Buying a used, perhaps even a much used, vehicle has benefits.

First, you save yourself from buying a new vehicle. A new truck, equal in performance and amenities to my old Dodge, costs a minimum of $28,500! I have kept records on how much money my truck has cost me over the 27 years I have owned it. Not counting gasoline, I have spent just over $4200. I just noticed. That is only a dollar a pound.

Insurance premiums on new trucks are much higher than on my Dodge. Add in “scheduled maintenance” visits to maintain the warranty, interest on the loan, high registration fees and taxes and it comes to so much money I can’t even count that high. Plus (I should say minus) as you are driving home in your new truck its value drops 20% while you are just beginning to enjoy the new car smell! Even with those penalties some people trade up to new every few years. What are they thinking?

My Oldy is insured against damaging people or other vehicles and the policy is not too expensive. If I damage my truck I can fix it myself. Since it is an antique I do not have to submit to yearly or semi-yearly vehicle inspections, those creative income opportunities for repair shops. By the way, that new car smell comes in a spray can.

I am proud of my truck and keep it in top condition. It gives me satisfaction to own a classy old vehicle and I enjoy the friendships I have made when someone comes along and says “Nice truck.”

Another good thing. As my antique truck gets older it becomes more valuable. There is a market for old vehicles just like any kind of artwork. If I had kept and maintained my 1965 GTO it would now be worth $40,000 to $65,000 according to Hemmings Motor News listings.

1957 Chevrolets have always been classics. Even ‘junkers’ cost thousands of dollars just for their parts. Restored to stock or hot rodded, they are among the most valuable classic cars in the world. Imagine how much money GM could make if they reproduced that 1957 body style with modern engines. Too bad…Toyota will probably do it. American car company executives seem to be asleep at the wheel.

Make a cup of coffee, more auto tech talk coming.

When I was searching for my Dream Work-Truck, my first consideration was to find one with minimal rust on the body or frame. The Dodge truck from Tennessee (where they do not use salt on their roads very often) had no rust. There were some dents but I could straighten those. Vehicles from southern and southwestern states and ones not driven much during winter in other states are often free of rust.

Next on my want list was finding a heavy duty truck. Not too heavy, not too light. 3/4-ton was just right.  3/4-ton trucks may look like 1/2-ton models but they have heavy duty suspension parts. I also wanted real bumpers which most of these trucks had. If I have a fender-bender with my truck it’s not my fender I worry about.

I wanted an engine in my truck that was made by the millions so parts would be easy to find. The 318 cubic inch Mopar engine was my choice. It has been around for decades and used in just about every full size vehicle built by Dodge, Plymouth and Chrysler. New and rebuilt parts are inexpensive and easy to find. There are stock and after-market parts to customize performance if you like. Chevy and Ford have engines of similar displacement and truck model choices as good as my Dodge. I just like Dodges.

It is not politically correct or “green,” but I wanted a vehicle built before the hysteria of emissions controls came along. That meant finding something made before 1976. An engine with so many wires, tubes and inexplicable little electric and mechanical gizmos attached that it looks like it is on life support violated my simplicity requirement. Fortunately there were untold numbers of vehicles like I wanted available in 1980. It is a little harder to find them now.

Next time I’ll give more reasons for adopting an elderly truck into your family.

* * *

Reader Bob Taylor has a 1991 Nissan pickup with a gas engine and wants to investigate getting a small diesel pickup with better mileage. He remembers Isuzu selling such a pickup that got 50 miles per gallon.

Bob, Isuzu has been around since 1936 and they are still here. I know general things about them but I always had trouble getting my fingers into those tiny engine parts and using those odd sized little wrenches they need.

If you want an Isuzu engine you will find them under the hood of Chevy trucks and cars these days. Google Isuzu Diesel Engines and you will find plenty of information to start your search. You will find contacts for technical information, history, vehicles for sale and parts to fix them.

