After seeing the video @MikeInNH posted and hearing this morning that the Dow, S &_P and NASDAQ are way down, is this an indicator of a bear market for pickup trucks?
I don’t drink (much) so I decided just to sleep through the worst of it. I really think a good ole mad bull attacking those cages would have been more interesting. Never been chased by one but heard people who have.
The myriad local car lot ads with a shouting, over-animated person screaming about how wonderful his (boss’s) car lot is are the ones that grate on my nerves.
There was a guy 20 years or so ago who did ads for various franchise dealerships around the country. I was surprised to see him in three cities besides mine, with essentially the same script. OnIy the names were changed to protect the innocent. I suspect he made a VERY good salary. I just goolged him.
He’s still out there, but we don’t see him here anymore. I think most viewers simply got fed up. http://www.tomparkproductions.com/Tom_Park.html
I took Mrs Mc to the EAA flyin in Oshkosh Wisconsin many years ago. We camped out for two nights under our Cessna’s wing, in the rain. After two nights I contacted the university’s dorm to see if they had a room available. At $15 a night, obviously for two single beds, it was a bargain that may have have saved our young marriage.
We’ve also had a couple of motorhomes. Her idea of roughing it is still a nice motel where you go down the road and someone else makes the bed, and restaurants do the cooking. I like changing the scenery for the next night’s stay, and I cook a lot too. Oh well, we’re still married, or at least we were when I left for work this morning.
As for the earlier question “Are you driving a truck?”: A very nice five year old three story Motel 6 on the interstate three miles from my house offers a 33% discount to anyone holding a Commercial Driver’s License. It’s on their LED sign out front. I’ve never seen another motel that does that, but if I’m ever asked, I WILL take advantage of it as I’ve held a CDL for years.
That particular Motel 6 started life as a Clarion. It was built adjacent to an amusement park that went belly up after only six weeks of operation. Dozens of local investors lost a lot of money in the bankruptcy. Clarion held onto to it up until last spring when the Motel 6 sign suddenly went up. They still have trouble filling the parking lot, and there are only a few semi trucks.
LOVED the video, Mike. I think this aluminum cab idea might just backfire on Ford. GM is having a blast denigrating it.
I still see the rotten cab corners and panels below the doors when I think of Chevy,maybe its time for Ford to hook a 2.7 Ecoboost,bumper to bumper with a 4.3 Silverado on the top of Pikes peak(if theres room)show the drivers wearing oxygen masks,just a thought,cutthroat is,as cutthroat does(I’m not even a Ford fan,I just dont respect cutthroat ads.
Maybe that was the same Motel 6 in Wisconsin that was the last one we ever stayed at. I don’t remember exactly where it was but somewhere on the way to Milwaukee. Most every vehicle was a pipeline vehicle. Nothing against them but it was Holiday Inn or something after that. If I see pipeline trucks I usually continue on.
And to think Bing,they are fighting a proposed gas pipeline tooth and nail,through this corrider.
Last night’s news time car ad…
’‘come to Galles Chevrolet and NOT get yelled at’’ !
of course it sure helps that Anne Hansen is a pretty girl saying this and has been on their ads for several years now , not yelling at all…but it is also a nice break from the yelling ads.
Latest series of VW tv ads with what I will term the bickering Brooklyn broads = cringe time reaching for the mute button.
Bing, mine was in western Massachusetts, but I strongly suspect that long-haul truckers are a major target market for Motel 6.
The “dancers” from the local strip joints stayed there too. I can’t say for sure, but I suspect that’s a target market for the hotel chain too… in states where strip joints are legal. Maybe even in states where they aren’t. (
Wonder if that’s where they got the name “Motel 6”? Maybe it wasn’t the pipeline trucks that upset the wife and I just didn’t notice.
I enjoy the old style motels with the rooms opening to the parking lot and while they are going out of style I will make an effort to find one that appears clean and well kept and occasionally a Motel 6 has conveniently appeared and I don’t recall ever having an issue with one being dirty. My worst experience was at a Colorado town that was a ski resort in the winter and all the motels were closed except one and it was the pits. There were 2 bunk beds in the room and rabbit ears on the television. But I was tired and it was many miles to the next town so I made the best of it.
