loads. Finally, he's got a 1972 Corvette in pieces all over the garage as it's being restored.

[jungleboy]

You can own three cars if they are Japanese...they last a looong time!

[PeteFromMontana]

Toyota Camry

Toyota Corolla


I know!