The Pitfalls of a Fancy-Schmancy Car

Some years back while used car shopping Linda fell in live with a Lincoln. Good deal, so we bought it. In the next 7 years we put the purchase price into the car in repairs. The air bag suspension, I remember, was the biggest shock. Around $1,500 per axle.:eek::eek:

My dad had a Lincoln with those shocks. I think it was about the time he paid for a set of four of them he decided he was done with Lincolns. He's driving a Mercury Grand Marquis (Lincoln Lite) now and he's happy with it.

Stu, I have lower back issues (bulging disk that has caused sciatica before) and I ride a bike all the time. My physio said it was fine as long as I rode a hybrid/MTB style which has a more upright sitting posture than the bent over road bike style.

And of course there are always recumbent bikes...:thumb:

My biggest issue with bicycles these days is the potential for a fall. Due to the nature and location of my break (and subsequent repairs), even a relatively mild landing could put me in a wheelchair for life.

About the same as hauling a truck load of garbage away in Tokyo :doh: :D...

Stu came the closest. ;) The dealer wanted something north of $700 to replace the single shock and rubber boot. :rolleyes: A bit of Internet shopping tells me I can buy the shocks for about $100 each. I didn't get a chance yet to talk to my tire shop buddies to see what they are gonna charge me, but I'm betting they'll replace both rear shocks for not a whole lot more than half the price the dealer wanted for one. I've replaced shocks a few times on other vehicles, and I would on this one to save some money, but my back isn't up to the task anymore. Just crawling around under a car anymore is painful. Plus, these are the strut style with the outer spring, and I'm not really wanting to mess with those.

I agree with Allen's points about the training and expertise needed to be an auto mechanic these days, and don't mind paying a fair price for the work they do. It's the price gouging that gets tacked on because of the nameplate on the car that bugs me. I suspect a Toyota dealer charges less that $700+ to replace a single rear shock on a 2001 Toyota Highlander or Camry...and they have the same chassis as my RX300.
 
$600 for labour is a bit much eh :eek: :doh:

With the right tools, and having done it before, that job should take less than an hour.

About the only thing I do on our vans anymore is change the summer wheels for the winter wheels. The local gas stand wants $200 to swap four wheels with tires mounted :eek:

Get that straight, I have 8 rims, with 8 tires, 4 winter tires on steel rims, and 4 summer tires on aluminum rims. Jack the van up, remove the wheel nuts, remove wheel, replace with other wheel, put the wheel nuts on, tighten, lower, repeat three more times...... $200 :doh:

Guess why I do it myself :D

The thing is most locals do not have the tools or the skills to do this job, nor the place to store the unused wheels, the gas stand will store you wheels for a fee as well.

I swear, if I ever moved back to Canada, I'd buy a 60's era Chevy halfton truck, staight six, three in the tree, and just keep it running. I know buddy back in Canada that bought a 1967 C10 truck like that, straight six 250 inch motor, three in the tree. We did a valve job on the motor at 150,000 miles, and replaced the king pins up front. Last time I saw him in 2008, he was still driving it daily and had over 300,000 miles on it. He does the brakes himself and he converted the points ignition to something more modern. The only thing he really wished he has was AC. He likes the straight six, he says he gets decent gas mileage, and he has not had any kind of monthly payment on the truck since about 1984 :D He also likes the most people cannot drive it, if some young punk got behind the wheel and even had the key, he could not figure out how to shift it.

Something like this....
1967_chevrolet_c10-pic-3.jpg
... would be fine, but I'd rather have something closer to this condition.....

1967_chevrolet_c10.jpg
..... Now that is sweet!


Yep, that is what I'd own for my daily driver, I could maintain it myself and it would just keep on running.

I'd have to have a modern car for my wife and kids, they would not want to ride around in an old time machine like that :rolleyes:
 
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200 bucks to change over tires is alot.

before I was obese, when I was just fat, I used to play tennis with a guy who had a food delivery route.
His brother had retired a millionaire, wealthy, good lifestyle, I know a millionaire doesnt mean much today, but this guy was loaded.
He owned a few gas stations/repair shops.
I remember him telling us stories, and how happy people are when he tells them I got your car started, come pick it up. People freek out when their car dont start and they have to get to work or school
He said people arent happy unless he charges them.
he finds a loose battery wire, He charge a 25 dollar service charge, but some people arent happy unless he charges them 125 dollars. I never understood it, but he says people didnt mind paying for their 'babies"
I always knew 3 good professions to go into, shoulda, shoulda shoulda.
Automechanics, plumbing, or become a weatheman on a local news channel
those guys dont have to know squat and get paid dearly.
Plumbers make more than cardiovascular surgeons, an auto mechanics will always have people calling them if they choose to do so.
 
Allen, I'm not sure about the income comparisons between plumbers and cardio surgeons. But, plumbers do make good money. I think most is deserved. I wouldn't do what many of them do.
I understand, to some extent, charging appropriately so the customer will believe they got good service.
I learned that when I owned my gun shop. Many repairs went to my gunsmith. But I learned quite a few tricks for common problems. e.g. certain .22 rifles had a high failure rate with extractors. The replacement extractor cost me about $2.00 and took only seconds to replace. I would make the customer wait a week to pick up his gun and charged $25.00. They were thrilled I got their old, wuthluss, .22 shooting again.
There are other examples. I quickly learned to never make a free delivery. Free translated into complaints, complaints, complaints every time. Charge and they were happy.
Folks is funny critters.
 
