My case for spending big money on cars.

Chargerjase said:

Here is a reason why you should travel outside the USA.

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No, that's actually a demonstration of how lousy our public school systems have become.
Thank you, unions and leftists for infiltrating and destroying the school systems in favor of revisionist history, emphasis on
indoctrination into socialism and generally totally failing our kids on the basics - language, history, geography, all the things we older folks
were taught.

Leno always cherry picked the most obvious idjits when doing those segments, but it's still a sad state of affairs.

This topic has led me to approach the subject with my wife again, so it's been productive at least up here on the ridge.
She assured me she was still of the mindset regarding travel and that she knew we were going to "Winnebago" it one day
because I want to so badly - but she did bring something to my attention I hadn't realized before, too.
Quite the eye-opener, really:

She has, of course, been along for the whole roller coaster of my health issues lo these last 6-7 years. She's seen me dead,
struggling, barely functioning, all that crap and she's stuck with me through all of it.
That part is no revelation, but the part that was - was when she told me she always felt that she had "lost" a part of me in
the process.
To her, I had made it through all that alive, but that the Ed she fell in love with and married never quite came back all the way.
That was surprising to me to say the least, but as I thought about it, I realized what she was saying was true and made sense.
All the physical stuff - hospitals, recoveries, medicines, treatments, all that jazz I had made it though were one thing, but the
constant struggle and fight just to maintain basic functions had taken their toll on me.
I was pretty much in an animal survival state at times and in a determined, probably grouchy mood in others as I fought the fight.
It had to be pure hell for her at times. :-(

As I contemplated what she was revealing to me, she immediately kicked in with "but....."
She then told me that the first time that she knew I'd "come back" to her one day was when I started working on the car again -
she knew how damn hardheaded I am once I set my mind to something, so seeing me drag my dead *** out to the garage every
day was the first sign she saw that I wasn't done yet - and me at my best is me being doggedly determined.
It must have been the first sign of encouragement to her in a long time and it made quite the impression.
You can TELL someone over and over not to give up on you, but they have to SEE it sometimes, you know?
Walk it, don't just talk it...that sort of thing.

Well, a lot of things finally made sense to me that happened back then when she told me all this, good and bad.
After all this revealing, I asked her if she thought "Ed was back" now.
She smiled at me and said "the day you brought me out to the garage and showed me the car and said "it's done!" then
yes, that day I finally knew I had you back."
She melted my damn heart at that point.
I didn't realize....

I got it pretty good, folks. Better than I even realized.

Ed, great woman you got there. I can share a cool story kinda like yours,
Atlanta Georgia, Now I'm from out west but was back east in my racing days. Went to a local car show and I see one of my old cars.Went over to the guy and introduced myself. He and his wife jump up and give me a big hug saying thank you for saving my life ! The man had a massive heart attack and was in major depression during his recovery. She said he just sat around with little will to live. I guess she found the car on Craig's List knowing he always wanted a Charger.She bought it and had it delivered. Instantly, she said, "He perked up and would go out in the garage with his walker for hours waxing a bit at a time but mostly dreaming about driving it." It gave him motivation to get better. Now they both enjoy it and each other.They looked up photos of a few magazine articles and found out I was the owner/builder. I had sold it to a collector about 6 years before at the SEMA show. Even though the car had changed hands several times after me. This was one of the highlights of my life to say the least !

Darter6 said:

Ed, great woman you got there. I can share a cool story kinda like yours,
Atlanta Georgia, Now I'm from out west but was back east in my racing days. Went to a local car show and I see one of my old cars.Went over to the guy and introduced myself. He and his wife jump up and give me a big hug saying thank you for saving my life ! The man had a massive heart attack and was in major depression during his recovery. She said he just sat around with little will to live. I guess she found the car on Craig's List knowing he always wanted a Charger.She bought it and had it delivered. Instantly, she said, "He perked up and would go out in the garage with his walker for hours waxing a bit at a time but mostly dreaming about driving it." It gave him motivation to get better. Now they both enjoy it and each other.They looked up photos of a few magazine articles and found out I was the owner/builder. I had sold it to a collector about 6 years before at the SEMA show. Even though the car had changed hands several times after me. This was one of the highlights of my life to say the least !

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That's outstanding, sir. Thanks for sharing that!
Little do we know sometimes, eh?

moparedtn said:

This topic has led me to approach the subject with my wife again, so it's been productive at least up here on the ridge.
She assured me she was still of the mindset regarding travel and that she knew we were going to "Winnebago" it one day
because I want to so badly - but she did bring something to my attention I hadn't realized before, too.
Quite the eye-opener, really:

She has, of course, been along for the whole roller coaster of my health issues lo these last 6-7 years. She's seen me dead,
struggling, barely functioning, all that crap and she's stuck with me through all of it.
That part is no revelation, but the part that was - was when she told me she always felt that she had "lost" a part of me in
the process.
To her, I had made it through all that alive, but that the Ed she fell in love with and married never quite came back all the way.
That was surprising to me to say the least, but as I thought about it, I realized what she was saying was true and made sense.
All the physical stuff - hospitals, recoveries, medicines, treatments, all that jazz I had made it though were one thing, but the
constant struggle and fight just to maintain basic functions had taken their toll on me.
I was pretty much in an animal survival state at times and in a determined, probably grouchy mood in others as I fought the fight.
It had to be pure hell for her at times. :-(

As I contemplated what she was revealing to me, she immediately kicked in with "but....."
She then told me that the first time that she knew I'd "come back" to her one day was when I started working on the car again -
she knew how damn hardheaded I am once I set my mind to something, so seeing me drag my dead *** out to the garage every
day was the first sign she saw that I wasn't done yet - and me at my best is me being doggedly determined.
It must have been the first sign of encouragement to her in a long time and it made quite the impression.
You can TELL someone over and over not to give up on you, but they have to SEE it sometimes, you know?
Walk it, don't just talk it...that sort of thing.

