That's a great big hell no. By the time I was 16 I already knew at least two guys who got crushed by their own cars. That's when I learned to get the car on solid jackstands and do everything I can to try to knock the car off of them before I crawl underneath. I'd rather bend metal than die.
It looks like he's at least not supporting it solely with the engine hoist. Looks like he's got a steel frame there too. Of course, it looks like that frame is resting on the hoist, which is on wheels, so not something I'd be willing to do.
More impressed that that's a Datsun 240Z, 1973/4... my best friend had one in high school that we kept together with electricians tape (the electrical system sucked and shorted allll the time) and prayers. Ain't many of them left....
Engine & tranny are both out. You could damn near lift that thing by hand without them and there’s a big ass hole he’d fit through. Looks like a 76 or 77 280Z based on the injection system on the engine and the rear bumper. The Vette’s are about the same year; can’t be certain without a look at bumpers or emblems…
When they first came out, I wanted one but the local Datsun dealer was only allocated one and he had a deal with the buyer to have it in the showroom for a while. I ended up buying a Fiat 124 Sport Coupe. Learned a lot about Fiats in the year I had it. #1: Don't buy a Fiat. Ever.
Just as a warning, I rented a Kia Soul, for a week, about a month ago, while my car was in the shop. I hated it. I told my mechanic, and he told me that he had one sitting in his back lot, over a month, waiting for the Ford company sent their rep. to ok a new engine for it. The guy walked in, and the first thing the guy said was, " blown 3rd piston, right?" My mechanic asked him, how did he know? Apparently, in Grand Rapids, at the dealership, they have 34 of them sitting with the exact same problem. My car is a 2007 Pontiac Torrent. About a year ago, the value dropped below 4k. I dropped full coverage insurance on it, saving about 50$ a month, not a bunch, but 600$ a year, which adds up, when you are on a limited income. I recently looked and the value is back over that 4k. I am not going to change my insurance, still going to take my chances, and self insure, and will just buy a POS car if this one is totaled, and then buy a better one, when the prices come back to a reasonable price. I just read that a new car bought 3 years ago, is worth more now than it would be if purchased new. That's right, a 3 year old car is worth more now than a brand new car. That is just unimaginable to me. It used to be that a car was worth about a grand less when you drove it off the dealers lot. Now, not only can you drive it off the lot, but you can drive it for 3 years, and it is worth MORE! Thanks Joe Biden?
When I was 18, I got my only full time job, at a foundry, and at 18, bought a house, for 16,500$. I had found that as a single person, I was making decent money, for me, and blowing it. So I bought a house, as a way of investing it into something solid. This was the Jimmy Carter era, and the interest rate had started at 11%, and following Reagan's election, it jumped up to 21%. I bought the house on a land contract, and could not refinance at such a rate. If I were to give advice to a young person right now, or even to someone in their 30's or 40's, I would tell them, don't buy, rent. And save money in a way that will allow it to hold it's value. As cash, it's value will drop. But if you buy things, the value of that will go up. For example, you take that dollar, and buy a can of green beans. Sit that can on the shelf. In a month that can will be selling for 1.25$. so you just made .25 cents on that dollar. But if you had kept that dollar in your wallet, it is now worth only .75 cents, because you have to add .25 cents to buy that same can of green beans that you have sitting on your shelf. Some people try and buy things like stocks or property. And if they are really good at it, they can make money in large amounts. But they have to really know their shit to make the big money. The best you can do is just invest in mutual funds, which is just like putting it into the bank, and letting the bankers play the market for you. Myself, I would rather have a well stocked pantry, than an extra thousand dollars in the bank, if I already have 5,000$ in the bank. Of course, first get rid of debt. Then get some savings built up, to what ever amount you think is wise. At the same time, try and buy an extra can or bag or box of whatever your family eats every week or two. Don't worry if you have 5 or 10 boxes of hamburger helper. It really won't spoil. If you have a freezer, and boneless skinless chicken of any kind goes on sale, buy some. You know how hamburger is expensive, like 4$ a pound? Or more? Well, when you buy boneless, skinless chicken for a buck a pound, and grind it, with your own hand grinder, you just made your own ground meat, to make chili, spaghetti with meat sauce, taco meat, only with ground chicken instead of ground beef. Use your imagination. That hamburger helper that you have 10 boxes of? Chicken works also. You can also buy canned salmon and do similar things, to a point, mixing a few crushed crackers, or not. Basically, if I were to have a major audience, I would give the advice in simple terms. Act like we know that we are heading into the Great Depression, and will be in it for the next 5 years. Do the things that you have heard that our forebears did, in order to get by, some well enough to help feed the hungry that came by, knowing that they could get a meal from their house. Even people who didn't live on a farm made sure to grow at least a few vegetables, on the porch, to supplement their supply of food, to stretch their finances, even if by only 10$ per week, for the 8 weeks of summer that the crops produced. I know this is long, I will split it into two posts if I have to. I just think that serious times are coming, and only those who are prepared will thrive. Of course, defending your homes goes without saying.
Talked my 21 year old son into buying a house a few years back. He’s about $100k away from doubling up on the house the bank bought him for $490k…and ready to sell to pay cash on a place out in the sticks. He says he can’t thank me enough for putting him in an FU position by age 24.
I'm sure many of us has done something similar and not many of us were killed doing so.
ReplyDeleteDaryl
I did this and it killed me.....
Delete> I did this and it killed me.....
DeleteSorry to hear that. Hope you get better soon.
FrankP
That's a great big hell no. By the time I was 16 I already knew at least two guys who got crushed by their own cars. That's when I learned to get the car on solid jackstands and do everything I can to try to knock the car off of them before I crawl underneath. I'd rather bend metal than die.
