Uh Oh!

Sorry JT,
I didn't mean to put a negative spin on Reno. It's a beautiful area, with a lot to do outside of the casinos. I was just pointing out that I didn't think gaming was immune to the downturn. I agree with you about Las Vegas. I talked to a friend today who had just returned from the big gaming trade show in Las Vegas. He said the show was down from 60,000 attendance last year to 20,000 this year.

I have tried to refrain from commenting too much on here, as I thought my view of the next few years was too negative. From other folk's comments, I guess I'm not the only one with these feelings.

Casey, I agree with your points. Regarding #7, a couple of weeks ago I heard a young woman interviewing an oldster in his 90's who was a teenager during the Depression. After he told how his community handled the bank shutdown, she said "what do you think will happen if we have another Depression." He laughed and said "Everyone will move back home, just like they did the last time." Most of us with grown children or relatives with financial problems probably should be prepared.
Lyle
 
Haven't been here in a long while. Got here looking for Aurora Borealis pics. for our granddaughters.

Couldn't help appreciating the variety of views on this thread over its length span. Then it suddenly went quiet. And oddly, here we are in the biggest economic upheaval I have seen in my 69 years, and apparently no comments in the past several months.

Commentary on such subjects back in the days of the C-Dogs and the beginning of the C-Brats, were considered verboten, and not related to the boating pasttime. El & Bill did a beautiful job of segueing a mostly economic and political discussion into our daily boating lives, and rightly so. This economic mess is affecting all of us who care, and probably most who don't even have to pay attention. Hope and Change don't seem to be working out for us, and pretty soon we all are going to speak loud enough that perhaps some fundamental changes will be made in our Government.

No room now in my life for a C-Dory, but I sure enjoyed the ride. Hope the economy perks, and gas prices are less worrisome. My C-Dory became a Miata, so I still burn gas for pleasure (32 mpg.) with no guilt at all.

McC
 
Ken,

I think most of us who participated in this thread are still actively reading and thinking about current economic and social situation(s); but most are sort of keeping their heads down and holding-on.

To put it another way - we've battened down the hatches and may be preparing for continued storm conditions. I, for one, don't think it's over (I hate to say that, but that's what I think).

But I'm glad you brought the thread back to the surface - it should bring about some interesting comments and perspectives.

Best,
Casey
 
KenMcC":3f1taogs said:
Haven't been here in a long while. Got here looking for Aurora Borealis pics. for our granddaughters. <discussion clipped>
McC
Click to expand...

Ken-

Nice hearing from you! Its been quite a while!

I hope you and your family are doing well down in New Mexico!

I still consider you one of the gang, going back quite a few years now, and over several C-Dory sites.

I still very much appreciate the effort you put into running the C-DOG site during the difficult years when we had both sites.

You'll always be appreciated for your work and thoughtfulness!

Thanks, again!


Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Life's not about waiting for the storm to be over. It's about learning to dance in the rain.

Thanks, Joe, Casey, and Roger, for the kind words, and for the info.

Recessions come and go, but this is a bad one, so hunkering down, battening hatches, and adding scope to the anchor rode probably isn't a bad idea. Meanwhile....Strike up the band, and dance your brains out!!

McC
 
KenMcC":1h26gg1q said:
My C-Dory became a Miata, so I still burn gas for pleasure (32 mpg.) with no guilt at all.

McC
Click to expand...
Ken-
My son, who had an older Miata, likes to call our 16 footer "the Miata of C-Dorydom". When he bought his second hand Miata he got a good price because it didn't have air conditioniing. He brought it home, looked under the hood and lo and behold there was an a/c compressor right there. When he tried to turn it on, he couldn't find a knob anywhere. It turns out, he told me, that, at that time, all Miatas were shipped with a/c but you only got the knob if you paid for the option. An online search produced that story and a knob. Is he just pulling my leg?

MartyP
 
Marty,

Your a/c button question reminds me of a story that has absolutely Nothing to do with C-Dory's, but I gotta share it.

