How to waste your time and money.

[angio_katsuki]

The way I see it, is... You spent 30k on an object. This object has obviously depreciated in value, as do 99% of objects of the same nature. You're getting 17k back, which leaves you 13k in the hole. Was the 13k worth the ride in your Z?

 

"Was the juice worth the squeeze?"

 

Really important. I'm 21 and I haven't done much to my S30, but I really only intend to L28ET it and call it a day. Drive it, have fun. $3,000 or so worth of juice would be worth the squeeze for me.

[bjhines]

Well...

 

A freind of mine bought a 2 year old BMW 335 twin turbo with a bunch of mods for less than half of it's new price. The first owner lost a lot more money than you on a new car with bullshit mods that made it slower and less valuable. My buddy got all of the original parts with the purchase of the car. He is converting it all back to factory and selling off the aftermarket parts for profit. When he is done he will sell the car as factory condition for more than he paid for it and he is profiting from all the mods he is removing. So there.. You can profit by UN-MODIFYING a car.

 

I have made money on numerous cars in the past. I was also willing to drive junk most of the time so the money was fairly small. I bought several basket case 240Zs and reassembled them for profit. None of them were nice cars before or after. I just made them functional/sellable. I did OK for time spent but I didn't make $100/hour or anything like that.

 

I have made money on trucks here in North Carolina. Trucks are valuable if they run, Period... Find one that does not run, Drag it home, Fix it with junk parts, Sell it for a tidy profit. I used to keep a functioning V8 and tranny on hand at all times for this very reason. I would see them advertised as junk for tow away and fix them for less than 1k and sell them for 3k.

 

I have a track and time trials habit. That hobby costs more in tires and brake parts than a decent 240Z every year. So it really comes down to a hobby for me. I built a really nice V8 240Z and I intend to go through thousands in tires, failures, crash, and wear items the first few years I run it. The cost of the car becomes irrelevant after a few years of track duty.

Edited January 10, 2011 by bjhines

[JSM]

Well, said bjhines. I do this with Datsun parts, datsun cars, computers, cell phones etc.

 

I couldn't pay for anything Z related without buying and re-selling the above items.

 

What my wife and I love the most is picking trash. We keep so many things and save lots of $$ doing this. We paid for our NYC vacation this summer, from 1 Garage sale and selling items on Craigslist from the trash!

 

This was our November garage sale which paid for all of Christmas for our kids and family. 99.99% of what you see came from the trash!

 

Edited January 10, 2011 by JSM

[bjhines]

I have had people ask me how much $$$? to build a car. Every time I give them a price they walk away. You consider that many of us spend a weekend on some small project that has very little real cost like the Honda Wiper upgrade. I completed the project including all the research and picking the parts to use, modifying the bracket and building the park relay module. Now that I have done it I can do it again without much time spent.

 

If I did that same job for another person it would cost them far more than it cost me. I would buy a rebuilt motor ~$150, I would buy a new relay and holder as well as charge for wire, sleeving and terminals($50) I would charge every minute for time to remove, modify, and replace the parts. I would also charge for the time to clean the pivots and realign everything($500 labor). We are now talking about a $500-$700 with room to grow if you include new wiper arms and all the time to clean the cowl box area while it's open.

[Michael]

What happened to the original poster? Was the car eventually sold, or parted out?

 

Now consider the fellow on the receiving end – the one making the lowball offer. He gets a great deal, right? Maybe not. Let’s call the purchase price $17K. He did not build the car, so he will likely be helpless when something breaks, and would be oblivious to festering ailments. So in a few months he’s looking at a $5000 bill for a proper repair. Either he pays, or gets screwed by an incompetent mechanic –or both. Then what? Then the car sits for a while, and next year is up for sale again. Asking price, $20K. The sale closes at $12K. Then wash, rinse, repeat. After a few circuits on Craigslist, the car hits the junkyard circa 2016, or gets sold for scrap.

