Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[MechanicMatt]

I'm unblessed to have to wait till 4/16!!!

Honestly, we should do some fishing up at the cabin this year. They will let you put a (non-motorized) boat in Cannonsville if you get it "cleaned". (It is part of the NYC Reservoir system).

There are also streams that will let you catch and keep native (unstocked) trout!

When I was fishing from shore with my girls (when they were young), a guy with a boat was fishing just past where we could cast ... and he pulled up a 17 lb Brown! Hey, is that Haywire drooling???

I actually have a second boat now

I just need to grab it….

Up to two boats and a jet ski

The bass boat is fun for fishing

This second one is more family friendly, 2009 Bayliner 185.

Jet Ski was because a pal needed quick cash for Christmas….

I know, I know “not smart investments”

But, hey they’re fun…….

 

[MechanicMatt]

So, I’ll bounce these two ideas off the guys who’s opinions I value

Last fall I was able to grab a building lot in a gated community in Pennsylvania for a song and a dance

I could list the property and current market values, probably net 8-9 grand

My dad and best buddy are telling me to build a house on it and sell it.

My pal said, “you wanna make 10g or 100g?”
My dad says, no risk no reward

I know the payoff can be big if I go big, but it’s a big gamble to invest 200 to sell for 300, what If it doesn’t sell right away….

I mean I’m sure it would as the market for that area has non “new” homes selling for more. But I’m sure you guys know what I mean by being a little nervous


Or, do I just sit on it for a bit??

 

[MechanicMatt]

I honestly grabbed it thinking I could build a house on it and let one of my daughters move in there. But after showing both of them the property neither one seems to like the area.

I know they’re both young and they might change their opinions later, so maybe I just sit on it

 

[Gardiner Schneider]

I bought my 2006 Mustang in late 2005. The wife saw the poster of the Ford GT on the wall and said: "I like this". I replied: "OK we will get that". When she found out it was $125,000, she folded and said: "We can't afford that". I told her: "Yes we can, I'll raid my retirement, it will be a good investment".

She would not go along with the plan, but they are now worth many times that purchase price! WOMEN!!! They ruin all your good plans!

That was as bad as the time I found an original 427 AC Cobra. They were selling it for $65,000. I told them they were crazy, my house only cost me $36,000!

Well, the house also appreciated nicely! Five years later I sold it for $120,000. Just wish I had more money back then! (In the late 70s). In the mid 70s I got my "pristine" 70 Boss 302 (engine had a spun bearing) for $800, and the 68 Factory 428 CJ Mustang with 4:30 drag pack option for $1,200). If we could just roll back time!

"if we could just roll back time.." My father died when I was sixteen and left my Mother a 'Benz with doors that went up in the air. she sold it a couple of years later to pay for a few years of my time at an engineering school. Sixty years later, that car is now worth more than I am.

 

[Ryan A]

What’s your cost per year in taxes to hold it Matt?

 

[Lee192233]

M

"if we could just roll back time.." My father died when I was sixteen and left my Mother a 'Benz with doors that went up in the air. she sold it a couple of years later to pay for a few years of my time at an engineering school. Sixty years later, that car is now worth more than I am.

Mid 50s 300SL?
Like this?

 

[Ryan A]

M

Mid 50s 300SL?
Like this?View attachment 1247926

Gull wing I believe they call them.

 

[MechanicMatt]

"if we could just roll back time.." My father died when I was sixteen and left my Mother a 'Benz with doors that went up in the air. she sold it a couple of years later to pay for a few years of my time at an engineering school. Sixty years later, that car is now worth more than I am.

I dunno, the Gullwing is iconic and worth a ton

But I’m sure that education, gave you a career and that career provided for your family

And if you added up every Year End Total Income, for your engineering career…. It’d be more than that beautiful piece of German Automotive History

So, in retrospect, your mom made the wise choice

 

[MechanicMatt]

What’s your cost per year in taxes to hold it Matt?

@550

 

[MechanicMatt]

@Ryan A then another 8 in dues….

Gated community BS, ya know….

 

[MechanicMatt]

Actually just got the “yearly letter” the other day, made me start brainstorming about it again

 

[svk]

Here is a good one for you about when I bought my Rayco 1665 Stump grinder. I spoke with the guy beforehand on this unit. Does it run?, oh yeah. Are there any issues with it?, nope, I've used it several times. Are the cutter wheel bearings good,? yes. I told him to check them for me and how to check them. Again, they are not loose. Asking $2500 or b.o. I believe that I offered him $2200 for it. It was over a 2 hour drive to pick it up.

I get there and this is what I find. It wouldn't start. Then he says the alternator is not charging, the belt has almost an inch of slack in it. I bend over and push the cutter wheel back and forth. The bearings are wiped out really bad. He says that he couldn't get it to move. I asked if the main telescoping boom works. He says it is a little bit rusted up from sitting. I found out later on that there is a mild kink in the outer beam causing that issue. I bought this for $1600. Had I known the main beam was kinked I might have given him $1000. The points were corroded, carb crusted up, fuel pump diaphram shot, cutter wheel bearings shot and the drive chain was pretty well shot too. The moral of this story is to never trust or believe a seller until you actually look at it and run it.