In the early 70's I was a young army lieutenant in a field office near Pontiac, MI. We went to Detroit to pick up six new (Rambler?) Ambassador sedan's. At the time The AMC Ambassador's came "standard" with air conditioning, and to get them without a/c cost something like $400 MORE. (Go figure....)

When we got to the supply depot the sargeant in charge inspected the vehicles and announced that we were not "authorized" to have air conditioning, and promptly produced a large pair of wire cutters and cut the fan belt to each a/c compressor. Thus we were "in compliance" with current army reg's.

Naturally on the way home our little "convoy" stopped at a nearby auto supply store and bought six a/c compressor belts.

...so began my military life of crime and regulatory (non)compliance.

Best,
Casey
 
Great story Casey. I think the Ambassador and the Rambler were two models of Nash. I had a Nash Rambler in the early sixtys. It was a much smaller car than the Ambassador. It was a convertible of sorts, in that the canvas roof retracted along rails, like an oversized sunroof. No a/c, as I recall, and a lousy turning radius. But it was a chick magnet. "..those were the days my friend; I thought they'd never end...
1950NashRamblerConvertibleLandau-2.jpg
 
ahhh, I'm remembering the song that went something like...... :note "I pushed my foot down to the floor and what to my surprise, the little Nash Rambler was right behind me....... :note
 
Reading these reminded me of back in the 50's when I was talking a 'girl' to the Junior prom. She had on a pretty dress with all those hoops etc. and was nervous about riding in the cab of my 1939 Ford pick-up. Sooooooooo, I asked my Dad if I could just possible use his Nash (one of the ones with the big humped back like a constipated whale...). I'd never been allowed to drive it ((kids in farm country drove trucks...)) but he finally consented (with my mother's pressure and her concern for the girl's dress). On the way to the dance I drove down one of our dirt back roads and, showing off, put my right arm around the girl's shoulders. (Those were the days when cars didn't have bucket seats---or seatbelts, etc...) In any event, being age 16, no experience with this car, and nervous that she'd let me keep my arm around her shoulders, going around a curve in the gravel road the rear end slid just a bit off on the shoulder enough that a large tree limb sticking out gouged a SCRATCH down the right rear side...!!!!!! 'Nough sed. Ruined my night at the prom and in the morning when I brought my father out to show him he had me drop my pants in front of a couple of friends, took off his belt, and strapped my bare bottom till the welts stood up! (He'd done that before....) Result? That is the only "accident" I've ever had in my 70 years.... Thanks for bringing back a vivid 'memory' with talk of the grand old Nash! Wes :)
 
wesshaw":35uce0ms said:
Sooooooooo, I asked my Dad if I could just possible use his Nash (one of the ones with the big humped back like a constipated whale...). Thanks for bringing back a vivid 'memory' with talk of the grand old Nash! Wes :)
Click to expand...

1949Nash.jpg
 
Thank you for the Nash pic.... It does bring back many memories from the 50's. His car before the Nash was a LaSalle with the running boards and rumble seat I sat wrapped in many a time... After the straight-8 block cracked when the old antifreeze went dead he gave it to me but I foolishly ended up selling it for scrap... Ahhhhh, the pains of hindsight.... Wes
 
Ken-
My son, who had an older Miata, likes to call our 16 footer "the Miata of C-Dorydom". When he bought his second hand Miata he got a good price because it didn't have air conditioniing. He brought it home, looked under the hood and lo and behold there was an a/c compressor right there. When he tried to turn it on, he couldn't find a knob anywhere. It turns out, he told me, that, at that time, all Miatas were shipped with a/c but you only got the knob if you paid for the option. An online search produced that story and a knob. Is he just pulling my leg?



Hi, Marty,

So far, no truth to the rumor. I had a 1991 A Package, and there was no air conditioner under the hood.

Our Club has a lot of old-timers who have owned all 3 generations of Miatas, so I'll continue to ask around, and post if I come across anything different.

Ken
 
Another great and relevant topic here. :)

I guess I feel if I have anything worth while to add, it might be from a younger than forum median perspective on things (age 38 ).

