100 million Americans – up from 81.4 million back in 2010 – are making monthly car payments and those payments now average $737 on new cars and $520 on used ones. Unsurprisingly, a record-high percentage of those in hock are failing to make those payments. Most of those – 6.6 percent, according to Axios – are in the “subprime” credit category, meaning they have poor credit and so pay more interest than people with better credit.
But the take-home point is that there are lots of people who aren’t making their payments – which is as surprising as the fact that people in their 80s tend to die more commonly than people in their 20s – given those average payment numbers referenced.
$737 – per month! For a car. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average weekly pay in the fourth quarter of 2024 was $1,192. That’s not what’s actually taken home, either. After what’s taken off – for federal taxes and Social Security “contributions” – it is substantially less than that. Let’s say it’s about $1,000 in actual pay – and that’s likely optimistic given it would mean only about 20 percent taken off the top in various taxes. That would mean a $737 payment would eat up just about one week’s pay. A fourth of one’s monthly pay in other words. Not counting what a person pays for gas each week, which is probably at least another $200 per month. Then there’s food – and rent/mortgage/unrealized capital gains taxes (i.e., “property taxes”). Plus “health” insurance, too.
Of course, it’s not just those numbers.
It is a problem exacerbated by peripheral numbers, which include the massive increase in car insurance (when you finance, you must pay for full coverage – which is the most expensive coverage) and what Axios says is a 33 percent increase in repair and maintenance costs since 2020. The latter being a function of the need to service and repair recent-vintage vehicles more often than was generally the case in the recent past because cars were (past tense) more reliable in the recent past. It was routine for a new car to not need more than basic maintenance – oil and filter changes, brakes and tires – for the first decade or so of its life. It is now routine for cars to need major service – new/replacement engines in some cases, such as the recent ugliness involving the Toyota Tundra – when they are still practically new cars.
This ugly truth hasn’t yet become common knowledge – much in the same way it took time for the truth about “safe and effective” to become common knowledge – but truth has a way of finding its own level.
Especially when it’s a truth you’re stuck dealing with.
There’s an interesting interrelationship between the the rising cost of repairing/maintaining a vehicle and the rising cost of making payments on a vehicle. It is that – for many people – paying to repair/maintain a vehicle is much harder than making payments on a vehicle. To understand why, one must begin by understanding that a majority of Americans do not have even $1,000 in ready-cash savings. This means that when the car they have needs a repair – for example, a new heater core – they do not have the ability to just pay for the repair. Because a repair such as that can easily cost more than $1,000 if you can’t do it yourself. And – with new cars – it is often no longer feasible to do it yourself.
They could, of course, charge the repair; i.e., put it on their credit card. But even people with excellent credit are faced with monthly interest close to 30 percent on whatever they put on their card. Plus “service charges” if they are even a day late.
It thus seems more sensible to finance a new or used vehicle because the interest rates are lower and so the payments seem more manageable. Put another way, many people find themselves pushed into a new or used car payment because they cannot afford to make a single payment to fix the car they have and do not want to pay for the fix to the tune of 30 percent per month – which is a lot more expensive than 9 percent over six years.
This is of course a subtle mechanism for the enserfment of the populace as well as a mechanism for increasing consumption (at the expense of saving) which is essential for a debt-based system to continue operating.
It was – past tense, now – a big problem for this system when it became common knowledge that almost any make/model car could be counted on to provide reliable transportation without requiring major repairs for 15 years or longer. And could be repaired economically for years longer than that.
These were the cars – and trucks and every other type of vehicle – made during the golden age that began in the mid-late 1990s and lasted through the early-mid 2000s. The vehicles made during this period were every bit as “modern” as the newest cars – having fuel injected engines that required very little if any regular maintenance, excellent brakes and paint that still looked new even a decade after they were new – but superior to them in that they lasted much longer and were much simpler/more cost-effective to repair.
As a case-in-point, when my 2002 Nissan Frontier’s heater core began to leak, I was able to replace it myself without having to remove the entire dash. The engine still has a throttle cable rather than “drive by wire” – and a distributor rather than “coil on plug” ignition. It isn’t fancy – but it starts, runs and drives just as “new” as any of the brand-new vehicles I test drive each week – and that’s the point. My truck is still running as well as it did almost 25 years ago. How well will the new cars I test drive this year be running 25 years from now?
How many will still be running, at all?
Perhaps a better question is: How many will be selling when people can no longer afford to buy (or keep) them?
. . .