Well, a lot of things finally made sense to me that happened back then when she told me all this, good and bad.
After all this revealing, I asked her if she thought "Ed was back" now.
She smiled at me and said "the day you brought me out to the garage and showed me the car and said "it's done!" then
yes, that day I finally knew I had you back."
She melted my damn heart at that point.
I didn't realize....

I got it pretty good, folks. Better than I even realized.

Click to expand...

I think your wife and you should lecture couples wanting to get married. Your post says what its all about. With me its a reversed situation and instead of a car its a house. Either way its about commitment, something that may be lacking today.

I wholeheartedly agree with whomever said these things are not mutually exclusive. I have a beautiful vintage muscle car that I’ve had for 47 years and I’ve traveled the USA and half,the world to great enjoyment. You can do both - and why wouldn’t you? If you can only do one or want to only do one - than to each his own. There’s a whole wide world out there with tons of amazing people and things to get acquainted with. To isolate your self to the US and it’s people and customs is limiting your potential to grow in exponential ways.

I've been to a few foreign countries
traveling is good & all
I did it a shitload when I was younger

I have no interest in going to Europe
my family is German & Norwegian mostly
I'm an American 1st, the rest is ancestry, I can't do **** about...

I do want to go to see New Zealand
that's still on 'my bucket list'
I was gonna' go to South Africa, no good reason now
too much BS going on in too many places

I traveled in a bunch of touristy places in Mexico too
loved them all
Usually traveled with the buds or kids
sometime the significant others too

Lisa been gone for 2 decades now
I don't worry about any of that, as much as I miss her
she loved horses & rodeo, did barrel racing & cutting horses etc.
we did a lot of truck time together
you really get to know someone in a car/truck 24/7

Hell I haven't seen all I can in California yet even...

I've been to almost all 50 states & Puerto Rico
(mostly racing, but some pleasure vacations or work too)
Mexico, Canada, love the Yukon, Alaska,
I was more into camping, driving
than flying & staying in airports or hotels constantly
"after all I had to travel a lot for business, it sucks, living out of a suitcase"
sometime it's just a burden & you want to be 'a home body'

I've been to Hawaii over a dozen times, seen all the islands
all of them multiple times
Been to the US Virgin Islands, pretty cool
been to Jamaica too, it was a scam artist dream,
right off the cruse ship, I'd never go there again
been to Costa Rica,
also Tahiti & American Samoa when I was young
before I got hooked up to 'one exclusive woman'

Now
I just assume stay home & I love it
take the car out locally & cruise around for a while
perks me right up

been there done that, is the old saying

IMO traveling abroad is overrated, to me anyway
(don't get me wrong there's a select few places I'd love to still see)
I love my country & I've seem most of it
"in a truck towing a 45' trailer usually",
it goes by slow, it's not like a flyover
there's so damn much here in the USA to see
& I've been back & forth west to east & visa versa
some 35+ times on the road
or in a plane 100's of times, to some job/contract etc.
(mostly western & southwestern US)
& I still have only 'scraped the surface' of seeing much of it,
still so damn much to see here 1st
long before I'd ever think of going overseas to Europe or even Africa


I'm content, I don't need to travel anymore
been there done that
I still care more about my racing history & those memories
of the people I met, far more than the places I went...
My life revolved around cars & the car business
racing, my dogs/hunting/camping, my kids or Lisa & her horses...

I saw to each their own

If that's what you want to do, go do it
don't let someone else, tell you,
what's good for you !!
or not, just because that's what they chose to do
'married/single or not'

"I couldn't care any less"
what others think it's my life
or
how my money was to be spent on
what I deem necessary &/or my time
"not yours/not theirs"

Everyone isn't the same
Thank God, it'd be a boring *** world otherwise
not matter where you go or stay...
Some people here get off on telling you,
"you need 'or should', do this or that"
BS they're wrong, **** them, it's your life, you chose,
don't be a prick... like them...

I will say the deep south all from the southwest to Alabama
is some of the most friendly & wholesome (godly too)
& giving people, you'll ever meet...

my $5 worth

I heard from my friend today, she made to our other friend's house in Sidney. Balcony looks out over the water at the bridge. Looked it up it's 8,300 miles away from Colorado. Round trip air fare could be had for under $1k. I thought it would be 4X that.

vintage chromoly said:

Please disclose the location of these beaches for the single guys among us.

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Ladies Bay in Auckland...New Zealand. Full nude beach. Friend of mine went there about 35 years ago...burnt his helmet. Apparently it was obviously his first time there.

I agree with those that say they don't want to leave the states. So much to see here! My wife and I have the best of both. Bought a coach and use it as a tow vehicle for the track and vacations when we need them. Best way to go anywhere in my opinion. The thing that kills me about this topic is more how the car hobby gets treated by outsiders. If you're a sports fan you are "Passionate ". If you're a car guy (racers especially ) you're "Obsessed "!

Chargerjase said:

Here is a reason why you should travel outside the USA.

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Are people in other countries as dumb as many Americans are ?

WileERobby said:

Are people in other countries as dumb as many Americans are ?

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Yep!!

Chargerjase said:

Yep!!

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That guy made some serious coin from being a dumb-***

Unbelievably, he did.