Posted on 12/03/2016 8:15:15 AM PST by Lorianne
Yes, I agree, it should be possible, but the control freak liberals would consider them to be clunkers and protest them off the roads! What a great country this was before the liberals ran riot in every aspect of our lives.
Cars, for example, have become hugely expensive (even on the low end) relative to what people can afford
A 1964 Malibu SS, brand new, cost $3290 sticker price.
I know because I bought one for that.
The average income for 1964 was $4576. So the car cost 72% of a year’s wages.
Average income in 2015 was $55,775. The average car price in April 2015, per Kelley Blue Book, was $33,560. That’s 60% of annual income.
The average car today is 17% cheaper to buy than in 1964. The article starts out, then, with a lot of hooey.
If the author is wrong in his opening statements, there’s not much point in assigning veracity to anything else in the article.
Today a Crank Positioning Sensor can leave you sitting and although the tow cost more than the part unless you have access to the computer coding and a computer to diagnose it you are guessing and part replacing until you find out what is wrong. In my teens the breaker points did this sensors task and a stuck set of points could be repaired or even replaced in minutes. Men kept emery boards in the dash of the car for that purpose.
It was the imports {mostly European} which were very poorly built. The worst of them being the Renault. If one made it to 50K without a new tran-saxle or engine it was a miracle. My new cars were 10 plus year old cars I could afford usually costing no more than a months wages and I could repair myself. Anyone remember when you could sit inside the engine compartment of a Ford F-100 and work on the engine? I do.
My Mom drives a 2004 Chevy Tahoe. It is astounding at the gadgets it came with as well as the complex electrical system. She's had it six years and it's been reliable but if anything at all goes wrong it's a trip to the garage. Even getting the spare tire out is a major undertaking and far more complicated and time consuming than it ever should have been.
I bought a used one for a few grand a couple of years ago. It is my first truck. I had planned to use it just to move stuff, but now it is my daily driver, LOL, I swore I would never be one of "those" types of people.
I live debt free, at first, because I had no choice, but now, because I can.
I agree. It's just like groceries. The meat and taters consumers who can only afford the basics are subsidizing the raw Seafood and specialty meat department in stores in which has anyone actually seen anyone buy anything? My bet it they have a 95% loss due to expiration date.
Being a debt servicing slave is a drag.
I swear my old 02 Ford P/U gets purtier every day.
—
‘95 F-150..Cherry
For fun (and out of sheer curiosity), I picked up a Crown Vic Police Interceptor that had been retired from the state police.
Paid cash, and cleaned it all up. Car looks and drives great. It proved to be so dependable that it replaced my other car as a daily driver.
And my 5-year-old loves it.
Do they still put ‘interceptor’ engines in them? Our local deputy sheriff, AKA ‘Pretty Boy,’ drove a 1957 Ford with an interceptor engine and sometimes offered a local to drag race against him to get out of a ticket. I don’t think anyone ever got out of a ticket.
We need a “People’s Wagon” (the original Volkswagon) that had high quality and austere, but adequate features.
Old trucks do require a little TLC but $50,000 for a new one I’m way ahead.(It’s a 4WD Diesel.)
Sounds like a business opportunity.
Produce this low-end but quality car and sell them for cash only. Order online.
Were I an investor with the funds I’d start it up.
Tell the truth! How fast will it run?
It's funny. The Crown Vic Interceptors (which ceased production in 2011) have a lot of different equipment from the regular models. They have a heavy duty cooling system, big alternator, different suspension, oil cooler, trans cooler, etc. But oddly enough, the engine has the same 250 hp as the civilian version.
They won't win many races, but they run forever.
Not too fast, but it does okay for what it is. Mine sounds cool though, because I put Magnaflow mufflers on it. :)
With the gearing mine has, it will top out at about 134 (thanks, Youtube).
Our son-in-law just bought a Dodge 2500 pickup that is a tradesman model supposedly for construction type work. That thing has so many bells and whistles/touch screen/stuff comes up in the dash with tire pressure and all that...I refuse to drive it and I have been driving pickups all my life. The idea is that is a stripped down model like construction employees would drive. ha ha
My husband needed another ranch truck and I told him it needed to be simple to drive, not all the stuff to figure out- just a normal truck. He found a 2006, not much newer without the added stuff that is like garbage to me.
My daughter has a new car that we all jumped in to go to CA last year for a family funeral...it has so much crazy stuff...I refused to drive it. My husband is keeping up with all that crud but not me. It is craziness.
My kids tell me I need a new car, mine is a 2006 and I told them if I had a new car with all that nonsense I would stop driving.
I completely agree with the author. Low cost cars are impossible to find and even the used car market is suffering. I only buy used and we keep our cars until they are basically dust.
Last year, my son got rear ended which destroyed his very well used Mercury Sable. I bought it for $1500 about 7 years before.
He had a limit of $5000 and could barely find anything in that price range that wasn’t decrepit.
All this new crap they put on cars is nice. I have a little bit of it in my company car, but I live just fine without it in personal cars.
Going in to deep debt on an item that depreciates every single day is not a worthwhile investment, nor is it a particularly conservative trait.
A low end econo-car is a thing I would consider. I’m at a point in my life that I could afford a really nice, somewhat expensive car, yet I have absolutely no desire for one.
A couple of years ago, circumstances required me to buy a used car and borrow money for it. I recently paid off that loan and am now debt free.
It feels pretty good to be debt free.
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