This is me responding to over enthusiastic forum dwellers

[Bongo Lewi]

What crazy is that we could not afford to buy the house we currently live in at today's prices and interest rates. With a 20% down payment, if we bought it at today's value and interest rates, our monthly payment would be 2.75 times what we now pay every month.

The exact 1-bedroom apartment I used to rent 30 years ago... today's rent exceeds my current mortgage payment.

I don't see ANY way a young couple starting out could ever afford to buy a house. And unless things change drastically, the average family will literally never be able to buy a house. They'll never catch up. No bueno!


The mileage allowance is the big problem. Unless you're the proverbial old lady driving on Sundays to church... They're going to nail you for excess mileage fees. My new car just hit 15,000 miles today after owning it for 11 months. I used to drive far more than that when my son was playing hockey. One year I put about 30k on my Toyota Camry.

I could never lease, because even THINKING about how many miles I put on the car would drive me freakin' bananas. I'd hate that. "Sorry, Honey... we can't take my car on our trip to South Carolina... too many miles." Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!

The leases can also ding you for... well... dings and other "damage" to the car. I either OWN the car, or I don't. And I don't want to drive someone else's car. While I did buy a new car this year, the best bargain ever was my used 2011 Camry purchased in 2013 with 32k on the clock. Sold it still running perfectly with 214K miles. That car was the most cost effective car I will have ever owned.

But, yeah... if you buy and then trade a car in after 2 - 3 years, you're gonna get killed.

I leased my M3. When I turned it in the 'assessor' did his thing and said the tires needed to be replaced, one wheel had some small scratches in it and there were a couple of marks in the paint. Like scuffs. The leasing manager then tells me to write a check. I told him to fuck off. I walk over to the office of the sales guy who leased me the car and told him to call the general manager who runs the whole operation. He came by to glad hand me when I signed for the most expensive car they had on the lot at the time. The GM enters the room.

I very calmly told him the car was low mileage and the records will show all the maintenance was done. I went on to say I had bought or leased three cars from them in the past 5 years and this penalty was an insult. I also told him my friends, clients and colleagues buy and lease cars here and I was certain he cares more about the dealer's reputation than I do about my own. I have been a good customer and I feel like your leasing guy is trying to fuck me. Then I stopped talking.

He said fine. No charge. I walk out.

I refuse to give in to that shit. Like I said, it's a racket and you as the customer are the sucker. It is different with luxury cars and fancy dealers who have a smoking hot concierge serve you bagels and lattes while you wait. If you lease a cheap car and bring it back beat up, you have no leverage. They don't care if you never come back and they know you won't call your lawyer. Because you probably don't have one. Nobody said life is fair. The guy who can least afford to bend over gets the shaft.

 

[One Ping Only]

Ah yessss the Triumph Bonneville. When I was quite young, the family across the street from us had a son in the Marines who returned home from Vietnam after doing his stint. He bought a brand-new ‘68 burgundy GTO, and a similarly colored Boneville. Both of those vehicles sounded glorious when he left his house. I loved it.

Both of those bikes are cool, BL, but that Indian has my extreme interest. Yeah baybee!

 

[Bongo Lewi]

Ah yessss the Triumph Bonneville. When I was quite young, the family across the street from us had a son in the Marines who returned home from Vietnam after doing his stint. He bought a brand-new ‘68 burgundy GTO, and a similarly colored Boneville. Both of those vehicles sounded glorious when he left his house. I loved it.

Both of those bikes are cool, BL, but that Indian has my extreme interest. Yeah baybee!

The Indian is probably the better ride. Bigger, heavier, faster. But the Triumphs have the old school Brit bike look I am still drawn to.

When one of my brothers got out of the Army, I rode my BSA 650 to visit with him in the college town where he landed. It was about 300 miles. I loved that bike. It wasn't built for cruising. My ass was numb and I couldn't piss for 24 hours after that ride. The BSA being a thumper, it vibrates a lot. No wonder going for a ride always made girls horny! I thought it was me.

My pics of the BSA are lost to the ages. It looked like the one. Although mine was not a fully restored museum piece. It was all original. I restored one just like this years later. Took me almost two years to finish it. Sold it and wish I hadn't.

 

[One Ping Only]

BSA!! The aforementioned neighbor had one of those in his back yard. For some reason it wasn’t drivable (and I was all of 7 years old at that time and knew nothing about mechanics yet) but that engine would fire up and I’d sit on that sucker, start it and had such wonderful imaginary rides. Lol. It did smoke so it probably needed rings. If I recall correctly it was blue and chrome but like that pic.

 

[Bongo Lewi]

BSA!! The aforementioned neighbor had one of those in his back yard. For some reason it wasn’t drivable (and I was all of 7 years old at that time and knew nothing about mechanics yet) but that engine would fire up and I’d sit on that sucker, start it and had such wonderful imaginary rides. Lol. It did smoke so it probably needed rings. If I recall correctly it was blue and chrome but like that pic.

I bought mine from a guy in the neighborhood who enlisted. I was not quite 15 and had no DL. It was ten years old but in pretty good shape. It ran but needed work because it had been sitting a long time. I got around to getting registration and a motorcycle endorsement after I turned 16. I worked on it all winter to get it running right. Freezing my nuts off in an unheated garage.

It cost me 200 bucks, which was a lot of money at the time. My father was not happy. He said, You cant buy a motorcycle because you aren't 18. I said, Well... I did. I paid for it with money that I earned.