In these latest posts I recommend specializing in one brand of vehicle, even one particular model year. If an Isuzu diesel pickup is your Dream Vehicle then go for it. However, read my next post or two and maybe you will be converted to an alternative vehicle buying philosophy. You may decide to consider something as tempting as the 1930’s vintage beauty in the above picture to use in your business. Notice the resemblance to the PT Cruiser which is so popular these days? Retro styling means old will be new again.

This is my work partner. It’s been with me almost as long as my wife. It is a 1971 D200 (3/4 ton) two wheel drive Sweptline Dodge truck that started life as a ‘Camper Special’. It weighs 4200 pounds even before I get in it. I have loaded as much as 3000 pounds into it, though not often. It complains if I do.

It was not nearly so pretty when I bought it in 1980. The color was that icky blue/green often seen on these trucks back in the late 1960’s. I got it for $750 from a racing team in Tennessee. The engine was from one of their race cars, a 383 cubic inch thing with all kinds of leftover racing parts installed but worn out from abuse. It either stalled when I stepped on the gas or took off in a cloud of smoke and burnt tire rubber.

I sold the engine and its equally racy transmission to a local hot rodder who paid me more for them than the truck cost me. Then I bought and installed a modest 318 cubic inch engine and a more civilized transmission that I got as a set for $150. After I bought new tires, rebuilt the brakes and fixed all the minor problems on the truck I broke even. Well, not even, I actually had a great truck that had cost only my labor.

Long before I bought this truck I did a considerable amount of research on the vehicle I would need for my career as a builder. I preferred Dodges so I bought the repair manual for Dodge trucks built from 1961 to 1971 and learned all I could about engines, chassis and available equipment.

From what I read I decided I wanted a 3/4 ton truck with two-wheel drive. Four-wheel drive may seem useful and has that macho aura but I did not plan to plow snow or go where no man has gone before. Neither did I want the lowered gas mileage nor all the extra mechanical parts that could breakdown.

I decided on the 318 engine for its economy and because it had sufficient power for my needs. I learned to decipher the vehicle identification numbers which gave me information about horsepower, quality of internal components and lots more. I learned that one particular model of 318 engine came with 245 horsepower compared to the 150 to 200 horsepower of the others. Just knowing where ID numbers were located on the engine impressed junkyard dealers and helped when haggling prices.

I would have preferred a four speed standard transmission but I never found one I liked. I did learn that Dodge trucks of that era come with one kind of automatic transmission but there are subtle differences in the performance of various models and I made sure I knew which was the best. Identification numbers helped with this choice too.

The rear axle ratio is important knowledge to learn about any vehicle. How many of you knew that? The axle ratios (there are many) make your vehicle the fastest drag strip racer in town with the worst mileage or one with really good mileage but a little poky off the line, all with the same engine. My truck came with a heavy duty rear axle built by the Spicer company. With the 318 engine, an automatic transmission, a 3.54 rear axle ratio and slightly over-sized rear tires I got 26 miles to the gallon the three times I drove it from Maine to California and back. That was with the back loaded with stuff.

Okay, I sense some of you are getting sleepy from boring gear-head tech talk so I will stop for now. But I’ll be back, because there is more.

First the bad news: the housing market is falling apart. And it is going to be in trouble for at least another year. Lenders have made so many risky loans, mostly of the deadly “interest only” type and adjustable rate mortgages, to people who do not qualify that it threatens to put us into economic collapse. Foreclosures are rampant and sales of new and used homes are way down all over the country.

Along with that are problems for businesses related to housing. Home Depot, Lowes and other companies that supply products for building, furnishing, and maintaining homes are losing money and letting workers go.

Listening to any news broadcast will show you how bad things are and how bad they will get. So…that is the bad news, but maybe not for you if you are starting your homebuilding Ph.D now.

Here is the good news: the housing market is falling apart. And it is going to be in trouble for at least another year. Why is this good? Well it is not good for many but it can be for you. This gives you time to do your studying. A large part of that study is going to include learning about the real estate market in the area where you intend to do your house project.

