As someone who owns a "nice car", it's about enjoyment.

I enjoy driving it.
I enjoy the way it looks
I enjoy how it handles, accelerates, etc

It's not just a means to get me from point A to point B, it's something that does do that but I can get a lot of enjoyment out of at the same time.

So to me, it's worth it. To you - maybe not. It's all about perception and opinion.

_________________

Do you buy it and keep it in your garage? Or do you take it to car shows to let others see it?

_________________

Yeah, my perception is this:

Why spend an extra $10,000 when I could use it to help as a downpayment on another house to flip. Which will allow me to make and extra 30,000 to 40,000. But that just the way I think.

_________________

For me, that $10,000 is well worth it if I enjoy every minute I drive that vehicle over the next 200,000 miles or so. That's only 5 cents a mile.

You enjoy flipping houses and accumulating money. I'm happy to put money into something that I will get a lot of enjoyment out of over a period of time. When you have to drive a lot (which I do), that makes a big difference.

_________________

Word.

I'll drive my Honda till it dies.....then maybe lease somthing

_________________

Ok - I was going to stay out of this discussion. Really.

But then I read this:



Nice car? You talking about the HHR?

Ed, Ed, Ed....you poor, deluded man. No wonder your views on "collecting" are all out-of-whack.

_________________

Yes, I'm talking about my SS, that has 295hp, 345 fpt and blows the doors off of just about everything else on the road.

Thank you very much

_________________

Hey, I'd meet you down the track- I drive a 2002 Ram-Air Trans-Am. Dyno tested at 335 HP. 13.3 at 104 in quarter mile. Sunshine, rain, snow- It's my only car.

I'm really surprise this threat hasn't been locked.

_________________

And here I thought "car" was a metaphor for "woman" or "bacon" or even "rare expensive collectable".

You know after 7 pages it is nice to see a Joe Customs thread that devolves in its normal progression.

_________________

Does anyone here collect Hot Wheels?

_________________

no. but I collect hot donuts. I like the cake style ones with chocolate icing.

_________________

I have to back Topson up on this one. I don't have a lot super rare, or "unknown" items, but I do have a few. I have found that as a general rule of thumb, no matter how well intentioned, posting those rare items doesn't do you a lot of good. I had lucked into something that I searched for for several years. The rumor I heard was that a Roadblock Halloween costume was released in 1992 along with Duke, and I could find no proof of it's existence. Then I found the prototype for it. As far as I could tell, it was never released. So I researched the heck out of it. Followed every lead I could, then finally posted all the information on it. Was I 100% correct? No, I later found out a few more things about the item, but they were fairly inconsequential.

How did the community react to it? Some thought it was pretty cool. Many ignored it entirely. Some, enough to be annoying, keep telling me I'm wrong about it. I've been told that it was released, but no one can show me a store bought version. Some tell me it's not even G.I. Joe. Just 2 weeks ago, I was contacted by a guy that told me it was actually Leatherneck. He had no evidence to back it up, he just thought it looked more like Leatherneck than Roadblock.

Do I regret "going public?" No. Am I satisfied with the results? Not really. Do I feel encouraged to go through the trouble again? Not particularly. Will I go through the trouble again? More than likely, I will. But it will be on my schedule, and as mentioned before it will be for the love of the art.

One other thing. We are fortunate as a community that there are people even doing research on the obscure corners of our hobby. I'm into plenty of other toy lines, and there are a lot of them that have almost no information out there at all. Some might have a fan site with half the figures on it, and that's it. Others don't even get that lucky. Do you know that there is not a single comprehensive fan site for 12" G.I. Joe figures? Sure there are plenty of fan sites, but when you want to ID a specific shirt, good luck

Just my 2 cent's.

Roger

Hmmm...Do you have a Dunkin Donut from 1986, strawberry iced still in mint condition?

_________________

This is the do-nut thread Roger, what the heck are you talking about?

Actually Dude, I read and greatly enjoyed your in depth article about the costumes. I read it intently while working teh JoeArmory booth at last years convention. There's no telling how many people were able to palm ZombieGuides toys while my eyes were glued to your article. And now, it is filed in my "GI Joe" file drawer.

Since it wasn't an online article I couldn't send a Kudos and sense I don't know you I couldn't give you a pat on the back - but you are wrong if you think your article wasn't appreciated.

So some dumb ass thinks its Leatherneck. Live with it. There are some really dumb people in the world. In that is a good thing. Cause somebody has to make the do-nuts. If we paid rocket scientists to make do-nuts they'd cost like 7 billion dollars a dozen, and that's too damn much for fritters; so we put up with stupid people so we can enjoy cheap do-nuts. Occasionally that means we have to put up with dumb people in other realms of our lives, Roger. Do-nut dumb asses can collect GI Joe too. Since most of us only eat do-nuts in the morning, they naturally need something to do with themselves during the rest of the day. So occasionally, it's the middle of the afternoon, and you and your rocket scientist friends are deep in an intellectual discussion regarding Roadblock Halloween costumes and that great article of yours that they read last night, and then some do-nut dumbass passes you by and says something really stupid, I don't know what he says Roger, because I'm not stupid so I can't think of stupid things to write right here, Roger, but the Do-Nut Dumbass says something really stupid, right when the Rocket Scientists were about to givie you an "Oh what a feelin' Toyota" High-5 for being so awesome, and that High-5 doesn't happen, you all look at the dumbass do-nut maker who just said something really stupid and you grimmace. But you pause, and you suck it up Roger. You continue on with your High-5 - and your Halloween discussions, you know why Roger!? Because you're going to wake up tomorrow morning and you're going to want a do-nut! You're going to want a frikin fritter, Roger! So you know that right now, if you push the do-nut dumbass under a bus - you'll be free of dummys and living in a halloween happy world - but you'll be sad come morning. Protect your own do-nut interests. Protect the dumbasses. Do it for the rocket scientists. Do it for the do-nuts!

_________________

Okay, here's what I don't get, and I really would like an explanation. I understand that this is a reason not to post original art, early drafts of filecards, or other things that can be reproduced by simply printing them out. I remember the incident at Yojoe and thought that the guy making the repro filecards using the other guy's artwork was a scumbag. But how is that an issue with things like these test shots? I don't know about anyone else, but I was not blessed with the mutant power to look at something and then create a duplicate of it with my mind (...otherwise there would currently be two Scarlett Johanssons behind me fanning me with comically large feathers). I know that some people have reproed parts of some of the unreleased 95 figures (Battle Rangers Mindbender, Baroness, Flint, etc), but that required the approval and the cooperation of the original owners. My question, I guess, boils down to how do I devalue (in any way) a rare piece just by looking at it?

_________________