One thing that I look at at those old style motel rooms is the bottom seal on the door. Some are so bad that its easy for rodents to crawl through during the night. I don’t like rodents, snakes, scorpions, etc. coming in at night. I also don’t like the openings on the air conditioners. Call me a putz if you want.
Non car related though if I can get by with it is the constant ads for reverse mortgages. I cringe every time I hear them. I put them in the same class as the 125% mortgages or interest free mortgages of a few years ago. There are very few situations where a reverse is a good deal and its like dealing with the mob. “We were worried about our old age security but now that we’ve got a government approved reverse mortgage, we have plenty of money to take trips and cruises. It’s a dream come true.” As I throw up and want to strangle these people.
Sorry for the diversion.
Remember several years ago, when Saddam Hussein was captured . . . ?
I remember they said the hole he was hiding in was infested with rats and scorpions
Well Saddam was in good company,@Bing,it looks like maybe we need “sucker” or “carrot on a stick” laws,some people are truly despicable.
It is not moral,to take advantage of a persons bad situation,because the tax burden or usury,put them in that situation,oft times.anywy.
Yes, and the rats and scorpions were very unhappy about sharing their hole with Saddam…
Wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy,they said He had no remorse.
I’ll probably get scolded again for being off-topic, but here goes anyway. . .
Regarding the reverse mortgages; probably in about 5 to 7 years or so we’ll start seeing stories on the news about these poor elderly people getting kicked out of the home they’ve lived in for the past 60 years because the big evil bank cheated them out of their house. . . along with the inevitable calls for the gov’t (taxpayers) to bail out these poor innocent victims. . .
Although you’ve got to wonder how people this gullible manage to acquire any home equity in the first place. People I know with this type of mentality (who have houses as opposed to apartments) tend to live on a 4- 6 year cycle of; max out credit cards, re-finance house to use equity to pay off credit cards, go on shopping sprees, expensive vacations using credit cards until maxed out; repeat. By the time they turn 62, I can’t imagine them having more than a few thousand dollars of equity at best.
To play Devil’s Advocate, a friend of mine who’s in his late 60’s made a statement to the effect that if him or his wife were to end up in a nursing home, their house would be taken and sold to pay medical bills anyway, so it could be better for their own quality of life to use some of that money while they are still healthy enough to enjoy it.
Oh yeah, and they always seem to have these has-been actors you haven’t seen for 20 years doing the reverse mortgage ads, along with tax debt evasion, credit card consolidation, etc. Why would I take my financial advice from some washed-up-has-been actor? Obviously he hasn’t been able to handle his own money or he wouldn’t have to be shilling for shysters today. And the same goes for retired talk show hosts and politicians who are now on the info-mercial circuit.
And since I’m off-topic anyway, I’ll tell you I can’t even watch Jeopardy because I always see Alex Trebek hawking that “whole” life insurance crap to the old people. I have no respect for people like that.
Ed Frugal
I saw a TV ad with Fred Thompson promoting those reverse mortgages
He’s so has-been I’m not quite sure what show he was on . . . one of the various Law & Order spinoffs, perhaps?
I think I even saw an ad with the Fonz . . . I was really disappointed. I thought Henry Winkler had more class than that. He certainly doesn’t need the money. As far as I know, he’s still very active in the business, but more behind the scenes nowadays
Fred Thompson’s been pushing those reverse mortgages hard. I laughed at the one where he says to send for the no-obligation information packet, which includes a DVD “. . . with my picture on it.” Wow. Just what I’ve always wanted. My very own copy of an infomercial DVD with a picture of Fred Thompson on it. I’ll have to display that on the mantle next to the Jack Daniels Elvis Decanter and my collection of KFC commemorative chicken buckets.
I remember an Andy Rooney article from many years ago where he describes a situation similar to what you said about the Fonz, but it was in regards to some actor who was famous when Rooney was young; in terms of how embarrassing it was to see him on tv shilling some questionable product or service. As I recall, his remark was along the lines of, “If you needed the money, you should’ve called me” (before you embarrassed yourself on tv this way).