sorry to buck the trend but owning many classics and in fact a car atall is not financially good. They will always cost something and if you take this view on things, you would only ever travel on foot/bike and use buses. you could live in a tent as a hermit and save the cash, and eat porridge for the rest of your life, you'll have lots of money when your older, but your here once only. Many people i think buy a car with your heart. i did with mine. yeh it will cost, but you live once, and you can't take any with you. if i had waited till i had $20k+, i would not have got there. There would always be something else the wife would want to spend money on!. she would not go for a classic car. You can do it much cheaper, as i said many parts on the car are 25 years old (like trim etc) so buying second hand is OK. obviously some parts have to be new, like the accumulator. But even things like spark plugs for example can be cleaned, regapped and reused. you have to be prepared for a lot of hard work, but at least with these cars, money that goes into it generally can be recovered if you decide to sell, unlike many other classics. i'm not saying to this chap buy the car, but sometimes your heart overules any sensibilty. If John Delorean had stayed 'sensible' and stayed employed by others, would any of not be here owning his dream? just an alternative view on things!. Regards steve --- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Ryan Wright <ryanpwright@xxxx> wrote: > > On 1/23/06, Chris Murley <qumefox@xxxx> wrote: > > Saying someone can't afford a delorean just > > because they aren't rich enough is just mean. You can own one on a > > $30k/yr salary. Either you can buy a cheap one, and fix it yourself > > knowing you'll have about $20k in it when your done, or you can get a > > loan and buy one in good shape to begin with and just make payments on > > it like you would with any other car. > > Owning a car that is 2/3rds of your yearly salary is financially > irresponsible. Period. I know people do it all the time, but if you > told a financial planner he'd probably have a heart attack. Anybody > who has aspirations of retiring with dignity at a reasonable age would > not make such a foolish mistake. > > If you have to engage in financial irresponsibility to own something, > "You can't afford it." Yeah, you can work your way into a DeLorean on > $30k a year. Heck, you could do it on half that. That doesn't make it > a good idea. Buying a classic or other specialty/exotic automobile on > credit is likewise a terrible idea. I'd highly advise anyone to pay > cash for their DeLorean and it's needs or don't buy it. > > These are not the ramblings of some elitist jerk. Well, actually they > are, but that's beside the point. It's simply good financial advice > with a healthy dose of common sense. What happens when a DeLorean > suddenly needs a couple grand worth of work? That day will come and if > someone is living on $30k, making $300 a month car payments at 8% > interest (good luck getting a loan for a 1981 vehicle at a lower > rate), it's going to be a tough sell. So the car will sit in neglect > because the owner can't afford to care for it. Eventually he will sell > it for a fraction of what he has into it and the dream will be lost. > It happens all the time in this community. Where do you think the > $7,500 DeLorean comes from? It's someone's lost dream. > > But don't let me tell anyone how to manage their finances, because I'm > not like "normal" people who have loads of consumer debt, live > paycheck to paycheck and finance cars. If you want to be normal, > follow the advice of normal people and pretend us successful folks are > just mean or don't know what we're talking about. Just remember that I > once supported a family on much less than $30k a year, so I'm not > knocking your income. I've been in your shoes and if things went to > hell I could find myself there again - and I'd sell my DeLorean in a > second. > > -Ryan > To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: dmcnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/