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What you are seeing in car defaults could happen also in real estate and the general economy. The whole shebang is out on a limb fueled by recording debt. I read the world was 451 trillion in debt. The problem with debt is that in a recession the debt can not be serviced and an implosion could start snowballing – into a huge deflationary depression – which would cause prices to fall – which would solve the overpricing problem.
Short clip of Brandon Biggs prophecy (which was recorded live in March 2024)
https://rumble.com/v57085o-july-15-2024.html
Brandon Biggs Prophesied the Following:
New wave of patriotism
Bullet misses Trump’s ear
• Trump fell to his knees and he got Radically Born Again.
The Lord said Trump would win the presidency.
— great persecution would come upon him over the Summer, but God would put an immediate stop to it.
— Trump would break free from persecution come the fall.
The Lord said there’d be a great Economy Crash
— this crash would be worse than the Great Depression.
It would be a great dark time.
The Lord showed me paddles coming upon Americas soil, like a shocking of the soil
The Lord showed me Donald Trump praying and weeping in the Oval Office.
The darkness lifted above the trees and this would be a season of Awakening
A Great Revival is Coming. It’s not all doom and gloom.
The sky is not falling.
The Lord said do not call this Judgement, it’s a correction.
Brandon Biggs information makes it to Infowars Paul Joseph Watson:
https://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=304970
I wrote a very long insightful comment which will be posted in a few hours, I also got another comment through the Unz Review moderators (who are not amused with my viewpoints):
https://www.unz.com/aanglin/what-is-the-core-of-the-power-struggle-between-russia-and-the-united-states/#comment-7030689
Here is Brandon Biggs explanation of the upcoming depression he posted 7 months ago, this was the original video explaining the 4 oak trees.
Everything the Lord told me about the economic collapse on America
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQwIKnTGITg
Okay, Jack, I watched this and I agree that Biggs has correctly predicted some events, but he also have made predictions that did not occur (e.g. the bombings nationwide on Inauguration Day).
In his video he states that the US crumbles over a period of four years and slowly rebuilds but never becomes what it once was. He also states that BRICS will become the new Petro dollar and that the US, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Europe, and a few South American countries will create their own currency since both the US Dollar and Euro will collapse. The BRICs will be held by China, Russia, the Middle East, Japan, and most of Africa.
He keeps drilling down that the Depression is going to look like something out of the late 1920s. Bread lines and dirty faces are repeated a lot. It is a different world. Many places in the US didn’t have running water, electricity, indoor plumbing, refrigeration, etc. Are we all going back to outhouses? Is the AC going to be switched off? Do I need to build a root cellar now? How about the internet and the automated robots? Do they up and disappear?
He also brings up a forced draft for a war with Europe against Russia. The draft also includes women. I don’t see this happening, not with the current Congress or under the current Defense Secretary who has spoken at length about not wanting women to be drafted. Also, with a collapsed US dollar how do we pay for the war? Just curious.
Biggs also omits the biggest factor in most of your and anarchyst’s posts on this forum…Israel. The Middle East, China, and Russia uniting under the new dollar would pretty much force Israel into oblivion. If Israel is so powerful why would they allow their biggest arms and money supplier to crumble? Who supports them now? Russia? China? Kenya? Maybe North Korea?
If America falls we take the rest of the world with us. We spend more than any country in the world when it comes to imported goods. We also supply a great amount in arms, military bases, buying countries off, etc.
Is it a matter of time before the US crumbles? Of course, no one and nothing stays on top forever. But, it will be a slow deterioration. We are not going to wake up one day and the Dow Jones be at zero and our infrastructure not operate. If what Biggs thinks is true then Trump is handling this correctly by forcing companies back onto US soil or will China still be willing to supply us 90% of our medications? Doubtful.
Another thing that he has not addressed or conversed to God about is the substantial increase in repopulation by African countries/Middle East. How long will Russia and China be able to maintain control when both of them are in population declines? Not very long.
Good one.
Lots of grifters learned from the Stanfurd butterfly molestor that fortunes can be made writing Poseidon Adventure doom porn scripts, like Rachel Carson and her steaming pile. Just remember the old saying that lies are always more effective when “salted” (lightly) with snippets of truth.
Gee, where would all the predictions go IF, say, flaming comet fragments struck Tel Aviv, New York City, The City of London, Vatican City and, Zurich? THAT would be kinda funny, no?
