Are you a car clown?

[Sohcrates]

Post up your mustachian ride and any details!

Purchased used in 98 for $500
Regular oil changes, tune ups. Replaced timing belt and water pump
Countless bike, backpacking,canoe trips,vacations and other assorted memories
Sold to scrapyard last month for $250

RIP sweet Turdcel

[Unionville]

I've seen that term "car clown" on this forum many places, but I didn't know what it meant.  Does it mean someone who buys a goofy car?  Or someone that is a clown for getting suckered into buying an over priced car?

[Nicster]

Here you go


http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/04/22/curing-your-clown-like-car-habit/

[sheepstache]

Now that I think of it, the term clown car in the real world (first time the circus has ever been called that, you bet) means a tiny car that holds a ton of people, so you'd think MMM would be in favor of the efficiency.

[kendallf]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=679138382100757&l=508182004d

This is my daughter's car Franklin (named after the green turtle).  Bought for $400 back in 2003 (?).  It was up on jackstands because the owner's son had taken the brakes apart and didn't know how to put them back together.  He was graduating college and needed the car out of the garage.

I think it had something like 180k when we got it.  I put some minor maintenance items into the car over the years (CV axles, some suspension bushings, water pump, a radiator).  It took my daughter through high school and college, with frequent trips across I-10 from Jacksonville to Tallahassee and back. 

Finally just before she graduated last summer, the transmission pump started to fail and it would lose all gears when hot.  The pic above was the requiem (note wreath on hood) just before I drove it one final time to the wrecking yard.  They paid us $315 for it.  It still ran fine when I drove it into the yard.   :-)

[Sohcrates]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=679138382100757&l=508182004d

This is my daughter's car Franklin (named after the green turtle).  Bought for $400 back in 2003 (?).  It was up on jackstands because the owner's son had taken the brakes apart and didn't know how to put them back together.  He was graduating college and needed the car out of the garage.

I think it had something like 180k when we got it.  I put some minor maintenance items into the car over the years (CV axles, some suspension bushings, water pump, a radiator).  It took my daughter through high school and college, with frequent trips across I-10 from Jacksonville to Tallahassee and back. 

Finally just before she graduated last summer, the transmission pump started to fail and it would lose all gears when hot.  The pic above was the requiem (note wreath on hood) just before I drove it one final time to the wrecking yard.  They paid us $315 for it.  It still ran fine when I drove it into the yard.   :-)

Haha!!! Thats awesome you gave it a respectful sendoff! We did something very similar, and my wife went out and sat in it for about 30 mins before the tow truck came. She took a video of it being towed away and her commentary breaks my heart a little every time I watch it :)

[Cheddar Stacker]

Edit: Took out a few details to stay a bit more anonymous.

I have nothing but respect for sohcrates (so-crates, excellent) and kendallf for their examples, particularly the fact that you can sell it for nearly what you bought it for many years/miles later. Great job guys.

I hate to admit it, but by mustachian standards I'm definately a car clown. I'm 35 and I've owned 3 cars. The first one was not too bad - a small truck bought for $7K from a dealer with about 25K miles. Drove it for 6 years and traded in for maybe $750.

Next up, a brand spanking new 2003 F-150. Although it was 2WD, didn't have any upgrades, and I got the "employee discount" through a friend, I still paid $26K and financed it. Paid it off early and sold it in 2008 to a third party for $7,500 cash.

My current car is essentially paid for by my work, and I was "encouraged" to get a more "professional" car at the time. I bought an off-lease Audi in 2008 for $22K with 32K miles, and I'm still driving it today with about 80K miles and no loan. I plan to run it into the ground if possible. It gets unbelievable gas mileage while still being a nice performance/luxury vehicle, but the repair costs are much more expensive and hard to do myself. Work pays for pretty much everything related to the car, so I really can't complain, but if I was still paying for it I would likely have "cured" the clown car habit by now.

Once I FIRE, I will move to much more mustachian transport since it will come out of my pocket.

[Sohcrates]

I have nothing but respect for sohcrates (so-crates, excellent) and kendallf for their examples, particularly the fact that you can sell it for nearly what you bought it for many years/miles later. Great job guys.

I hate to admit it, but by mustachian standards I'm definately a car clown. I'm 35 and I've owned 3 cars. The first one was not too bad - a 1993 purple mazda B2300 truck bought in 1997 for $7K from a dealer with about 25K miles. Drove it for 6 years and traded in for maybe $750.

