You Know What Really Grinds My Gears? Now with 3x more gears...

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by curves2000

I don't know where else to put this other than this thread. Has anybody on the west side of Calgary notice a significant increase in airplane traffic the last few days? I am in the I don't know if flight paths have been changed due to the G7 event but there appears to be a lot more.

US Airforce flew in three C-17 Globemasters this morning. That was cool.

[flamesfever]

Originally Posted by Titan2

Haha. I knew you were old but Holy Fata Balls Batman!!

Have you not heard that "80 is the new 60"?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by flamesfever

Have you not heard that "80 is the new 60"?

You need to go over there....disregard the sign indicating 'Logan's Run' its outdated and we haven't replaced it yet...

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Someone suggested that might be Bret Hart's house??

Does the Hit Man live in Calgary still? If he does, it wouldn't be at Stu's old place.

My Dad would drive me by that place in the Stampede Wrestling days, they had a wrestling ring set up outside.

[jayswin]

He's lived here his whole life.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by curves2000

I don't know where else to put this other than this thread. Has anybody on the west side of Calgary notice a significant increase in airplane traffic the last few days? I am in the I don't know if flight paths have been changed due to the G7 event but there appears to be a lot more.

No noticeable difference for me, I'm in Tuscany. Last time the G7 was here the airspace west of Calgary was closed completely. That was eerie, there was absolutely no commercial traffic for several days. Only thing I saw was military and police aircraft.

[Sainters7]

Car trouble RGMG. Thing was great for years (got regular check-ups too), now all of a sudden since we got to 2025, everything is breaking down. Thing's a dang money pit, it's one thing after another lately.

Older car too, kinda just want to let it die and move on, but the initial money on brakes / brand new winter tires I just sunk into it this winter makes me keep getting it fixed instead to justify the work already done. Its a vicious cycle...can't wait to hear what's wrong with it now.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Car trouble RGMG. Thing was great for years (got regular check-ups too), now all of a sudden since we got to 2025, everything is breaking down. Thing's a dang money pit, it's one thing after another lately.

Older car too, kinda just want to let it die and move on, but the initial money on brakes / brand new winter tires I just sunk into it this winter makes me keep getting it fixed instead to justify the work already done. Its a vicious circle...can't wait to hear what's wrong with it now.

Did you make sure to refill the blinker fluid?

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by Locke

Did you make sure to refill the blinker fluid?

Dang, I should've gotten him to check it the last time when he was replacing my Johnson rod.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Dang, I should've gotten him to check it the last time when he was replacing my Johnson rod.

My God man! What have you been doing to this poor car?!?

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by Locke

My God man! What have you been doing to this poor car?!?

Just whatever they recommend haha. At least they rev the engine for me over the phone so we can say hello.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Dang, I should've gotten him to check it the last time when he was replacing my Johnson rod.

Originally Posted by Locke

My God man! What have you been doing to this poor car?!?

Fun fact: Johnson rods are actually a real thing.

[Shazam]

My johnson could use a lift.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Just whatever they recommend haha. At least they rev the engine for me over the phone so we can say hello.

Yeah, the cost/benefit decisions can be hard if you're one of those people who develops a liking for their cars. To some they're just machines and to others they're a friend.

Then there is 'sunk cost fallacy' which is also tough. I tried to make sure that my maintenance on my old Jeep was all relatively concurrent so when I brought it in for regular maintenance it was:

"You need this, you need that, and this will have to be done soon and it will cost this much."

At which point I just..."naw, thats more than it's worth, I'll trade it in, get a new car and let a dealer take care of that maintenance and try and get their trade-in value's worth."

The dealer can pay some kid minimum wage to fix it, get parts at wholesale and not have to pay retail and shop rate and I get a car that wont need more than regular maintenance for a few years.

At some point its just not worth it to keep fixing it regardless of how much you like it.

[Sainters7]

Yep good points. It's not that I'm that attached to it, though I definitely am a bit. It's more that it's fully paid off, plus I've sunk $3K into it since January, including getting brand new awesome winter tires, which I got studded to accommodate my recent move for winter street parking in hilly San FranBankview. Feels like a completely sunk cost at this point to ditch it now after all that, boooo!!

