Date:         Fri, 2 Feb 2007 05:54:59 -0800
Reply-To:     dylan friedman <insyncro@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         dylan friedman <insyncro@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: Total restoration cost!
Comments: To: dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

After watching the Barret Jackson Auction this year I am going to have to disagree that cars are not a good investment.

dylan

----- Original Message ----
From: Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Sent: Friday, February 2, 2007 8:43:56 AM
Subject: Re: Total restoration cost!

One thing I don't see mentioned is the cost of the money! If you have $30K in cash to put into your vehicle, think of what that could be in 5 years. At a modest 8% you would have over $44k in 5 years. Almost 65K in 10. The 30K in cash could be a future retirement home. Heck, you could invest the 30k, use the $200 month earnings to pay off a cheap car and still have the $30k at the end. Well, not quite with taxes and stuff.

In general, car addicted people are not good money people. Good mechanics are not good businessmen. Cars are usually not good investments. Especially if the goal is to use them. Restorations usually are for the pride of ownership. Most restored vehicles are used as show vehicles. We call them trailer queens as that is how they often go to shows.

As for spending that type of cash on a vehicle for a trip, just don't make economic sense. For lots of trips and a future, maybe.  Get into an accident or have it stolen, guess what, most of that money is gone. It is hard to get stated value insurance for vehicles in normal use. For one or two people, the Westy is great. With a family, with that much cash, I would look for an RV. In the US, interest on an RV is even tax deductible. As for some of the big money I see spent on Syncro Westies and stuff, makes less sense. Invest big money on Syncro Westy to so you can go off road and trash it!

I love the Syncro and Westys for their usefulness. Mine are no longer show pieces but I dislike abusing them. I do maintenance to keep the overall cost per mile low. I have 247K on Fun Bus, original engine and head gaskets and I will still take it on trips. Maybe not to Mexico but I did drive it to Florida last Thanksgiving. I frequently inspect parts but I don't change things until future failure is evident. In industry, they call it predictive maintenance.

Just rambling!
Dennis