I don't usually look at what I spend on my cars and motorcycles. I buy what I need, and move on.

Today the wife was looking for a pen or something in my desk in our home office, and ran across the receipt for the internal fuel pump for my 89. I paid $900.00 plus shipping for it.

She said that back in 1960, when I first joined the Marines, I only made $977.60 for the year gross, and they took taxes outta that.

First 4 months we were paid $78.00 a month during boot camp, then we got a raise to $83.20, for the rest of the year.

Never in my wildest, did I ever think I'd have the things I have today. Life is good, I've been lucky indeed!

 

I do suspect, though, that hard work and a net balance of good decisions had more to do with it than luck.

 

Congratulations on your hard work and dedication to being a good human being, and you're reaping the rewards. "The kids nowadays" however are living in such immediate satisfaction type of life that I doubt many will take the long view and see what's beyond the semester, much less the horizon. So, luck has some to do with your success, but like Dave stated, I am leaning towards much sweat and ache before leading you to today.

-Hoi

 

"Chance favours the prepared mind"!

 

I feel the same way. Started with nothing, have everything I could ever want and more. Time for me to give back. I'm teaching a few classes for free this spring.

 

I will only add that I have my wife and the car lead different lives, lol, including and especially, any contact with Portia's receipts

In fact, I don't even want to know what I've put into the car at this point!


Best, Dave.

 

^ I keep spreadsheets on all the cars. It's the one automotive related thing I actually hate doing.....

 

...I am not sure I want to know what's been spent.

A good friend has $120k into a car which is worth about half that. And he still doesn't see it. Pride of ownership, I guess, which is priceless.

 

I'm married to a CPA who is detailed to the penny. She knows better than I exactly what's spent on everything. I'm happy to report that she views the costs of my hobbies and habits in a positive way.

Like many, I didn't start out poor but didn't start out rich. Middle-class family with 6 kids so there was seldom a lot of "extra" money but we lived in reasonable houses in OK neighborhoods. I paid for school in the then-discounted Cali state system, and worked through those years. Looking at how many spend now we must not be anywhere close to one-percenters.

I do have a set of new spare Bosch fuel pumps on the shelf though; looks like they were a good investment if just the internal one is $900. I guess there are some costs even I don't need to be reminded of. I need to grab a bit of GB connecting hose and clamps and put them in before the originals go away. Need to add those to my Sharktoberfest Shopping List. Truth be told, I still have stuff I bought a year ago for winter projects still sitting in boxes on the workbench. These will add to that collection.

 

Thanks for that humble and inspiring message. Luck is the most precious commodity.

It's great to see people appreciate their good fortune. I am amazed and grateful every day for the gifts I've been given, and they are many.

But with that said, I heard it was ok to just delete the internal fuel pump.

 

Really you guys have no idea. Get a small, old piston plane. Here's an example. I just spent $1700 for a bearing that goes in the prop. The main gear retract bushings are a little piece of brass. Each one of them are $117. There are four on the plane. To replace them, requires 6 hours of labor per side. Oh - and unless you have the right credentials, the owner can't even touch the jobs!

Now, we know that driving a nice mountain road, no traffic, winding through the hills in a German touring car is really all that. Take it to the next level. Sometimes I'm in the mtns of New Mexico, I get up at dawn, hop in the plane, take off and head east into the sunrise. Smooth, cool air at 12,000 feet. No one around, no traffic, no speed limits, just me and the machine. Sun comes peaking out, I get some tailwind, and I'm cruising along at about 200MPH. Just me and my old tin can.

 

Despite being ugly as a broken boot, yes you have done well.

 

Be thankful there's no mirrors at your place.

 

Oh - SNAP!

 

I keep track, and I tend to think in terms of dollars per mile. The nice thing about that is the number goes down the more you drive, once you get past that initial flurry of catching up on deferred maintenance anyway.