Two falls ago I see an ad for this vintage snowmobile. Start talking to him “ya runs good”

I get out there and yeah, it runs great but the nylon gears on the drive sprocket are completely blown out which means first of all it’s a day of taking apart and hoping to heck that you can actually get it apart without destroying anything else because it’s 51 years old. Then you need to find the right replacement part and put it all back together.

It really took all I could to not freak out on the guy for wasting my whole afternoon thanks to that purposely omitted information. I saw he had it up for sale off and on again for several months and the price kept going down and down. Idiot. The thing that pissed me off the most is that was the last nice afternoon of the fall and I spent it driving around for something that I never would’ve considered had I known it needed that much work.

 

[svk]

So, I’ll bounce these two ideas off the guys who’s opinions I value

Last fall I was able to grab a building lot in a gated community in Pennsylvania for a song and a dance

I could list the property and current market values, probably net 8-9 grand

My dad and best buddy are telling me to build a house on it and sell it.

My pal said, “you wanna make 10g or 100g?”
My dad says, no risk no reward

I know the payoff can be big if I go big, but it’s a big gamble to invest 200 to sell for 300, what If it doesn’t sell right away….

I mean I’m sure it would as the market for that area has non “new” homes selling for more. But I’m sure you guys know what I mean by being a little nervous


Or, do I just sit on it for a bit??

Not to discourage you in building, but let me ask you a couple of questions…

Knowing that you’re working full-time in NY, I’m guessing you’re gonna have to hire a general contractor over in PA to oversee everything in the build. I don’t know what the contractor situation is out there but around here it’s impossible to find good people. And when you do, they are usually booked out for months. Then you have the cost of materials which are so god-awful expensive at this point.

If you’ve run the numbers and can make 100K after paying materials and the general contractor and can afford to either put up the cash or finance the amount needed to build everything, then you absolutely should do it. But unless there’s a big reward at the end, I would just sell the lot and take the profit.

 

[benz66]

"if we could just roll back time.." My father died when I was sixteen and left my Mother a 'Benz with doors that went up in the air. she sold it a couple of years later to pay for a few years of my time at an engineering school. Sixty years later, that car is now worth more than I am.

300SL Gullwing... In 1982, I turned down an offer to drive one, accelerating as hard as I could toward a fence, then jam on the brakes to see if they hold or fade (water in the fluid). I had the owner do it. He did not hit the fence, so he passed the tech inspection for Road America. I did not want to pay the repair bills if it failed. All the other MBs, I tested myself.

In 1974, I was in Denver. The subaru stealership had a beautiful 300 SL Roadster (no gull wings) with hard top and soft top. Only 13,000 miles, in MB Blue. Only $7,000. I no more had $7000 than $500. But I sure did try to find some way to buy it. I would have been a slave to the car had I figured out a way to buy it. Any way I did the math it was the same. What a droolworthy car. I drooled over it.

 

[chipper1]

@Ryan A then another 8 in dues….

Gated community BS, ya know….

Sell it and reinvest the money.

 

[JimR]

I've seen burned/melted pins in the fuse panel connectors of that vintage GMs. Remove the panel and loosen the bolts that hold the connectors in the panel, remove the connectors and inspect the pins.

I pulled all 3 connector blocks off. They all look great and no corrosconnectors tried pushing in all the wires to make sure none had come out of the connections.

 

[JimR]

Lots

It’s been 10years but i remember clearly that a lot of the brake lamp issues relate to C2 of the fuse box located where your left foot would kick the center console riding shotgun

There was a TSB out for it

My brake lights work fine. It is the parking lights that don't work. I'll check that panel when it warms up in a few days. It is 22 here today. Thanks

 

[JimR]

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2017/MC-10126014-9999.pdf

Thanks for that info Matt.

 

[Lee192233]

I pulled all 3 connector blocks off. They all look great and no corrosconnectors tried pushing in all the wires to make sure none had come out of the connections.

Here's a wiring diagram. Do the front parking lamps work?

 

[JimR]

So, I’ll bounce these two ideas off the guys who’s opinions I value

Last fall I was able to grab a building lot in a gated community in Pennsylvania for a song and a dance

I could list the property and current market values, probably net 8-9 grand

My dad and best buddy are telling me to build a house on it and sell it.

My pal said, “you wanna make 10g or 100g?”
My dad says, no risk no reward

I know the payoff can be big if I go big, but it’s a big gamble to invest 200 to sell for 300, what If it doesn’t sell right away….

I mean I’m sure it would as the market for that area has non “new” homes selling for more. But I’m sure you guys know what I mean by being a little nervous


Or, do I just sit on it for a bit??

If you build, it will sell. There is a housing shortage almost everywhere now. You may shat your pants when you see the high cost for building a house today. My daughter's 3 bedroom 2 story house built on her owned lot 3 years ago was $265k to build. That was with a geo thermal heating system. Last year the town valued it at $515K. She also had the garage foundation put in. Last Fall she had the attached 2 car garage built. That 2 stall garage was $85K. Contractors are ripping people off. I told her that she was nuts to have hired tat guy. She said that 3 contractors all had almost the exact same price.