About the only thing I do on our vans anymore is change the summer wheels for the winter wheels. The local gas stand wants $200 to swap four wheels with tires mounted :eek:

Get that straight, I have 8 rims, with 8 tires, 4 winter tires on steel rims, and 4 summer tires on aluminum rims. Jack the van up, remove the wheel nuts, remove wheel, replace with other wheel, put the wheel nuts on, tighten, lower, repeat three more times...... $200

Well a good shop will also torque 'em.... ;)

But you got the wrong kind of jack, Stu. I borrow a floor jack from a buddy, it lifts up the whole end of my minivan at once, from one of the central jack points. So I only need to jack it twice, not four times. :thumb:

...art
 
Went to the tire shop today, and I was off on my estimate. They're gonna replace the two rear shocks (struts) Monday. Those two will cost about the same as the Lexus dealer quoted me for one. The price also includes a 4-wheel alignment, since they have to disconnect the ramshackle from the hibbenburg contracture to remove the shock. (Or something like that...I'm a woodworker, not a mechanic.) I suspect that was also included in the dealer's quote. Nonetheless, I trust this shop to do good work at a fair price.

This car was paid off the day I drove it off the dealer's lot, so like Glenn said, amortized over the life of the car, this ain't too bad.
 
Stu, I have lower back issues (bulging disk that has caused sciatica before) and I ride a bike all the time. My physio said it was fine as long as I rode a hybrid/MTB style which has a more upright sitting posture than the bent over road bike style.

And of course there are always recumbent bikes...:thumb:


after my second back surgery, I couldnt take my mountain bike anymore.
I tried different seats, nothing worked.
I drove up to the Bicycle Man, around a 5 hour trip for me and this guy is fabulous. You can take any recumbant he has there(at least he didnt limit me when I went), or any bike and take it out for a test ride.
I went recumbant, 3 wheeler. My wife hated it, said it looked like I was in a wheel chair. The only issues I had was that it was very low so when peddling in the streets, cars didnt see me too well.
I used to load it up and take it to the boardwalk and peddle up and down for excercise.
Id guess hes around a 3 to 4 hour trip from Toronto
 

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I drove up to the Bicycle Man, around a 5 hour trip for me and this guy is fabulous. You can take any recumbant he has there(at least he didnt limit me when I went), or any bike and take it out for a test ride.
I went recumbant, 3 wheeler. My wife hated it, said it looked like I was in a wheel chair. The only issues I had was that it was very low so when peddling in the streets, cars didnt see me too well.

Allen, I've heard of that store, and would love to spend and afternoon there sometime.

There is a store in Toronto that carries 'bents, but there is no where to test drive them. (and one in London also, but with very limited choice) Not that I can afford one right now, too many other things I want to spend my money on. :dunno:

As for visibility... I used to drive a homebuilt 2-wheel SWB recumbent 13+ years ago when I lived in Edmonton. Visibility was not an issue. I would warn people that you can't be shy when riding one of those, as everyone stopped and stared. (I mostly ride side streets and paved trails. Of course visibility is an issue on main roads for any bike.)
 
Except for a few problems with dissolving rubber parts; being hydroscopic (absorbs water from the air); and costing much more than gasoline to produce, once the subsidies expire.

Ethanol is currently being made from sugar, which is very much a stupid idea. However, if you can switch from using sugar to cellulose (which nobody really is yet), the cost drops a lot - instead of using a food product, you can use ten-year-old newspapers and lawn clippings. It will likely never be cheaper than the current price of petrol, but then again, oil is a resource with a fixed supply and steadily increasing demand - it may prove to be economical quite soon.

Running an engine on ethanol does require some changes to the internals, but these aren't that hard to make - a wide variety of Ford and GM products can be run on 85% ethanol already. The hygroscopic properties of ethanol are also a problem, though, in my opinion, keeping your fuel free of water is a far simpler issue than trying to re-work our entire electrical grid to allow for fifty-kilowatt power outlets at everyone's house.

Allen, I'm not sure about the income comparisons between plumbers and cardio surgeons. But, plumbers do make good money. I think most is deserved.

As someone who does house-call tech support, I can tell you that plumbers are most definitely not overpaid. Once you factor in the requirement for postsecondary education (plumbing regulations are COMPLICATED), the bonkers hours, the transportation time, the overhead, and the fact that you'll spend a substantial part of your lifespan literally up to your elbows in someone else's raw sewage.....well, let's just say I don't blame them.

Sorry again Joseph. My wife has a 2008 Subaru Forrester. It gets over 30 mpg. its pretty good looking, and the local Subaru dealer wants $ 50.00 to just change the oil. :eek:

Most Subarus are set up for fairly simple oil changes. However, I might point out that most of the moving parts in your car are a lot less expensive than their Lexus or Acura counterparts....and, to be quite honest, aren't likely to break anyway. As an amateur engineer, I am still left in awe by the manufacture of an inexpensive, mass-produced all-wheel-drive vehicle that, despite being far more complicated than any of its' competitors, manages to outlast just about anything else on earth.

I still think they're ugly, though. :p
 
Allen, I'm not sure about the income comparisons between plumbers and cardio surgeons.

the old joke :

a brain surgeon had a leaky pipe in his house, and called the plumber.
the plumber came over and fixed it.
on his way out, standing in his driveway,the brain surgeon said to the plumber" thats my new mercedes 500 sl, ran me 102 thousand"
the plumber responded" yeah, when I was a surgeon that was all I could afford also"
 
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