From another Axios article:
‘The average price of a new truck in January was $59,684, while SUVs sold for an average of $47,667, according to Cox Automotive. Cars, meanwhile, sold for an average of $39,233.’
https://www.axios.com/2025/02/15/truck-rising-prices-suv-sedan
$60,000 trucks = human folly.
Why so much? Price per pound is a crude measure. But when your typical 20-foot long giant pickup weighs close to 6,000 lbs — then yes, you’re going to have to pay up for those hulking tons of superfluous material. Including the billowing yards of sheet metal for ridiculous tall bedwalls that you can’t even see over.
Lord help the retarded.
Modest vehicles from generations ago — the VW Bug, Citroen 2CV, Morris Minor, the Ford F-100 pickup [deceased 1983] — accommodated more modest standards of living.
Now we can’t even buy no-frills vehicles like that. This is not accidental. It’s a rent-extraction model from the automaker-government partnership. And it’s about to be blown to sky high, as Donnie Fubar ushers the economy into recession, and brain-dead auto makers get lined up against the wall in bankruptcy court to face Chapter 7 firing squads.
Goodbye, clowns: we won’t miss you.
Well, I got my first truck when I was three
Drove a hundred thousand miles on my knees
Hauled marbles and rocks and thought twice before
I hauled a Barbie Doll bed for the girl next door
She tried to pay me with a kiss and I began to understand
There’s something women like about a pickup man
— Joe Diffie, Pickup Man
Damn, Man, I have not been keeping up with new prices (the prices Eric mentions in his articles kinda glaze my eyes over a bit & besides, it’s SUV;s or those mirror cross-overs he’s always got, plus I focus on the features) but this is Crazy Town: “The average price of a new truck in January was $59,684”.
…Out the door, $60,000.
Sixty-freakin-thousand-Dollars, for a pickup truck.
America, has lost it’s friggin’ mind.
Preach it, Helot!
You can’t even buy a mid-size truck (there are no small trucks) for much less than $30,000. My ’02 Nissan Frontier stickered for $13k when it was new. I can’t imagine anyone spending $50k on a truck unless they are taking home close to $200k a year. How many are in that bracket?
Heck, Eric, even with making $200K a year, you still may not be able to afford a $50K truck. Not with the price of homes, interest rates, monthly payments. That does not include utilities. Whether you are forking over an arm and a leg for heating fuel or air conditioning, either one is going to cost you plenty. Never mind if you want to eat, or if you need prescription medications. And the never-goes-down, always-goes-up property taxes, as well. It is a wonder one can afford to exist these days, but I surmise that is the point. When I see someone driving around in an expensive vehicle I often wonder how far above their means they are living, and wonder how much debt they are in, in an effort to maintain such a life style?
Out the door here in WA add at least 10% for sales tax and license fees.
You can do a lot of fixing on the old rig for $6000. And even more fixin’ for the Kings Ransom monthly payment you’ll hand over for 84 MONTHS!
“Whey pour $6k into that ‘old’ thing?”
Well, my response “why shell out $6k to the State you’ll never see again?”
Seems like most people lease their cars nowadays, getting a new one when the lease is up on the older one. I don’t get it, not only will you never own a car but you’ll always have high monthly payments and have to pay for full insurance coverage the whole time. Own nothing? Sure, be happy not so much.
RE: “This means that when the car they have needs a repair – for example, a new heater core – they do not have the ability to just pay for the repair.”
When I do watch the TeeVee, I sure do see alot of commercials for outfits like Carshield. It seems So easy. I wonder if it’s popular?
‘CarShield Review: Ice-T Loves It, You Might Want To Pass’
… “I contacted CarShield to check on what it had to say about insuring my wife’s six year old Honda SUV.
The salesman, Chase, I must say, was polite.
After asking me questions about the car, he told me that the monthly cost would be $151 for their Platinum plan and that there would be a $100 deductible per issue.
He told me that every issue would be covered “except for wear and tear and routine maintenance.”
But when pressed, Chase said coverage would not cover all items if I didn’t take good care of the car and if I did not have it properly serviced. For instance, he explained, if I didn’t change the oil, CarShield would not cover the cost of a new engine.” …
https://ctwatchdog.com/warranties/carshield-review-ice-t-loves-it-you-just-might-want-to-take-a-pass
Oh those pesky details in the fine print. Who reads those, anyway?
I have 300K on my ’99 Tahoe 4wd. Just had the “100K” service done. Still running fine. Have to replace the “climate control” module ($35.00) and spend ~45 minutes to an hour replacing it, which turns out I can do myself. Oh, yeah, it’s paid for, btw.