You will learn important facts by reading the real estate section of the newspaper. It will tell you the high and low value neighborhoods in the area. The site for your project must be where you can sell it to people who have the money and desire to live there. Figuring out the best locations to attract customers like that is something to do during the first year of your quest.

After a year of study you can make an informed decision on where to invest the money you have earned and saved. By then prices will be even lower. Tracking real estate prices will help you know when the market ‘bottoms out.’ Knowledge is power. Learning real estate trends and tactics is very interesting, even more fun than gossip because it has a direct, meaningful effect on you.

As the market goes down so do prices of materials. With an original budget of X number of dollars, during a time like this you might be able to save half. I will talk more about this later. Plywood here has already dropped 20%, maybe more. I have not checked this month. Frugal shopping, low prices and a year’s time equals good news for you.

Here is something for you to think about. The best area to do your house project does not have to be your own neighborhood or even your own town. There may be another location some distance away, maybe 20 or 50 or ?? miles. I’ll help you with a strategy for starting the physical work of your project, if it is at a distance, as these lessons continue.

Start looking at home prices and relate them to the location where you plan to build your project. Recording this information on a map is helpful. Read news stories to become familiar with good and bad parts of town and why they are that way. The police blotter tells you a lot about crime and where it could be a problem. Map out businesses that make noise, have heavy traffic or cause air pollution. Know where schools, stores, churches and other services are located.

Well, you get the idea. It may take studying several locations before you find one you have confidence in, but it is fun to do. As I said, even more fun than gossip, although Brittney forgetting her…. Never mind. Have to go now.

It is raining nice and steady today. It will help the garden. This reminds me of the time I was preparing to do my first house project. It was a particularly rainy year and I was worried that when I was ready to start building the weather would hold me up.

I was collecting house building information from every place I could find it. This was during the era of ignorance before computers and the internet. I bought and borrowed books and magazines, got subscriptions to the best ones, and read them over and over. If I didn’t have firsthand experience at least I would have some knowledge, and references to the information I would need. The rain gave me incentive to study.

Then something happened that I took as a great omen and boosted my hopes that I could actually succeed in building a house. It rained so much that spring that there was serious flooding. In Vermont that means brooks swelling to rivers moving very fast down through the hills. The floods washed out bridges. Buildings next to usually placid streams, even a whole lumber yard at a mill, floated away.

It so happens my little house was on property near a 600 acre lake. I was safely high enough to stay dry, though the roads coming and going from there were washed out for a few days. It was an exciting time. We were declared a disaster area and a great time was had by all.

About three weeks after the flood waters subsided I walked down to the lake. The area where the river enters the lake had been one of my favorite places to visit. It was devastated. However, the devastation turned out to be a godsend. Every tree that had held its ground snagged huge piles of logs, boards, beams, bridge timbers, all that lumber from the washed out mill and much more. When I saw this I had one of those moments when your whole body quivers like it would if you had just won the lottery big time.

There was so much treasure I called up two friends who had been thinking about building their own homes and we spent a month collecting materials from that area. Three houses were built from that collection of goodies with tons of stuff left over. And it was quality lumber. I got a 14″ square by ten foot long hand-hewn beam for the mantel over my fireplace. There was 2000 square feet of 2 1/2″ thick tongue and groove yellow pine flooring. There were so many 4″ x 8″ mill-sawn bridge timbers one guy built a whole cabin with them. Lumber of every dimension was so plentiful we were picky about what we chose.

Unfortunately, word got out about what we were doing and the town fathers kicked us out, hired a contractor, bulldozed the remaining treasure into piles and burned it. They said it was done to clear the water shed area for safety during the next flood. Hogwash!!

However, we weren’t dumb. After finding all the places on the map where similar land/water relationships existed we roamed the countryside, gathering more materials. The locations weren’t as productive but we weren’t wasting our time.

So, Lesson One: arrange your money. Lesson Two: study hard. Lesson Three: pray for rain. I’m kidding. Lesson Three: look for deals on things you will need. You will be doing all this and more during Year One of your homemade Ph.D.

