Mopars as an investment? Never really gave that thought much time.

The Mopars I ran on the dirt track sure were not much of an investment, unless you count the education that came with those years, and the entertainment they provided for me, and maybe for my family. You would have to ask the family about the entertainment value the dirt track was to them. But we still all get together and do a dirt track race night, and a Mopar car show at least one weekend a year.

The lessons, the mechanical aptitude, the experiences, and the lessons concerning money handling I learned while racing have provided years of income for myself. I have very little formal education that I've paid for out of my pocket, to learn financial information, learn to work on cars, or learned to work in the welding field that provided my income for my entire life. I would guess that would mean the money spent during the time I was involved in dirt track racing was my educational costs. Some people went to collage, I went dirt track racing. The money spent then has to be applied to the money I've earned through work and investments.

I've invested time and money in Mopar cars and trucks that were repaired, sold, traded, parted out, or junked. That money was set aside in its own car fund for future purchases, or other car related stuff. That fund covered my racing habit. Household income (derived from my job income, and my wife's work) never funded the racing habit. After racing, that same car fund also supported my Mopar street car hobby. Every Mopar street car or truck I've built and had fun with for an average of 4-5 years, has pretty much funded the next build after it was sold. Those same actions have also provided ever vehicle I've ever owned that my wife and myself have ever driven as daily drivers except for three that were financed. Two of those three financed were done in the first 10 years we were married, and the last one was because my wife needed a reliable driver for the 250 miles a week she was driving for her job. The car she was driving at the time lost the transmission (at 230K miles) and she needed something immediately, at the time I couldn't find a transmission as soon as a car was needed. That last one was in 2005, and we are still driving it. I did repair the trans in the old car, but my wife elected to keep the new one and she decided to make the payments on it. I sold the old car, and that guy drove it another 3 years and almost 100K more miles, a deer hit took it out.

The Mopar cars and the Dodge truck I now have may not be very valuable in the eyes of the world, but they are priceless to my wife and me, and everything is paid for.

I was taught while I was growing up that the time and money a person invests in his or hers life time is measured not by the money they have accumulated in some account someplace, but rather by the happiness the life style they have lived has given them.

From my perspective, the Mopars in my life have been a great life style I have fully enjoyed. I would do it all over again. That is a good investment to me. Gene