@cdaquila
I appreciate the job you do monitoring this board. I am probably one of the worst offenders in straying off the discussion. I have the onset of Geezeritis–it happens to people my age. I just got my prescription refilled for Geritol, so maybe I will do better at staying on track.
"Which is such a shame. I mean hell, how many people are out there with a 70k house and a 70k truck"Since this thread has gone so far off-topic, none out here. 70K won’t buy you a brick schitthouse. I needed more than that as a down payment for my house.
Do you mind my asking where abouts you live, @asemaster? Plenty of $70k homes in the Alle-Kiski area of Pittsburgh. My home in Tarentum cost me less than $40, but it needed quite a bit of work. I’m into it for $85, total, but probably could NOT sell it for that. (Love it though…the guy who had it built in 1920 was a woodworker, and the living room and family room is full of his personal art in old-growth oak. Probably can’t get that today at any price.)
My sister lives in silicon valley, and I do NOT understand how that works economically. I mean, I get that rich people can afford to pay a lot; I get that poor people live wherever they can…but the plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics of the world–the solid, stable blue-collar jobs that supposedly form the foundation of a healthy community–where do THEY live?
So, to keep this post nominally car-related, any mechanics out there that live/work in “desirable” cities…how do you make ends meet, while affording a place to live? Do you just live in the “ghetto,” (of $100k houses, LOL), do you commute, or what?
I think he’s out on the west coast somewhere like Washington or Oregon.
@dagosa I actually thought Kubota tractors were blue but I guess they are orange and Holland is blue. Now I need to change my image of you on a blue tractor to an orange one. Still in Minnesota tractors are a very sensitive issues. People that have green have all green with nary anything red or orange. Say something bad about green and you could be thrown out of the coffee shop.
You mentioned though how hydrostatic transmissions have an advantage. Could you expand on that a little. I have been a little down on hydrostatic because I didn’t think they did anything better than a standard but a whole lot more troublesome.
Sorry for the off topic guitar thing.
Anyhow, in NC 70K house and 70K truck is somewhat true, although I was just mainly making a point.
My Dad has a John Deere rototiller and a John Deere riding mower. Pieces of junk if you ask me. Sure the auto transmission on the mower is nice, but its built like everything else out there. Plastic, with a briggs and straton motor. Now his 1985 Wheel Horse, talk about a brick shit house.
Granted these are not large farm tractors. Anyhow thats all for me in this topic! I realize its gone off the cliff
So I bought my daughter a stratocaster made in mexico, not as good as us but better than overseas. Back to cars how about a moth’s opera sedan? like the rear entry for passengers!
Here ya go, the BLastoline Decoliner! The ultimate in RVs.
You can even sit on top of it and still drive.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=blastolene+decoliner&qpvt=blastolene+decoliner&FORM=IGRE
Those are both wicked!
“the plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics of the world–the solid, stable blue-collar jobs that supposedly form the foundation of a healthy community–where do THEY live?”
They live in the gangster-infested neighborhoods of every major city
Ah, art deco at its finist.
In most cities their are more working class areas that aren’t the gangster infested areas but can be well kept up and tidy houses. Not just the working class but also the middle class.
Skilled labor doesn’t live in the slums…or at least they never used to. I always thought there was a clean demarcation between solid blue-collar “working class” neighborhoods and “not-working-class” slums.
@Barkydog–That’s the sort of car DB Cooper could have used for a quick exit out the back 
@meanjoe75fan I’m about 40 miles south of Seattle. Some mechanics live outside of town and drive 30 miles into work. That’s not just an economic thing, most mechanics that I know have multiple cars, maybe a boat, and need more space than you get in urban living. And you have to be married to someone with a decent income as well.
I’m lucky. I’m good at what I do and generally made more than the average mechanic, my wife has had a good career and we couldn’t/didn’t have kids until later than most. But even so, in the current housing market, a decent house in a family part of town will be close to $200K. Much more than that in Seattle proper. You do the math, it’s simply impossible for a mechanic making $60K/yr to have kids and a stay at home wife. Lots of guys also do side work. Word gets around, especially for the guys that live outside of town, and it’s not unusual for a guy to make a couple hundred a week cash working a few evenings in his garage.
It also helps that mechanics are DIYers for most other things. I may not make as much money running a corner garage as the white collar guys, but my wife always remarks how much money I’ve saved us over the years by not having to hire plumbers, electricians, etc. When we sold our last house, I looked around and there wasn’t a single wall I hadn’t painted, an inch of vinyl floor I didn’t lay, a single plumbing or electrical fixture I didn’t install. Most mechanics are the same way.
You don’t usually see a mechanic in a 3 year old car either. We scrimp and save, at least the smart ones do.
@meanjoe75fan DBCooper could have some serious road rash, maybe that is why he chose a plane and a parachute! Well the neighborhood is deteriorating around us, foreclosures turning into rental properties, neighbor is very proactive about calling the police, we started a neighborhood watch, but ready after many fine years and decreasing property values to rent this place and go to where some guy with a big car stereo does not start a dancing in the streets party.
Wow, we can talk about guitars and houses and tractors-but not falling asleep behind the wheel-Kevin
@Triedaq
Sorry my good man. I have used that excuse (old age) when debating with my wife. It doesn’t help either as she is older then I and totally unaffected by old age. But if you find an excuse that does work, let me know. I am now “after” my wife on a regular basis to buy a Mustang for herself. She knows it’s a “ridiculous purchase” given where we live and I would be driving it and she would be struck with the truck. It hurts to be so transparent ! But, ridiculous cars can be situational too. A Mustang is one, for
us.
My neighbor has a Vette he has to leave at his place of business cause like me, he can’t even drive it home without tearing up the under carriage. How his wife ever agreed to the purchase I will never know, but it’s now up for sale after two years of ownership and maybe 200 miles of use by him.
Maybe she doesn’t know he has it. My wife once wondered if I was still working or not and just got up and went somewhere every day pretending to work. I said gee that’s an idea I had never thought of before but where would I go?
My neighbor and his wife co own a business; they worked together. She knows he owns the Vette and approves just about every purchase he makes.
Somehow it hasn’t been said yet, but the Reliant Robin. What was this?
As for the Nissan Juke, I wouldn’t drive one, but I can see an appeal to it. Looks like an elegant dune buggy.
The Reliant Robin was very similar to the Bond Mincar, a Bririth 3 wheeler produced in the 50s. Germany and Italy also had their minicars in those days. As living standards rose, they faded away.
^
The Reliant Robin was actually manufactured up to ~2001.
The appeal–in addition to the low cost–was that you only needed a motorcycle license in order to operate one.
This is my favorite three wheeler.