Saving Money as Prices Increase

[Oaktree]

Western Auto was where I got my six transistor radio when I was a kid and it was not cheap. I think it was $20 which was a lot for 12-year-old kid living on the farm with no income

As ICE vehicles are phased out in the coming decades imagine trying to get parts for those lines that are no longer produced new and when the parts are so expensive.

Yeah, I think that's what I paid for my first transistor radio back in 1962. That's almost $200 in today's dollars, for a crappy AM-only radio with a 2" speaker. Of course back then there wasn't anything worth listening to on FM.

As far as parts for today's vehicles go in a few decades, I don't see that it's any different than getting parts for a 25 or 30 year old car today. You can even still get points for pre-electronic ignition cars. Yeah, some parts may be hard to find, but not likely any moreso than any particular computer module for, say a 2015 Tesla in 2035.

 

[WM75Guy]

Fuel taxes build roads. Nobody else builds them except government.

Not in Texas. They let private industry spend the money to build toll roads. They get to keep the toll money to pay off the roads and maintain them. They are great roads to travel, smooth, well maintained, and not that expensive to travel.

 

[ultrarunner]

My first real job was a summer job washing cars etc. at a dealership and it paid $50 a week.

$20 to the folks room and board, $20 to my BofA savings, $3 and change with holding and the rest was all mine.

For one dollar I had a burger and shake at Roses diner... about a 10 city block walk each way.

I was 12 that summer.

 

[ponytug]

Yeah, I think that's what I paid for my first transistor radio back in 1962. That's almost $200 in today's dollars, for a crappy AM-only radio with a 2" speaker. Of course back then there wasn't anything worth listening to on FM.

As far as parts for today's vehicles go in a few decades, I don't see that it's any different than getting parts for a 25 or 30 year old car today. You can even still get points for pre-electronic ignition cars. Yeah, some parts may be hard to find, but not likely any moreso than any particular computer module for, say a 2015 Tesla in 2035.

Sorry to be a contrarian, but I don't think future mechanics will have an easy time of it. I think it might be death by a thousand cuts. My '92 had two computers on it (ECU, and ABS), plus a stereo, and everything else was a switch, a few wires, connectors and bulbs (not counting body parts or engine parts). The dash was mechanical, tach & speedo. A car today can have over thirty computers, not to mention all of the custom gizmos for windows, air flow...

The Dozens of Computers That Make Modern Cars Go (and Stop) (Published 2010)

Even basic vehicles have at least 30 microprocessors, controlling functions like braking, cruise control and entertainment systems.

www.nytimes.com

A modern car has on the order of three miles of wiring in it;

How a cheap component could help kill off combustion cars - ET Auto

Combustion Cars: Supplies of the auto part were choked by the war in Ukraine, which is home to a significant chunk of the world's production, with wire harnesses made there fitted in hundreds of thousands of new vehicles every year.

auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com

This high end Bentley has a 110lbs of wiring in it compared to a 50 year old muscle car with ten pounds;
It Takes a Lot of Wiring to Keep a Modern Vehicle Moving (Witness this Bentley’s Harness)

I have a car that if the infotainment unit freezes or dies, the vehicle will not function (supposedly to prevent radio thefts, but I am not buying that. I think it is to prevent aftermarket upgrades.)

I'm no fan or carbureted engines, but you can hand crank a Model T and it will run...

All the best,

Peter

 

[arizona98tj]

It's now costing me $50 in fuel to cut the grass every week, I'm thinking of buying a baler and selling the hay.

I've decided I didn't need to cut what we had been calling our "yard", about 1.5 to 2 acres. I used to burn 2 tanks of gas in the lawn mower, now I'm down to one. So the gas prices have more than doubled and I cut my consumption in half. Almost a win but not quite. I've baled enough hay in past years to say that I'm better off now not baling hay.

 

[ultrarunner]

Sorry to be a contrarian, but I don't think future mechanics will have an easy time of it. I think it might be death by a thousand cuts. My '92 had two computers on it (ECU, and ABS), plus a stereo, and everything else was a switch, a few wires, connectors and bulbs (not counting body parts or engine parts). The dash was mechanical, tach & speedo. A car today can have over thirty computers, not to mention all of the custom gizmos for windows, air flow...

The Dozens of Computers That Make Modern Cars Go (and Stop) (Published 2010)

Even basic vehicles have at least 30 microprocessors, controlling functions like braking, cruise control and entertainment systems.

www.nytimes.com

A modern car has on the order of three miles of wiring in it;

How a cheap component could help kill off combustion cars - ET Auto

Combustion Cars: Supplies of the auto part were choked by the war in Ukraine, which is home to a significant chunk of the world's production, with wire harnesses made there fitted in hundreds of thousands of new vehicles every year.

auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com

This high end Bentley has a 110lbs of wiring in it compared to a 50 year old muscle car with ten pounds;
It Takes a Lot of Wiring to Keep a Modern Vehicle Moving (Witness this Bentley’s Harness)

I have a car that if the infotainment unit freezes or dies, the vehicle will not function (supposedly to prevent radio thefts, but I am not buying that. I think it is to prevent aftermarket upgrades.)

I'm no fan or carbureted engines, but you can hand crank a Model T and it will run...

All the best,

Peter

Yes you can and a Model T needs no battery if running on magneto and lights are oil or acetylene...

Also more forgiving on fuel and no fuel pump.

I bet the old Mercedes 240D and Model T could be the last vehicles running bar a few steamers...

Of course same for old tractors too.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

If China invades Taiwan, there is a plan to blow up the chip foundries so China can't make a profit. If that happens, the whole world will be back to the Industrial Age, trying to renovate wrecked and rusted factories.

 

[5030]

If China invades Taiwan, there is a plan to blow up the chip foundries so China can't make a profit. If that happens, the whole world will be back to the Industrial Age, trying to renovate wrecked and rusted factories.

Chip Foundries... Interesting term. Don't think that will be an issue as the worlds largest producer of IC chips is nearing completion of a factory (I think) in Texas. I also believe that CREE has plants here as well. IC chips are basically 100% automated manufacture anyway. Humans tend to contaminate them.

 

[5030]

The automotive related chip shortage was brought about by the automakers themselves with their lowest bid, JIT philosophy. You cannot have it both ways, timely delivery and dirt cheap too.

I would have thought they had learned with the air bag fiasco and Takata, but they didn't.

I retired from the automotive sector and take my word for it, all automakers want it as cheap as possible and as fast as possible so they can make maximum profit per unit sold.

With present supply chain economics, that don't play well today and they are finding that out, the hard way.

 

[daugen]

Hamburger, fries and large iced tea are ten bucks here now.
I go wow a lot...

at a time my retirement account is down almost 20 percent this year. 18. A correction for sure.
So my mental fun money has pretty much disappeared. Small trips, enjoy photography which doesn't cost anything anymore once you have the camera.
need to find some hobbies that don't cost much.

I help mow the large graveyard at our 400 year old church twice a month, and three cans of gas doing that is really adding up. Need to keep track of it better since it's charity; gas is no longer
an "incidental". It's a lot of money now.