It all goes back to Joan Claybrook in collusion with the auto makers: “let’s SCREW the car buying public by making cars ‘safer’, more difficult to work on, and see if we can pass some laws prohibiting people from working on their own cars, ala John Deere”. Apparently this ploy is working. Many of the “safety” items Mz Joanie has come up with just make repairs much more expensive, like those plastic bumpers that are supposed to “save” us money when they get dented. Yeah, sure. Try $1600.00 to replace the plastic rear bumper on a ES350. Oh, you mean nobody told you about all the proximity sensors and other electronic equipment hidden in said plastic bumper to make you oh, sooooo much more safer? Oh, isn’t that a shame.
As for delinquent payments by sub-prime borrowers? That’s a BIG DUH: they’re SUB-PRIME borrowers; what do you lending retards expect? The current delinquency rate is no big deal. IF the rate was in the 25% and UP range, then it might be something to talk about, but 6%? Meh.
However, the prices of new cars and “used” cars IS something to be concerned about, and the wages are NOT here to support these inflated, bs prices. There is so much involved in this wage vs price bs that writing on the subject would probably crash Eric’s server. So, I’ll leave the subject with this: If God doesn’t punish the US government and the fraudulent, fractional reserve “banking” system for the evil these satanic steaming piles have screwed the American people with, He has to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. Just sayin’…..
It was $3100 to replace the scuffed front bumper skin, and paint a 6 inch scuff in the fender lip on a rental VW SUV 6 years ago. Yep, sensor or two got scuffed and also were replaced.
If the steel chromed bumper on my ‘91 Chev got scuffed I’d probably ignore it or just replace the rubber center trim piece that wraps around the corner. No systems affected.
WOW! That must have been on heckuva “scuff”…. then again the scuff was on one of those over-engineered, over-priced, over-rated “dubs”, so it’s a good thing it wasn’t a bentwipe or bowelmovement wagon, or you would have had to put a 2nd on your family to pay for it…. 😉
It was in Germany, I had to pull over left quickly to allow emergency vehicles to pass in the center of a narrow two lane stretch of the Autobahn. Grass median sloped towards the guardrail so when I went to pull out the car slipped on the wet grass into the rail, a $3100 “kiss”. Scuff was right across some sensors on the LH bumper skin and a 6” nip on the LH fender flair.
PS: your car insurance won’t cover you overseas. I rented with a VISA credit card includes rental coverage “outside” of your normal car insurance. So, they actually covered the repair less my $500 deductible. Always rent with a credit card including this coverage and always keep all your receipts hard copies. Take pictures, keep notes – you’ll need all of it for a successful claim with your card company.
Thanks for the “head’s up”. One is really at the mercy of “TPTB” overseas. No Thanks. Did enough “overseas visiting”, so not interested in going anywhere outside ConUS, including Kanukistan or the other place to the south.
That is an incredible number. I sometimes wonder who exactly is driving those expensive cars that I see on a daily basis. The business model today is vastly different from long time ago. Itz all about borrowing money to live an extravagant life today, right now. There are many people who live in modest dwellings but must be seen in expensive restaurants, wear expensive clothes and buy expensive cars, like Lincoln, Cadillac, Mercedes, BMW, Audi etc. to give the
appearance of success and status.
Many people I suppose live from paycheck to paycheck to keep up their lifestyles. Back in my younger days I too lived from paycheck to paycheck but hell I only made about $450 a month back in the 70’s which was barely enough to pay the rent, food, gas. I also had to give up many luxuries like smoking, drinking, gambling, drugs and most of all consorting with women of ill repute. Now I am debt free and pay off my credit cards every month. So therefore I am almost ready for sainthood except for my bad thoughts which some people might construe as hate crimes.
They’re LEASING them for their “non-profits” and NGOs with the money stolen from the American taxpayers via USAID to launder out, skimming the top off for the scumbags at the top of the “non-profits” and the rest being recycled back to democrats via “campaign contributions”. And that’s just the teeny-tiny tip of the money laundering iceberg….
“100 million Americans – up from 81.4 million back in 2010 – are making monthly car payments”
That is an incredible number. I sometimes wonder who exactly is driving those expensive cars that I see on a daily basis. The business model today is vastly different from long time ago. Itz all about borrowing money to live an extravagant life today, right now. There are many people who live in modest dwellings but must be seen in expensive restaurants, wear expensive clothes and buy expensive cars, like Lincoln, Cadillac, Mercedes, BMW, Audi etc. to give the
appearance of success and status.
