[V8] vehicle economics

[Mike Arman]

I'm completely with Roger W on the economics of vehicles you're interested in.

A honda civic is just an appliance, who cares? So when it starts giving 
trouble and costing any significant amount, throw it away and get another 
one. I made that mistake with the 323 Mazda my wife had - at 170,000 miles 
we put a replacement engine into it, planning to keep the car to 250K. 
Spent about $1,500, did it *right*, and boy, did it run well. Really good 
transportation, nothing else, which is what she wanted.

Until some idiot munchkin in a pickup truck ran a red light and hit her 
head-on, totalling the car and damn near totalling her. After a year+, 
she's now pretty much OK. The insurance company offered a fat $200 over 
"average book" for the car, saying all this was just maintenance, and it 
was a high mileage car anyway. The attorney involved (and the personal 
injury part of this is nowhere near settled yet) was able to twist their 
arm so we did about $1,000 better.

If all you want is transportation, any car will do, maybe even a Kia Rio. 
Or a Yugo. After all, it goes from here to there, doesn't it?

Now when we are talking about vehicles that are more than just 
transportation, all this goes right out the window.

I'm restoring a 1967 Cessna 150, which I've had since 1982. I simply refuse 
to add up what it has cost, and I'm not done (I've done 80% of the work so 
far, I only have another 80% to go . . . ) but this is more than just 
"transportation" to me. I DON'T CARE what it costs - I want the finished 
item more than I want the money. And there are no new ones available to buy 
- so I'm going to build a new one myself.

Same thing with Roger's V8Q. No, the accountants and the insurance 
companies don't understand what he's doing - but he is doing this for HIM, 
not for them. When he's done (and he may never be done, the point seems to 
be as much the journey, as the destination - same as my airplane), he will 
have something unique and *exactly* what he wanted. That's pretty tough to 
do in today's world, where so much is a compromise.

And the fact that the accountants don't understand this is their problem - 
that's why accounting is called the "dismal science".

Personally, I rather like the attitude of the V8Q - politically incorrect 
gas hog, V8 engine, when you put your foot in it, it GOES - as far as I am 
concerned, it is the perfect rebuke to the patter of puny pistons so 
beloved of the tree-huggers. Now if I could only get it to make a sonic 
boom as I blow the doors off the Prius crowd and send them spinning into 
the weeds . . .

Best Regards,

Mike Arman