 

You know, I started out with a $700 1978 280Z. It had a smidgen of rust, but was otherwise whole, drove well and most of the electrical bits still worked. It started every morning and even the windshield washers worked. I bought it 270 miles from my then-home, drove it back at spirited speeds, and commuted in LA traffic in it for months, before it went under the knife for an engine swap and chassis augmentation. It’s been sitting for 11 years.

 

I’m a reasonably fit person, so when I push my Z, it develops maybe 1/3 hp. The original rating was what, something like 170 hp? So I spent $XX,XXX on losing 169.67 hp. How’s that for depreciation? But annualized over 11 years, that’s not so bad.

 

Now suppose that instead of sinking the money into a hobby car, a conscientious fellow would have invested the money in the stock market. Let’s see, 11 years ago, the S&P 500 was sitting at 1500. Today it’s struggling to reach 1300. Meanwhile, cumulative inflation over the past 11 years has been around 30%. How’s that for an “investment�

 

So therefore I say, the wise man was the fellow who spent $50/week on food and alcohol. He was sated and at least moderately cheerful, on a recurring bases. At least, when you spend money on things that you put into your body, you don’t worry about selling the byproducts for a profit.

[rturbo 930]

What happened to the original poster? Was the car eventually sold, or parted out?

 

Now consider the fellow on the receiving end – the one making the lowball offer. He gets a great deal, right? Maybe not. Let’s call the purchase price $17K. He did not build the car, so he will likely be helpless when something breaks, and would be oblivious to festering ailments. So in a few months he’s looking at a $5000 bill for a proper repair. Either he pays, or gets screwed by an incompetent mechanic –or both. Then what? Then the car sits for a while, and next year is up for sale again. Asking price, $20K. The sale closes at $12K. Then wash, rinse, repeat. After a few circuits on Craigslist, the car hits the junkyard circa 2016, or gets sold for scrap.

I don't see this as a likely chain of events, unless the buyer is an idiot with too much money. We don't (seem to) have many of those in the Z community.

[auxilary]

A guy we called "Oagre" came up to me in the dorm one day, and says "D, you want some yen?"

 

My question, being it was like a huge industrial mayonaise jar he was holding was 'How much?'

 

"67,000"

 

Uh, dude, you realize that's like $700 right?

 

He stood there visibly shaken and all the color drained from his face. He wasn't particularly generous, so I figured he had no clue how much it was he was freely offering. So seeing his state, I asked: "Oagre, what's wrong man?"

 

Really, REALLY quietly... almost in a whisper the enormity of what he had hit him and he said almost choking down vomitus: "This is my drinking change. I just threw what I had left in the jar. "If this is what I had left over...how much did I spend?"

 

He staggered back to his room, visibly shaken by this development. It happens to everyone sooner or later. The key is to keep your eyes open going in, and set limits. Most people won't do that. It's the grasshopper syndrome.

Reminds me of this girl that used to work reception at a company I worked at almost 10 years ago. She lived with her parents, drove a truck she got from her dad who was paying insurance on it, and had a full time job. Granted, I doubt being a receptionist yielded a huge income, but someone working 40 hours a week with no serious living expenses should be able to save.

 

She would always complain about being broke. While talking to her, I also found out she went out drinking 3-5 times a week. Now, this wasn't a particularly attractive girl, so it's relatively apparent she wasn't getting free drinks. I asked her how much she'd spend on average per night going out.

 

"$70-100"

 

...

 

I quickly pulled up a sheet of paper, threw together some numbers, showing her that she was blowing out between $800 to $2000 per month. Her jaw dropped. Within 2 months, she was able to save up enough money, moved out on her own.

[Michael]

$70-100 per night may be wanton excess, but spending $50/week on beer and pub-food is a wiser investment than “saving†$50/week for auto parts. Drive reliable but inexpensive cars, eat well, and never buy more sophisticated auto parts than you can use in the near-term.

 

Ever since I bought a $2500 Miata, making a whopping 100 hp, I’ve been a lot less concerned about making progress on my “500hp†Z. Now the spare change goes into occasional small luxuries like a tin of caviar or a nice bottle of wine. Much higher smiles-per-dollar than a fancy ignition system that I wouldn’t even hook up until 2019.