ReplyDeleteDatsun 280Z with a couple of Corvettes.....?
ReplyDeleteEd357
Definitely no HMO in t6hat neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like he's at least not supporting it solely with the engine hoist. Looks like he's got a steel frame there too. Of course, it looks like that frame is resting on the hoist, which is on wheels, so not something I'd be willing to do.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet his late father taught him to do that.
ReplyDeleteLooks like my first car. 71 240 Z.
ReplyDeleteMore impressed that that's a Datsun 240Z, 1973/4... my best friend had one in high school that we kept together with electricians tape (the electrical system sucked and shorted allll the time) and prayers. Ain't many of them left....
ReplyDeletethat and it looks like the engine is out on the ground next to him... makes the car weight next-to-nothing without that in it...
ReplyDeleteEngine & tranny are both out. You could damn near lift that thing by hand without them and there’s a big ass hole he’d fit through. Looks like a 76 or 77 280Z based on the injection system on the engine and the rear bumper. The Vette’s are about the same year; can’t be certain without a look at bumpers or emblems…
ReplyDeleteWhen they first came out, I wanted one but the local Datsun dealer was only allocated one and he had a deal with the buyer to have it in the showroom for a while. I ended up buying a Fiat 124 Sport Coupe. Learned a lot about Fiats in the year I had it. #1: Don't buy a Fiat. Ever.
ReplyDeleteJust as a warning, I rented a Kia Soul, for a week, about a month ago, while my car was in the shop. I hated it. I told my mechanic, and he told me that he had one sitting in his back lot, over a month, waiting for the Ford company sent their rep. to ok a new engine for it. The guy walked in, and the first thing the guy said was, " blown 3rd piston, right?" My mechanic asked him, how did he know? Apparently, in Grand Rapids, at the dealership, they have 34 of them sitting with the exact same problem.
ReplyDeleteMy car is a 2007 Pontiac Torrent. About a year ago, the value dropped below 4k. I dropped full coverage insurance on it, saving about 50$ a month, not a bunch, but 600$ a year, which adds up, when you are on a limited income.
I recently looked and the value is back over that 4k. I am not going to change my insurance, still going to take my chances, and self insure, and will just buy a POS car if this one is totaled, and then buy a better one, when the prices come back to a reasonable price. I just read that a new car bought 3 years ago, is worth more now than it would be if purchased new. That's right, a 3 year old car is worth more now than a brand new car. That is just unimaginable to me. It used to be that a car was worth about a grand less when you drove it off the dealers lot. Now, not only can you drive it off the lot, but you can drive it for 3 years, and it is worth MORE!
Thanks Joe Biden?
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 18, I got my only full time job, at a foundry, and at 18, bought a house, for 16,500$. I had found that as a single person, I was making decent money, for me, and blowing it. So I bought a house, as a way of investing it into something solid. This was the Jimmy Carter era, and the interest rate had started at 11%, and following Reagan's election, it jumped up to 21%. I bought the house on a land contract, and could not refinance at such a rate. If I were to give advice to a young person right now, or even to someone in their 30's or 40's, I would tell them, don't buy, rent. And save money in a way that will allow it to hold it's value. As cash, it's value will drop. But if you buy things, the value of that will go up. For example, you take that dollar, and buy a can of green beans. Sit that can on the shelf. In a month that can will be selling for 1.25$. so you just made .25 cents on that dollar. But if you had kept that dollar in your wallet, it is now worth only .75 cents, because you have to add .25 cents to buy that same can of green beans that you have sitting on your shelf.
Some people try and buy things like stocks or property. And if they are really good at it, they can make money in large amounts. But they have to really know their shit to make the big money. The best you can do is just invest in mutual funds, which is just like putting it into the bank, and letting the bankers play the market for you.
Myself, I would rather have a well stocked pantry, than an extra thousand dollars in the bank, if I already have 5,000$ in the bank. Of course, first get rid of debt. Then get some savings built up, to what ever amount you think is wise. At the same time, try and buy an extra can or bag or box of whatever your family eats every week or two. Don't worry if you have 5 or 10 boxes of hamburger helper. It really won't spoil. If you have a freezer, and boneless skinless chicken of any kind goes on sale, buy some. You know how hamburger is expensive, like 4$ a pound? Or more? Well, when you buy boneless, skinless chicken for a buck a pound, and grind it, with your own hand grinder, you just made your own ground meat, to make chili, spaghetti with meat sauce, taco meat, only with ground chicken instead of ground beef. Use your imagination. That hamburger helper that you have 10 boxes of? Chicken works also. You can also buy canned salmon and do similar things, to a point, mixing a few crushed crackers, or not.
Basically, if I were to have a major audience, I would give the advice in simple terms. Act like we know that we are heading into the Great Depression, and will be in it for the next 5 years. Do the things that you have heard that our forebears did, in order to get by, some well enough to help feed the hungry that came by, knowing that they could get a meal from their house. Even people who didn't live on a farm made sure to grow at least a few vegetables, on the porch, to supplement their supply of food, to stretch their finances, even if by only 10$ per week, for the 8 weeks of summer that the crops produced.
I know this is long, I will split it into two posts if I have to. I just think that serious times are coming, and only those who are prepared will thrive. Of course, defending your homes goes without saying.
Talked my 21 year old son into buying a house a few years back. He’s about $100k away from doubling up on the house the bank bought him for $490k…and ready to sell to pay cash on a place out in the sticks. He says he can’t thank me enough for putting him in an FU position by age 24.
DeleteF'k the HOA. If I want to do and engine change in my own dirt yard, that's my business.
ReplyDelete