Expensive choices stories

fredvon4 Fri Jul 08, 2016 1:40 pm

I hope this thread is as entertaining as the Shop Helpers thread

OK I am suffering 101F High humidity and hiding in the AC today

First true no BS story is about two cars

A 1965 Ford Shelby GT 350 white with white interior I bought from a fellow soldier in 1973 for $1900

and later sold to another soldier in 1975 on my way to Germany for $1600
No damage, well kept, most all options and the hop up stuff was all add on so not disturbing the factory original configuration

Who would have though this car would cross a auction house in 2014 for $120,000

On that trip to Germany (I had the ability to import only one Euro spec car back tot the USA) I immediately bought a GI Pay Day special hoopti car: a 1951 split window VW bug in near factory condition except the head liner was a bit raggedy for the easy price of $150 . Three years later sold it pay day special to a newbie soldier for the same $150...In 1978 this 27 year old car still had a working heater... VW guys will know this is not normal

A similar car went across the auction line recently for only $75,000

BUT
Not all "did not know then" choices stories are about cars

MY Uncle was a some what upper muckedity muck in Redmond Washington while I was stationed at Fort Lewis 1973 to 1975 and they lived in a Renton neighbor hood before buying a lake and farm in Redmond

I would visit when ever we had a weekend free...(rarely) riding my Honda 450 up the interstate 45 minuets to their place
Side note that same ride is 2 + hours today with traffic congestion from Olympia to Seattle

In my uncles neighbor hood there were three things going on....
A block away was a guy tinkering constantly on the Miss Budweiser monster unlimited Hydroplane boat
The other direction a High School band practicing in a garage
And nearly across the street some geek playing with electronics, soldering irons, and such in the garage

My bad choice: but first a bit of back ground...MY dad and I built a few Heath Kit electronics things many years earlier on Taiwan and back in the states I met a neighbor who coached me to my first Amateur Radio license...Thus I was fairly conversant in electronics...

I would hang out and pass tools to the Miss Bud guy, and later go smoke weed with the Band guys--- and ignored the cross the street geek

Named
Bill Gates
DOH!

rsv1cox Fri Jul 08, 2016 1:50 pm

Sounds like you got stoned in several different ways Fred. Enjoyed your stories, I could echo a few. We all have had those woulda, coulda, shoulda days.

Bob

batjac Fri Jul 08, 2016 2:25 pm

fredvon4 wrote:I would hang out and pass tools to the Miss Bud guy, and later go smoke weed with the Band guys--- and ignored the cross the street geek

Named
Bill Gates
DOH!

I'm a "D'oh!" once removed. About 25 years ago I was dating a woman from Seattle. When she was younger she would sometimes sit and have lunch with this geeky college kid. When offered a chance to put money into his new idea, she thought he was a dreamer and never gave him a cent. *SIGH* She coulda been rich, and I coulda married a rich woman and became a kept man...

The Still Working For A Living Mark

GallopingGhostler Fri Jul 08, 2016 8:19 pm

Interesting story, Fred. Yes, I remember those cars, they were more muscle than the turbocharged Subaru's today. Regarding value now, hind sight is always 20-20. Smile

Which reminds me, on Stunt Hangar there was a discussion on a spiffy 4 passenger pre-WW2 era all metal civil plane, the Globe Swift. A younger lad replied facetiously, "What is there not to like about a Swift?" with a photo of a celebrity Taylor Swift next to his statement. An older gent gave a very apt reply, "High maintenance costs, very high."

But, there's more to happiness than money. Smoking

Do we feel blessed for what we do have these days? I know I do. Very Happy

**RknRusty** Fri Jul 08, 2016 10:37 pm

HAH! What a story Fred.
I'd bet twenty bucks, Bill's good buddy Steve was in the garage with him tinkering and soldering too. Probably coulda' done a hit of acid with Steve. He claimed that without that experience, he'd have never been as innovative successful as he was.

pkrankow Sat Jul 09, 2016 10:05 am

Yup, some choices are expensive. Some are more mundane than others.

Drive too fast, get speeding tickets, use credit cards because of no money because of speeding tickets... 10 years later paying off the credit cards from when I ran out of money because of some speeding tickets... (glad that is over years, ago now)

Go to college, don't get 3.5gpa, have trouble finding job in my field, get saddled with student loans for decades after refi... yea Do good in school kids, especially when it is expensive. (makes me wish I had considered trade school when I was in high school)

Phil

fredvon4 Sat Jul 09, 2016 10:53 am

Ah the credit card game

I was lucky early on as NO Bank would offer a card to a low rank soldier..... BUT SEARS and JC Penny sure would at 29.99 APR if you bought something expensive

We used that to our advantage. But because my dad gave me a real good money education (we did not have any)
We had Saved enough for the washer dryer pair but got the Sears Card any way and made payments for 6 months then paid it off.

Now with a history my bank would offer a Visa at 17.99 APR

Later in life we we doing OK and did a LOT of fun stuff every weekend we were not working in Germany. We each had several, now low APR, cards

Of course with many credit cards it is very easy for the balance to be more than comfortable able to pay off end of month so we carried a balance...that slowly got bigger and bigger

Nearing retirement we decided to live frugally and retire about $30,000 of that evil credit debt, took 5 years

We look back and laugh now about how a snack and a few beers at some outdoor cafe in Heidelberg ( about 15 DM at the time) probably cost several hundred dollars by the time we retired the debt

AND I tell all my kids exactly how we got into that mess

crankbndr Sat Jul 09, 2016 11:23 am

I held 40K worth of Apple stock at 80$ in my Roth IRA about the time the iPhone came out, volatility caused me to sell it.
Apple went to 800$ and split about 8, would have had 400K+ tax free. I need that boot on a rope that kicks you in the ass when you pull the rope.

GallopingGhostler Sat Jul 09, 2016 12:07 pm

crankbndr wrote:I held 40K worth of Apple stock at 80$ in my Roth IRA about the time the iPhone came out, volatility caused me to sell it. Apple went to 800$ and split about 8, would have had 400K+ tax free. I need that boot on a rope that kicks you in the ass when you pull the rope.

I wouldn't be so hard on yourself. It is difficult to predict stock market outcomes. Many companies have come and gone. A friend's company retirement was based on investing in New Century stocks, when Southwestern Public Service Company was under them. Stock was in excellent shape guaranteeing a good retirement.

When Xcel Energy bought them out, stock dropped to 1/4th its value, making it hard for him to retire. (AFAIK, Xcel's stock drop was due to purchasing utility companies with bad debt.) Then shortly after they laid him off. Shocked

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