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Automotive News & Views Are gas prices fueling your pain? 
10042 messages, Last post on Jul 12, 2008 at 3:07 PM
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Replying to: 1stpik (Jan 17, 2008 6:14 pm) Something classy about your pizza rolling up in a 79 Newport. Almost as good as having the limo driver go get the pizza. You would not want to stink up the limo with garlic and anchovy smells though.
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Replying to: chuckhoy (Jan 17, 2008 8:37 pm) That may not be the best way to do it as HELOC usually have a much higher interest rate than new car loans and the taxes saved usually don't make up the difference.
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Replying to: 1stpik (Jan 17, 2008 6:14 pm) Ecosystems have been destroyed and reborn for millenium without our Newports. It's nothing new, and since man is natural, any ecosystems we destroy is natural too.  I hear the area around Mt. St. Helene's is recovering nicely.
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Replying to: 1stpik (Jan 17, 2008 5:46 pm) Did everybody move to the suburbs because the cities became crime-infested hell holes or did the cities become crime-infested hell holes because everybody ran away to the suburbs? I think the flight of the middle class to the suburbs greatly contributed to the decline of cities. Those left behind are mostly poor and can't afford to leave the city or very wealthy and can live in the most exclusive neighborhoods. Well, $3/gallon gas might be the savior of cities as people start moving back into the cities. I don't know how you suburbanites can deal with those hellish commutes without going psycho let alone the insane price of fuel. |
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Replying to: kernick (Jan 18, 2008 5:07 am) If as science tells us that 95% of all flora and fauna that has existed on earth is now extinct, why the big push to try and change evolution? Species come and go, why sweat the snail darter or some goofy owl? It is only a sign of man's ignorance to try and change what he has NO power to change. I watched some mortals in 1990 trying to divert the lava flow on Hawaii. They thought they could protect some homes and an old church. They moved the church and most of the homes were destroyed. What is man, that thinks he can subvert nature?
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Replying to: gagrice (Jan 17, 2008 9:46 pm)
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Replying to: lemko (Jan 18, 2008 5:52 am) I think it just moves the problems to a different area of the city. I know they have renovated many older buildings in downtown San Diego. They are all expensive condos. You can buy a lot of $4 gas for the $400k plus difference in price. There is an interesting situation taking place in the worst part of San Diego. Yuppies have started buying up these old homes and renovating or rebuilding. This has pushed the poor residents out to the deteriorating suburbs. Hard to find fixer in San Diego city under $350k now.
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Replying to: snakeweasel (Jan 18, 2008 4:57 am) When I did my HELOC back in early 2005, it started at 5.5%, which seemed reasonable. In my tax bracket, I figure the "real" rate was about 3.75%. Unfortunately, the Fed started playing around with interest rates, and a year and a half later I was up to 8.5%. I'm down to 7.5%, which the tax break probably brings down to about 5.2%. Right now my credit union is offering 5.4% on a car loan. 5.05% if you do 3 years or less. And I'm sure I could do better than that, especially with some of the fire sale financing the domestics are doing. One area where HELOCs can get dangerous is that you only have to pay the interest portion each month for the first 10 years or so. And if you stay on good terms with them, they'll draw that out further. So a $20,000 car, put on an HELOC at 7.5%, would only be $125 per month. In contrast, my Intrepid, of which I financed about that much, was $347.66 at 0.9%, for 60 months. So that low monthly payment can be seductive...until you realize that you're paying on it forever and not getting anywhere! In my case, I'm trying to pay my HELOC down as fast as I can, although with the rates dropping, and possibly dropping again soon depending on what the Fed does, I might slack up on that and put the money to other uses.
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Replying to: gagrice (Jan 18, 2008 6:11 am) That's happening in DC, too. Seems like everytime I go into town, there's another vast hole in the ground where they're doing some kind of construction. And on a smaller scale, old abandoned homes that are still structurally sound are being renovated and sold at a tremendous cost. It's creating a situation where, to go from a good neighborhood to a bad neighborhood, all you have to do is walk next door! On one hand, it's getting rid of a lot of bad people, and making the neighborhoods safer. But still, those bad people are going somewhere, so the problem is just getting moved instead of taken care of. And a lot of good people, who just don't have the money, are losing their homes because they just can't afford the rising taxes and such. |
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Replying to: lemko (Jan 18, 2008 5:58 am) Oh they tried several times, but I had a few tricks up my sleeve. Some of these tricks were really taking chances, but I was a valuable enough employee to them that I figured I could risk it. People tend to act differently towards you when you have one of those signs on your car. They'll report you for speeding or reckless driving even when you're doing the limit and behaving. They'll drive extra slow in front of you, cut you off, etc. They'll pull up beside you and start begging for a free pizza. And those signs are also a big invitation that says "ROB ME!" I let the manager know that because of all these safety risks, that if he made me put a sign on the car, I would hold him personally responsible for any harm that came my way with that sign on the car. That would actually make a lot of them back down. I also told them that I would hold them responsible for any damage that came to my car from the magnets on that sign scratching the paint. And if my car developed any electrical problems, I would blame it on the sign, which plugged into the cigarette lighter, and they'd be getting the bill. Once or twice, I'll also confess that I lost those car toppers. Honestly, I don't know what happened...it was on the car when I went out...dunno why it wasn't there when I came back.  One of the real kickers though, was when I had my '86 Monte Carlo, which I tried to replace the Newport with...until the Monte got t-boned. One of the managers actually went out and put a sign on my roof. Well, he was standing out there, smoking, talking with some of his friends, and not really paying attention. These signs were triangular when viewed from the side, the the magnets on the bottom, and the company name on the front and back. I took the sign, and laid it on its side so that magnets weren't holding. The manager didn't notice what I was doing. Then I hopped in the car, fired it up, and gunned the motor so he'd notice. Then revved it up, threw it into gear, and peeled out...quick enough to literally drive out from under the sign. He wasn't amused, but his friends thought it was funny. And that was the last time he tried to put a sign on my car! But there were other managers. Once I got the Intrepid, which got much better fuel economy, they had pretty much given up on trying to make me use a car topper. They knew full well that I wouldn't allow them to put one on a brand-new, shiny car. They also made a different type, that attached to the window and you'd roll it up, but because of the way the Intrepid's roofline curved, it wouldn't work. That one also wouldn't work on the Newport, because it had frameless door windows, and it would have probably messed up the rubber window seal. As for that Newport being classy? Well, here's an old picture I took of it, in all its $250 glory, back in the winter of 1998, with lots of road grime on it. I actually miss that car. It had a 318-2bbl, so it really wasn't THAT bad on gas. I'd get about 13 delivering pizzas, but out on the open highway it would get into the lower 20's. I have a pair of '79 New Yorkers now with 360-2bbls, that get more like 10-11 around town, and if I'm lucky, probably 15-16 on the highway. The 360 has a lot more kick to it on acceleration, but you pay for it in fuel economy. Out on the open highway though, at higher speeds, the 318 didn't seem to give up much to the 360 when it came to passing power, etc. Still, not something I'd want to have to deliver pizzas in nowadays. |
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