Ideally another year or two - but I'd even take one at this point - to make it feel worthwhile, then it can die. Unless it insists upon it happening earlier...we'll see; it's at the shop now. Starting to feel like my car has it's own personal Project 2025 to off itself.

[Fuzz]

Maybe you can find a replacement vehicle that takes the same wheels/tires? Might hurt less.

[TimSJ]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Yep good points. It's not that I'm that attached to it, though I definitely am a bit. It's more that it's fully paid off, plus I've sunk $3K into it since January, including getting brand new awesome winter tires, which I got studded to accommodate my recent move for winter street parking in hilly San FranBankview. Feels like a completely sunk cost at this point to ditch it now after all that, boooo!!

Ideally another year or two - but I'd even take one at this point - to make it feel worthwhile, then it can die. Unless it insists upon it happening earlier...we'll see; it's at the shop now. Starting to feel like my car has it's own personal Project 2025 to off itself.

We have a small independent dealership. What I say to my customers when spending money on older cars is the following.

If you spend $3000 on your car this year can you reasonably expect to get another 12 or 24 months out of it. That 3k over 12 month is $250 a month. You can't get much of a car for $250 a month these days.

now you do need to have a full look and see if it really reasonable to expect the car to last.

just another way to look at it.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Shazam

My johnson could use a lift.

Talk to your doctor.

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by TimSJ

We have a small independent dealership. What I say to my customers when spending money on older cars is the following.

If you spend $3000 on your car this year can you reasonably expect to get another 12 or 24 months out of it. That 3k over 12 month is $250 a month. You can't get much of a car for $250 a month these days.

now you do need to have a full look and see if it really reasonable to expect the car to last.

just another way to look at it.

Thanks, that's good advice. Still waiting to hear back from the shop today about what's wrong, as long as it's isn't crazy, I like to think I can get another year out of it.

But we'll hear the diagnosis first. My stomach gets tight whenever they call, I have PTSD from the previous time haha. Was so much more than expected. Fingers crossed..

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Yep good points. It's not that I'm that attached to it, though I definitely am a bit. It's more that it's fully paid off, plus I've sunk $3K into it since January, including getting brand new awesome winter tires, which I got studded to accommodate my recent move for winter street parking in hilly San FranBankview. Feels like a completely sunk cost at this point to ditch it now after all that, boooo!!

Ideally another year or two - but I'd even take one at this point - to make it feel worthwhile, then it can die. Unless it insists upon it happening earlier...we'll see; it's at the shop now. Starting to feel like my car has it's own personal Project 2025 to off itself.

It depends on the situation, but $3K might just be slightly over the interest portion per year of a new vehicle at 7% and there's still principal payments to consider cash flow wise.

The main reason I'd dump a car for being a money pit is if the vehicle could be inoperable at the worst time. Deciding to Uber instead doesn't always work for everyone. I had a 15 year old touring vehicle once and I dumped it because I didn't want to spend $1-2K per year on additional stuff over maintenance.

Newer vehicle cost me like 5x that in cash flow per year over the next 5 years. That increased cash flow might not be worth the peace of mind/less annoyance or repairs for some. For me personally, there was always a little bit of regret for jumping into the new vehicle. But the newer vehicle so was also buying my dream car as a celebration for reaching a significant milestone in my career. I loved that vehicle but dumped it when I felt I got unlucky with a lemon. Bent cam shafts, oxidized mirrors, fuel consumption etc. for a 6 year old vehicle? There's unfortunate issues with any vehicle, but IMO that's a lemon.

I totally get where you're coming from though. My current vehicle is like this and it's about 15 years from when it was manufactured. I'm sure $3K ish per year will get it back to very good shape and I'm sure I should be able to squeeze another 3-5 years out of this vehicle with about $1-3K of additional costs per year (ignoring regular maintenance/upkeep costs which would be required on any vehicle). But that doesn't keep me from window shopping.