Next up, a brand spanking new 2003 F-150. Although it was 2WD, didn't have any upgrades, and I got the "employee discount" through a friend, I still paid $26K and financed it. Paid it off early and sold it in 2008 to a third party for $7,500 cash.

My current car is essentially paid for by my work, and I was "encouraged" to get a more "professional" car at the time. I bought an off-lease 2005 Audi A4 in 2008 for $22K with 32K miles, and I'm still driving it today with about 80K miles and no loan. I plan to run it into the ground if possible. It gets unbelievable gas mileage while still being a nice performance/luxury vehicle, but the repair costs are much more expensive and hard to do myself. Work pays for pretty much everything related to the car, so I really can't complain, but if I was still paying for it I would likely have "cured" the clown car habit by now.

Once I FIRE, I will move to much more mustachian transport since it will come out of my pocket.

Aha, I wonder how many catch that :D

Doesn't sound totally anti mustachian to me
I'm not totally in the clear either. We paid cash for a brand new subaru outback in 2007. Nicely discounted by haggling then cash price. However, it was heavily researched and the plan that it would be the last car we would ever need to own, and is only used for longer distance road trips and the occasional luxury date :)
Oil changes, regular tune ups and timing belt and a cv joint has all its cost us in 7 years and still going strong(it mostly sits in the garage but we drive it 1-3 times a month)

[Cheddar Stacker]

I laughed at the reference in your name before, but didn't have a reason to post the last time I saw it.

Thanks for the thread, it felt good to get that figurative skeleton out of my closet. I wasn't sure if I would share those details here, but this was the perfect opportunity.

[prodarwin]

I bought this for $1000 with 130k miles on it. 
At ~ 150k miles, it was rear ended.  I got $1600 from the insurance company of the person who hit me.  I did not repair the damage.
At ~170k miles, I sold it for $1300
I'd say I spent around $500 on repairs and maintenance.

$1600+$1200-$1000-$500 = $1400 profit for driving 40k miles :)  Not a bad ownership cost for a car, despite the rather pathetic 27mpg average.

It was USED pretty hard.  Towed a bunch of stuff around with a utility trailer, hauled tons of crap inside, rally-crossed it, used it as an instructor car for an autox driving school, etc.

[lordrtype1]

97 crown vic

Free.  Got it when my last car died, someone gave it to me because I bought a couple others cars from him (under 600, the other two). 97k, ran fine, drove the wheel off it, then had the lower a arm rewelded to the frame (200 bucks), and drove it another 2 years to its final resting place. horrible gas milage, sky blue inside (leather) and out, steering wheel was 90 degrees to left to go straight, but still had lots of play at that.  Mind you, it was free, and not worth a dime when I got rid of it.  So, I honestly got my money's worth of it. avg 12 in the city, 19 on the highway.  Just perspective on why I think the MPG was bad: I had two other cars years ago, a 79 lesabre (17city/24hwy) with a 350 v8, and a 85 lesabre (same) with a 302 v8 that got better MPG than this thing with a 4.6 v8!!  Really??

But, it was free.

[exranger06]

97 crown vic

Free.  Got it when my last car died, someone gave it to me because I bought a couple others cars from him (under 600, the other two). 97k, ran fine, drove the wheel off it, then had the lower a arm rewelded to the frame (200 bucks), and drove it another 2 years to its final resting place. horrible gas milage, sky blue inside (leather) and out, steering wheel was 90 degrees to left to go straight, but still had lots of play at that.  Mind you, it was free, and not worth a dime when I got rid of it.  So, I honestly got my money's worth of it. avg 12 in the city, 19 on the highway.  Just perspective on why I think the MPG was bad: I had two other cars years ago, a 79 lesabre (17city/24hwy) with a 350 v8, and a 85 lesabre (same) with a 302 v8 that got better MPG than this thing with a 4.6 v8!!  Really??

But, it was free.

Sounds like it desperately needed a tune-up. Most Crown Vic drivers get 27 mpg highway no problem.

[lordrtype1]

Thanks exranger. That could be, but considering I couldn't even afford to do that (which is really sad when I think about), it probably doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Just somet whine to enjoy my cheese with.

I will bring this up about a roomate I had and his 'clown' car:  Bought a car for 250, I believe a 92 mercury tracer, drove it for all of 2 years, and sold it back to the guy he originally bought it from for 350.  I would think of him as more car pimpin, tho.