Living Car Free - My car is a reflection of who I am...

I don't think the junkyard will waste them, though; plenty of people scour u-pull-it yards for cheap parts. They'll just be doing the parting-out instead of TRaffic Jammer here.Not IME. Most J-yards will pull any high demand/high price item themselves and let the car get picked over for maybe a week or two, then it gets crushed and melted. In those two weeks, most of the parts stay on the car. Course, it does depend on the yard. Mom 'n pop places will usually end up w/ more of the parts going to good use than say, places like ecology or pick-a-part that have fairly high turn around. At those places, most of the car will be left when they crush it and send it off to be melted down. In fact, given the relatively low rates they pay for cars, and cash they get for scrap metal, including Platinum($1300/oz), Rhodium($4000+/oz), Aluminum, Copper, whatever else is in the car, they can make money off buying it for the small amounts they offer in the first place. Everything else is money in the bank. For example, search eh4y for 'scrap catalytic', the older/bigger the better.

Blatant thread-jacking ahead, but related...

I keep cable only to enjoy SpongeBob and because I get a phone and cable net bundled at a good price. So, occasionally I indulge in a bit of mindless channel-surfing, and the level of marketing is disturbing. It's sick that a car gets marketed as 'sexy' as in one I saw that said, "When you turn your car on, does it return the favor?"

Don't get me started on the "Life is too short for cash and checks when you have Visa" commercials.

Blatant and total conspicuous consumption makes me ill. Unless its bikes. LOL

Whoa, it seems like yer not alone TRaffic Jammer. Welp, I guess people just don't like fixing and/or fiddling w/ things. I see what shops charge as outrageous, since I can do most of the stuff myself in less time for nearly free and not rip myself off. But, if no one wants to do it, why not charge ~$50-100/hour and rip 'em a new one? Some people say Amerika needs more math/sci edu... We need more not lazy is what we need. :p Not counting the richie riches of course. ;)

Some of us aren't lazy but still don't want to work on a car. Personally I'd rather take a knife to the gut than have to work on a car. There's nothing I hate more.

OK, a knife to the gut may have been a slight exaggeration. :D

Shoot. Don't let yer biases color yer perception. That just leads to more exploitation later down the line IMO. Stuff's stuff, and you can either use it as a resource in to achieve yer goals or not. I suppose I shouldn't talk, since I dislike menial work, i.e. the new indentured servitude a lot, but still... Help out yer peers before yer owners.

Materialism sucks. When I had a car I owned whatever did the job cost effectively.

I just don't see what the media feeds people to be so anal about vehicles or other possessions to amount to killing someone for things such as road rage, a nick in the door, ect. I have had the same bike since I was 15(6 yrs now) and it does the job. I see cyclist with top of the line "This and That" and they are too rude to say hi at lights.


And why are people no longer making eye contact? I suppose I grew up in a relatively small town but this is ridiculous.



Ever notice people take better care of their vehicles than they do themselves???

Marketing is an amazing science (if one can call it that). Those commercials clearly worked because they were discussed here in the "living car free" section of a bicycle form. Personally, I've never understood why someone would want to pay $700 for a car when they live in a house where their monthly payment is less than that.

In America, we like to live beyond our means, it comes down to how much do I need to make each month to keep my lifestyle. So many people fail to see the big picture, heck just wait to watch how many people failed to heed the warning about social security and will soon retire over the next ten to twenty years.

There is nothing wrong with buying a $50,000 or $70,000 car if you can truly afford it and that is what your heart desires. What becomes an issue is when you feel that you need that car in order to prove who you are. Happiness is not found in any material object, happiness is found in the actions of a truly just person. I will admit, I'd love a new BMW M3 Coupe; but for $50,000 I can find a lot better uses for that money right now.

-Nate

+1 Dr. Nate

Marketing is an amazing science (if one can call it that). Those commercials clearly worked because they were discussed here in the "living car free" section of a bicycle form. Personally, I've never understood why someone would want to pay $700 for a car when they live in a house where their monthly payment is less than that.Emm.... That could also be the whole elephant idea.

P.S. Don't think of an elephant! ;)

There is nothing wrong with buying a $50,000 or $70,000 car if you can truly afford it and that is what your heart desires.


If you can afford it, could you better use the money for something else?
Maybe you can afford it, but can society and the planet afford it?
If we're so swayed by marketing, how can you be sure that you even know "what your heart desires"?

If you can afford it, could you better use the money for something else?
Maybe you can afford it, but can society and the planet afford it?
If we're so swayed by marketing, how can you be sure that you even know "what your heart desires"?

Did you actually read my post, because if you did then you would see that your first question was already answered in that post. Your second one doesn't make sense. What does price of an automobile have to do with society and the planet? I doubt a BMW Z4 is going to put out more green house gas than Honda Accord simply because the BMW cost more money. Third, I never said that everyone was swayed by marketing campaigns.

-Nate

my lungs are a reflection of who i am and theyre sick of your ****ing smog

looks like this is about to turn into another one of those us vs. them threads....

I can think of a million cliche's that could apply but the one that stands out at this point in regard to this thread is "you can't fight it, you can only hope to contain it" I guess that is where we all stand with our own desires for status, acceptance, etc. We all have a desire to be significant in our own way, it is human nature. People who drive SUV's want to become part of the mainstream or they have a need to operate such a vehicle. On the opposite end of the spectrum the car free car lite people have a desire to be part of the solution to what illnesses are being wrought on the planet. We are all different, but that doesn't make us all wrong. To be honest I am guilty of the same things, but think about it guys and gals, we are all here on this earth and we should learn to work together. Does it mean that it will happen? Probably not, but I think we should at least make the attempt.

why does it always work out that someones rights/needs/desires turns out to be a violation of someone elses rights/needs/desires. I think when someone can come up with a solution to that, the world will be a much better place

I saw an advertisement at the movie theater I enjoy visiting a few months ago that made me think and I absolutley just wanted to cry. It was a advertisement for friendship. I had never seen anything like it and it rather caught me off guard. I sat there before the movie was starting and thought to myself "are things really that bad to provoke a need for this sort of advertisement?" Unfortunatley, I knew deep in my heart that the answer was yes.

It's also a spiritual sickness. People think there's no God, so they try to find happiness in the flesh, in themselves, in things. Sorry to say something religious, I know it probably bothers some people, but it's what I see in the situation. YMMV!


I am quite certain there is no God and I have a happy home, family and friends. Oh , by the way, I also have an Aston Martin.

Oh , by the way, I also have an Aston Martin.Did they at least send lube? :p

Did you actually read my post, because if you did then you would see that your first question was already answered in that post. Your second one doesn't make sense. What does price of an automobile have to do with society and the planet? I doubt a BMW Z4 is going to put out more green house gas than Honda Accord simply because the BMW cost more money. Third, I never said that everyone was swayed by marketing campaigns.

-Nate

I did read your post, I thought it was very good and I pretty much agreed with it. I was expanding on one of your statements rather than responding to the entire post.

I didn't mean to say that a more expensive car pollutes more. I meant that the large amount of money spent on a car COULD be spent on something that would be more valuable to the individual and/or society at large. I also meant that it might be hard for people to even know their heart's desire if they're watching thousands of psychologically sophisticated auto ads every week.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. It was entirely my fault. :o