Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire More vehicle speculation

Now ya got me puzzled, I thought the Auto Shop kids worked on the school staff’s and student’s cars everywhere. A calculated risk for the owner of the car, but we got excellent instructors.

Two million plus people live in this county.

Yeah, Birdy, they do.

This sounds a bit like the building contractor who lived down the road from my Uncle. One day he saw my Uncle and a couple of his sons building a new room onto the house so he had to stop in and bitch about how people doing their own home improvement work were "stealing the bread right out of his kids' mouths".

You ain’t ever gonna be President of my fan club because we need someone good-looking.

Anyways, Dave Ramsay gives excellent advice for people who are reasonably sure they’re gonna be around in ten years, I’m a natural pessimist.

I got excellent credit, oughtta be able to qualify for a low interest loan, meaning we could actually get to use this vehicle while the kid still enjoy’s hanging out w/grandpa and/or her dad and stepmom without amortizing that much of an interest hit.

Currently close to half my take home goes against credit debt. That will be cleared before purchase of this vehicle. From that purchase date, at my present level of spartan I can pay off the house in two years and that vehicle in four at the same time.

So five years from now paid off vehicle paid off house. That’s the plan. Been doing this four years now, ain’t got off track yet.

Short of death, more likely is increasing medical/dental expenses as I get older, these ain’t hit at all yet, not even a little bit (might be all that bicycle riding helps) but I would prefer to clear the decks re: vehicle and house before they do. Because sooner or later they’re gonna.

That’s the plan.

Used to be fairly common for local high school students taking vocational courses in all kinds of trades to get hands O.J. training via real world application in building houses and storage barns which were sold, auctioned or raffled off to pay for materials and buy materials to build more.

Same for other vocational courses, too, including some repairing of vehicles for cost of parts for pretty much whoever asks residing within the county school system, as they had time and space.

A cousin bought one of a local high school's vocational student built houses several years ago. Real nice, well built house in a good neighborhood. She and husband love it and now appraises well over what they paid for it.

Nowadays, though, many of the manual labor vocational courses have been eliminated from the curriculum.

Of course every little bit is always plus but you might want to do a little research on interest rates as to how much difference they really make in a monthly payment.

Length of loan can make much more of a dollar difference in monthly payment and total interest paid.

It’s termite season, Orkin might pick you up the evenings to drill slabs overnight in commercial accts.

Put them 2 entomology degrees to work. Have that credit card debt whooped in no time.

At 3 to 4% interest I’d be ballparking $1,500 to $2,000 in interest over a four year period. Man proposes and God disposes of course, but in a perfect world God willing I’d pay off the house and then get the vehicle paid off in three.

Ain’t looked into home renovation loan rates but I could prob’ly make it good as new inside and out for about half its current market value and then live like a regular person again if I wanted.

Not likely that would happen during the school year, I’m one of those 12 hour a day teachers, summers possibly but I could prob’ly make more working for a tutoring outfit. I appreciate the suggestion tho.

Whatever you choose to do, don't buy a 2 wheel drive vehicle.

Birdman, it seems as if you are envisioning your own demise. If so, live your life and spend your remaining days enjoying your life with those that you care for. Doing things and going places w/ them will have a more lasting affect than will stuff that you leave behind.

Owning a vehicle that suits your aspirations and is always ready to go anywhere is basic to an adult's life.


mike r

Tikkanut, that is a great deal but I doubt that it would fit birdy's proletarian sensibilities. or last very long in the ghetto.


mike r

No worries. Law of averages at this point says even odds of seeing 80. I’m just a natural pessimist is all 🙂

Tell ya what, along the lines of memorable experiences, taking my son to the UK for two weeks four years back to see the Isle of Man TT motorcycle races was absolutely epic 😎 Worth every penny.



I agree, and I’ll add too that while life ain’t about “things”, if you’re gonna leave anything behind, a pickup truck sure is appreciated.

The difference in monthly payments from 0% up averages approximately $11 dollars for each full percentage point in interest increase on a 48 month $25 k vehicle loan.

Have a good friend down here, ranches cattle with his brother, goes out to Big Bend every couple of years, old school Texan, worked the oilfields back in the late 70’s.

He’s gone through three pickup trucks in the 35+ years I’ve known him, one of which was 4WD. He says in the five years he owned it he needed 4WD maybe three times 🙂

Without any need for snow traction, 4WD is over rated, and often money better spent on a vehicle with lower miles or fewer years

My Toyota PU is 2WD (as well as several previous PUs and Celicas) and has gotten me home from work every day, even with six inches of fresh snow on the road. I just reach behind the seat and grab that 50 cal ammo box full of tire chains.

With good tires and a bit of weight in the back, I have taken my 2WD Toyotas where many could not get with their 4WD. It helps to know how to drive.

Depends alot on where you live and where you plan to go with it I guess. I guarandamntee you he'd have used/needed it a hell of alot more than that if he lived here. You ain't making it up my driveway in the winter without four wheel or AWD unless you plan to chain up. Off road in mud or snow, there's just no comparison. And yes, I've run several 2wd and 4wd pickups, 4wd Jeeps, AWD SUV's and fwd and rwd cars many thousands of miles both on and off road over the years and I damn sure know how to drive under slippery conditions.

I think the difference is in Texas there is very little public land and if you head west to find it you end up in dry climates. Around here ya gotta go looking for opportunities to go four wheeling. Even now with 4WD so easily available prob’ly three out of four pickups are 2WD.

Upstate NY you very rarely see a 2wd pickup on the road. Hell you can't even get one at most dealerships unless you special order it.

It ain't always about traction, Birdy. A lot of this land out here requires decent ground clearance even if you don't need the front tire's spinning. And dry climates can turn to muddy messes in a very short amount of time. It's nice to be able to get out when ya need to.

I would avoid mid sized SUVs for campers... fine for boats and the occasional horse trailer, but trailer frontal area is a big factor once you get above 45-50mph...look for the flat spots on the torque curve, not the peak, the plateau is where you want to be hauling...it's a lot like looking for a wide sweet spot in load development...

Just cause it can pull it doesn' t mean long pulls won't hurt it...
Even a midsize SUV w/a V8 may struggle w/ the wind resistance..