Many people I suppose live from paycheck to paycheck to keep up their lifestyles. Back in my younger days I too lived from paycheck to paycheck but hell I only made about $450 a month back in the 70’s which was barely enough to pay the rent, food, gas. I also had to give up many luxuries like smoking, drinking, gambling, drugs and most of all consorting with women of ill repute. Now I am debt free and pay off my credit cards every month. So therefore I am almost ready for sainthood except for my bad thoughts which some people might construe as hate crimes.
Not just automobiles, but home appliances as well are complicated and nearly unrepairable. After getting burned with buying a fancy gizmo washer made by Samsung that broke after a couple of years, I got a Speed Queen. That washer was more expensive but had simple settings, built to commercial specs and made here in America. It also had a 5 year parts and labor warranty and a regulator agitator like models years ago. To get around the regulations, they put a water saver mode on it that we never use. Like my older autos, I hope to never have to buy another one for years to come.
Another long life feature of the Speed Queen is the stainless steel tub, not plastic not porcelain on steel. Well worth rebuilding if something ever did go wrong. Year 7 on mine. Lots of water means very clean, very rinsed clothes.
Yep, I bought a new TC5 Speed Queen back in December after suffering for several years with a crappy Amana that had suspension rods instead of the good, time tested bottom suspension. I love the Speed Queen!!!
Year 5, S.Q. washer & dryer, lotsa plastic wore down, it’s designed to wear out. I like it quite a bit, howevah; it’s not as durable as presented.
The warranty saved the day, this time. In 5 yrs. do it all over again, only no warranty$$$.
See that plastic in-between the metal parts?
They are Not the Maytag’s of 30 yrs ago. None are.
I bought a 4-year-old used Amana last December and it didn’t work at all (despite the seller’s assurance otherwise). He gave me a full refund and told me to keep it. Since I had a free washer, I just pulled up some youtube videos on repairing it. I thought I hated it because it’s computer controlled. Turns out, the thing self-diagnoses it’s components. I needed a hot/cold water valve, agitator/spin actuator and suspension rods (to prevent it from getting off balance on the spin cycle). I got all the parts on Amazon for a total of about $75. I spent about an hour changing out the parts and the thing is now like a new machine. This was the easiest appliance diagnosis and repair I’ve ever experienced. I’m sold on this style of washer. I can infinitely diagnose and repair it quickly, cheaply and easily!
https://www.amana.com/laundry/washers/top-load/p.3.5-cu.-ft.-top-load-washer-with-dual-action-agitator.ntw4516fw.html
I just replaced my dryer after nearly 30 years of use. It killed me to buy another one. I went with a plan, no-bells-and-whistles Maytag, and have had no issues with it. For I just wanted something to dry my clean clothes, nothing more. I have seen refrigerators with touch screen radios in them! Good grief! Meanwhile, my friend & neighbour down the road has warned me to never buy Samsung appliances. Her Samsung refrigerator gave her nothing but grief, and lasted maybe 7 years before she had to replace it. No, the washers & dryers that washed our diapers back in the day do not exist any more, sad to say.
And, we pay cash for everything, cars, appliances, our home which we bought new in 2000. My undergraduate accounting classes have come in handy, learned how interest works.
Yes, but unlike most Americans, you have to live below your means, delay gratification and save up some cash for those necessary purchases in the future.
That’s what God tells us to do, so why not dump the instant gratification and trendy-withit bs? Besides, if you pay cash, the scum-a-trons can’t track you OR sell your id to “merchants”.
Compound interest in the fractional reserve “banking” system is why so many are debt slaves……
My wife’s 1999 Civic coupe has 178,000 miles, doesn’t use ANY oil between annual maintenance, cruises at 65 all day long (we bought it used, paid cash), we carry liability insurance (I forget how much, but in the hundreds of thousands) so that in the event of an accident, the injured party goes after our insuance and not our assets. At annual maintenance we ask our mechanics to look for items that require attention, replace them before they fail. Proactive maintenance. I worked as a general contractor a long long time ago. My motto: take care of your equipment and your equipment will take care of you.
Remember when we thought people were nuts for taking on a 60-month loan? Now 84 is commonplace.
Eric: Perhaps a better question is: How many will be selling when people can no longer afford to buy (or keep) them?
You being restricted to only GovCo approved transportation for your caste is what they want. One step to help insure this is to make private vehicles both unaffordable and unreliable. At least the cars mentioned in the book “Mugged By Mister Bad Wrench” were repairable even if the manufacturer didn’t want to. Good luck trying to fit in an older part into a newer car now.