I've never been the typical 20-something or now, 30-something (okay, I've never been "normal") I've always had an instinctual aversion to debt (am I the only one?) I've gladly passed on "comforts" in life to stay out of debt (I've never owned a credit card for example) I got my undergrad degrees in personal financial suicide a'la sociology and philosophy (would you like fries with that?) which left me well positioned to understand clearly EXACTLY why I'm poor :) Not feeling like I left myself in enough of an impoverished financial life position, I went on to get an MA in creative writing! Basically: I "wasted" 10 years--off and on--to decide all I ever really wanted was to live simply and look around before I die.

Fast forward a few years to my late-30's, post college, still never had a "real" job (baby-boomers won't get out of the way) any generation born after 1970 is like a scraggly bunch of sheep searching for what's left after a herd went through (I mean this in the nicest of ways :) ) I was born and raised in the Sierra foothills of Northern California (setting my quality of life bar pretty high) to try and stay in my home town would have required somehow affording triple digit rents or exorbant real estate prices (yes, even post bubble burst) so, I went hunting for a place that fits my needs...

...that was the upper midwest. Why? Where else can someone buy a decent house for $40K? (only a few blocks from Lake Superior) Of course there's serious and long lasting winter to contend with, and this is nothing to sweep under the rug. But, for a good honest 7 or 8 month out of the year, it's a wonderful place to live. Lower populations, the northwoods, inland freshwater seas, wood for burning, deer and fish to eat. Many of these cold parts of America never had a "boom" to then "bust".

My survival tactic (and I DO believe that's the proper word for future hardships) is to NEED as little of what THEY have to offer. My brother (and ex-girlfriend) calls it "cheap" I call it frugal. I'm not above eating venison 5 nights a week (it was good enough for the Native Americans, better for you than cow, with out all the crap pumped into it) I've harvested 3 fresh roadkill does in the past year (two happening right before my eyes, another within hours of being hit) I'm not above driving the least sexy vehicle ever sold in America (the Geo Metro XFi: which stands for "X'stingish's Female Interest":) ) they get 50-60MPG all day long, easy and cheap to work on, I have enough extra engines to drive them until the sun goes supernova. In summer I ride my Suzuki DR200 motorcycle that gets 75-85MPG, and when THAT's not enough, I walk or ride my bicycle. I don't have a mortgage, my electricity bill has never been more than $15 bucks a month, my water/natural gas bill is $100 bucks max in the winter (less since I've started burning wood) So really, buying a oldie but goodie C-Dory was a MAJOR big deal for my lifestyle, a real luxury buy. I hope that adds to the idea that these aren't your average boat, but real practical and "make's sense" modes of conveyance..I can't wait to stack vacuum sealed Lake Trout and Walleye next to my venison steaks :)

In my opinion, the biggest difficulty with this frugal lifestyle is finding a female partner who won't just "put up with it" (until you grow out of it) but BELIEVES in it, and will join forces, making it twice as easy, fun and meaningful. In no way do I wish to pick on the ladies, but by my observations both personal and around me, for every 100 frugally minded males born, 1 female cohort shows up, and since few men want to live without a partner, this might be proof God really doesn't love us :)

I hope this adds something to the subject.

Brenton
 
Well Breton, your sharing if nothing else shows the money you spent on the MA in creative writing wasn't a waste and on the topic of sharing, hope you do find the right girl to share your chosen lifestyle. I fortunately found one of those rare frugally minded girls with all the other needed assets to make for a wonderful life 44 years ago and even with the normal and some extremes of life's ups and downs its been a fantastic ride leaving no envy of anyone else even though for a good part of that ride our financial situation would have been considered dire by the judgement of most even with being as frugal as possible.

I've spent a good part of my life too where venison was a staple and sure didn't think I was being deprived.

Admire your lifestyle and hope it continues to make you as content as you seem now. It very well could be the future will bring a lifestyle like yours to many others though not chosen. Think it much easier to be happy and content doing as you are now having made the choice yourself.

Jay
 
Brenton- the road you have chosen to travel is as real and as valid as any. And you will find that a C-Dory is the perfect vessel in which to "go with the river".

MartyP
 
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