It was good to visit with our old friend Robert, and the Amish couple he brought to meet us are interesting people. We talked about farming, gardening, cooking, herbal remedies and building. They can build just about anything, and they have. They are also adventurous, traveling here from a thousand miles away to look for a new place to settle. Their journey was difficult, traveling by horse-drawn wagon, earning traveling expenses along the way. Unfortunately they had bad luck. Their life savings was stolen by a land swindler and they may lose their beloved horses. They are resourceful, decent people with personalities that make them a joy to be with. I hope they find Maine a good place to live, despite their present difficulties, because neighbors like these are very rare. I hope their fortunes improve.

* * *

In the last chapter of my story I was at the point of focusing on The Facts of Life and realizing that total dependence on money as the only control over my food, shelter and security was not a wise life choice. That is when I decided to pick a career that would give me physical control over at least one of the three Life Facts and, hopefully, provide income for the other two.

I chose shelter because I had some skills and experience in that category from my full- and part-time work over the years. Choosing is one thing. Getting it to work is another. I knew I needed to learn a myriad of things to make it happen. So I told myself it was time to become a student again, get books and study. I also started making friends with builders, plumbers, electricians and real estate dealers.

I moved back to my home town, took what I intended to be my last “job,” and began to study and plan. And that is where I would like you to picture yourself now if building is a career you want to take seriously. It took me the better part of a decade to reach the starting point. Hopefully, telling you about my experiences will give you a head start.

Next post I’ll give you some subjects to look into for your year of preparation. Meanwhile I am going to go collect the special herbs the Amish lady says might make my fingernail grow back.

* * *

A note: Scroll down this website and find, From the Library/Making and Saving money. Read Darlene Campbell’s article, Get Out of Debt - Stay Out of Debt. It is excellent and will help you during Year One of what we are discussing here. She tells you things I didn’t think of. She is a smart lady.

In my last post I told how I first began to suspect there was more to life than having a job and making as much money as possible as fast as possible. First, because of the hemorrhaging of money from my paycheck before I got it. Second, because of the cost of things I needed just to have the job.

I kept working at the factory because I applied for and was accepted into an excellent apprenticeship program and got a valuable education. I took part-time jobs for extra money and for interesting new work experiences. I was smart enough to know I needed skills in order to get jobs. After about seven years I had worked four full-time jobs and more than 20 part-time jobs.

There were usually part-time jobs available which required the skills I had learned. I felt safer in knowing that I could do a variety of things to keep the money coming if I lost my full-time employment. A good strategy, but I still had not put the best plan together.

Eventually I realized that fear of having no money was influencing me too much. What I lacked was security. Even with some savings in the bank the fear remained because something could so easily happen that would take it all away. Everything I did required money. Without it I was sunk.

That was when the fog began to clear. It was during the back-t0-the-land movement and I was reading all I could about it. The Nearings and Ken Kern were my favorite authors. What came through to me was how successful these people were with so little money. They, and many others, were doing well because they did things for themselves instead of paying for it with money from a job.

I could write all month about my revelations but it boiled down to what I call “The Facts Of Life.” I asked myself, ‘What are the basic necessities of life?’ After making long lists and distilling them down I came up with three categories: Food - Shelter - Security. All other subjects fit into one of these categories.

Food is obvious. It includes all things concerning food. Shelter is about a place to live and all things relevant to that. Security is the biggest category because so many matters in life involve staying safe. I am sure readers of this website and BHM are very aware of these three Facts Of Life or something close to them.

We have visitors coming today, new ones and an old friend. We are going to discuss self-sufficiency. I look forward to learning some things. The new friends are Amish and have generations worth of knowledge.

Now is a good time to go back and read my July 17th post because this relates to it.

When I was about 19 I decided to go on Dave’s big adventure. I left my little town in the hills of Vermont, drove to the big city of Hartford, Connecticut and got a job with a large company that made helicopters, jet engines, parts for spaceships and lots of other cool stuff.