Shank’s mare for the little people and private jets and limos for the oligarchs. Guess which class we’re in?
One of my kids 2020 GMC SUV “needs” its 100k “service”. Its over $1500 anywhere. Ive NEVER seen her so stressed in 41 years. I showed up in a much better car I paid $1500 cash for six years ago and got femtard stinkeye. Exactly why I wonder which of ’em Im gonna bury first?
I believe you will soon see how reliable these recently produced, over complicated vehicles perform as the past 5-10 years of AFM/MDS, CVT/8-10 speed auto proliferation, ASS, touch screens, turbocharged tiny engines and DI all age…and it’s not looking good.
But these pre-owned-basket-cases-to-be aren’t cheap either for their 2nd and 3rd owners (if they make it that far.)
Even 5 year old full size trucks – which were $70k new are still $20k-$35k used.
Prices that are still a stretch to finance on the average budget – BEFORE you get hit with a surprise $9k transmission or $1500 touch screen replacement bill.
The solution is likely to be permanent leasing for the majority.
Hi Flip,
I agree with everything you stated. The goal is to separate us from our finances. Keep the middle and lower classes poorer by manufacturing inferior products so the debt cycle never ends. It can be worked around though, but people need to realize that they are being sold a bill of “not so good” goods. We need to stop buying crap. New is rarely ever better at least in today’s environment. Kids getting rid of Mom’s China set, sterling silverware, and wood furniture or Dad’s old cars and tools are going to regret it.
All these junk products define the “Crapification” of America (I believe that term is attributed to Charles Hugh Smith.)
Thinner clothing fabric, lighter gauge wiring and plastics and junk alloys.
Looks to me like it all leads to a larger scheme of making EVERY aspect of life a subscription. Ask most younger people (than 40) and they know of no other idea than a monthly payment for everything. That’s all they have ever known with cell phone bills, car/insurance payments, rent, streaming services. All finance is reduced to “what will this cost me per month?”
There is little to no future of ownership for most.
Likely result is that many no longer bother working anymore – since everything is a waste of time to buy useless, fragile garbage with an ever-evaporating junk currency.
When you take away the future, the present collapses.
And sadly, Flip the younger people will be fine with the “own nothing and be happy” life style (slavery), because they never owned anything ever. And, they are happy with the rest of us not owning anything, either, even though we DO know better.
Theyre happy if their stomachs full and they sleep indoors soon.
‘Kids getting rid of Mom’s China set, sterling silverware, and wood furniture or Dad’s old cars and tools are going to regret it.’ — Raider Girl
Are you quoting a sentence from your will?
Yeah, they’d better listen up, the little buggers. :frown:
Actually, no, I am not. I think they will appreciate it, because that is what we taught them, but I am referring to me when my grandmother asked if I wanted some of her older kitchenware, furniture, jewelry, etc. The stuff is well made and is close to 60 years old. I would be a fool to get rid of it.
Hi RG.
Over the Christmas holidays I was over having dinner with friends where they were still using the over a century old English china. No one else wanted it when their parent’s estate was divided up and they figured it would survive the dishwasher. So that means some people will still use old stuff.
I got welding equipment and grinders that costed over $2,000 new for less than a $100 at an estate sale. The son kept the Model A though.
Hi Landru,
I love estate sales and antique stores. I have gotten some fabulous finds, especially décor. I just find the older stuff better made and much more durable.
That is a great score on the welding equipment.
“ Mom’s China set “
Yes, the dish ware that was fully glazed unlike the ChiCom newbies with the rough unglazed rims scratching the hell out of your countertops.
The quality stuff wasn’t un-attainable for middle class decades ago. We have some left overs from a 1977 stoneware set, made in Japan, fully glazed. Wife picked up the set at Pennys back then on sale, we had little extra money then but the set wasn’t a budget buster. Never should have let it go knowing how expensive stuff is, for lame quality.
Then it was decent quality, or cheap junk. Easy to tell the difference, and many things we just expected to be decent if you were not scraping the bottom of the bargain bin.
Now name brand isn’t trusted, the recent oil filter debacle where the inner cores with slots not cut and formed properly ( basic piss poor metal working ) thus restricting oil flow. Thanks Mexico and the US companies sending the Carolina jobs south of the border or overseas. Didn’t have to look inside an oil filter with a flashlight 40 years ago.
Wisdom.