I settled in to take my place in the great American work force. Things went pretty well for a year or so until I got “laid off.” It was not my fault. The union in another part of the factory went on strike for longer coffee breaks or something, leaving my part of the factory without work. My whole existence was supported by money from that job and the prospect of having none for awhile was a shock.

During my time off I had reason to examine what having a job for money was costing me. First was the time. I worked eight hours. I had a half hour lunch break and it took an hour and a half, round trip, to commute when the traffic was reasonable. That was ten hours a day, often six days a week because the factory was doing well.

I drove my car over 200 miles per week just to go to work and back. It was a nice new Pontiac. I bought it with economy in mind. The brochure said the engine, with a two-barrel carburetor, would get 15 miles per gallon so I got the GTO option with THREE two-barrel carburetors, expecting to get 45 miles per gallon. For some reason that never worked out. Nice car though.

To have this job required that I pay for work uniforms and a laundering service supplied by a vendor company. I had to buy special safety glasses and expensive shoes with steel toes. They did let me use a safety helmet for free when one was needed. Wearing socks and underwear was my choice.

Then there was the apartment. I rented a couple of rooms in an old farmhouse in the country and it was really nice. The landlady was like a grandmother to me, but it was costing me nearly a quarter of my take-home pay and I hardly did anything there but sleep.

Speaking of pay, there was a serious difference between what the company paid me and what I took home. There were these things called payroll deductions that sucked up about a third of my money. Taxes, work services, union dues, charity donations and other niggling little things I can’t remember. Then there were car payments, utilities, insurance premiums, fuel for the car and food for me.

During my forced time off I came to realize all the parasitic expenses I had overlooked in order to have a job. When money is coming in regularly that is easy to do. Now, in my defense, I was young, healthy and seriously distracted by the number of lovely young city ladies who needed me for their social entertainment. However, it was during that “laid off” time that I began to form a philosophy which led me to where I am now. I will share that with you next time.

I hate money. When it is needed it takes too much time and work to make it. When there is enough it takes too much time and work to manage it. But having it and managing it is less miserable than needing it. That is one big reason for taking two years of concentrated work to make a worthwhile amount.

These last few posts have been about using the first year to organize your finances to make the second year possible. During the second year you will be spending your money and probably borrowing some too. At the end of Year Two you should have a home that is (1) yours free and clear or (2) yours with a much smaller mortgage than if you had bought it the regular way.

You will also have learned a number of valuable job skills along the way that could open up new career choices for you. In fact, you automatically have a new career right in front of you at the end of Year Two. Imagine what you could do if you sold your new house, took the profit and built another house.

The second house would be financed by you without borrowing, and you might have money left over. Then do house number three. Each project teaches you more and each should be more profitable than the last. And…you have created a real life career.

I have built 24 houses on my own using the ideas I am giving you here. There are numerous things to learn when making this career choice and I will talk about as many as I can in future posts.

The most important accomplishment arising from this new life experience is becoming your own boss. I can’t begin to tell you how good that feels.

* * *

On the previous subject of stucco and styrofoam walls, check out this website: starbulletin.com:2000:05:19:features:story1.html.webloc

Older folks, those of you beyond 35, have most likely bought a home and are paying off a mortgage. This gives you some options. If you are not too many years into your mortgage you could sell the house and get out from under the payments. Where will you live if you do that? I’ll get to that later.

If you are more than halfway through paying off your mortgage and can borrow against your equity that may be the way to go. I’ll have some ideas for you later too.

What I want you to do is rearrange your assets so that by the end of your first year you are out of debt, have some savings and your only bills are living expenses for food, utilities and maybe rent. It will be a rather drastic change for most people, especially those beyond thirty-something who have become used to a secure routine of having a place to come home to after work each day. However, this will be an adventure and such things require risks.

Making lists is a good part of planning. Get your financing plans written down and next time I will talk about some more things to be accomplished during the first year like, what do we do with the kids?

* * *

It is a particularly nice day here on the coast of Maine. I walk two miles next to the ocean almost every day and sometimes take it all for granted. The little islands I pass do their best to attract attention. The picture with this post is one of them showing off.