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Cars. I own a 1968 Chrysler Newport that I bought for $800. The body was very good and only had one small rot hole on each quarter panel. I do almost all of the work myself (had a friend with a shop repair the rot holes with metal; no bondo). I am as of right now $12,000 into the project. I redid the 383 with Edelbrock aluminum heads, a purple cam, Edelbrock intake, Speed Demon carb., MSD billet distributor and ignition set up, TTI ceramic coated headers, etc. I still have to do a front disc brake conversion and I have to put a posi unit and better gears (probably 3.90) in the rear. It is all worth it to me since I really enjoy working on cars.
My four year old loves anything mechanical and enjoys helping me as well. I am thinking of getting him a small dirt motorcycle since there is a motocross track near my house that has a 5-6 year old class. He also wants me to build a go kart with him as well. Yes; I did say he is 4 years old (will be five this month) but he really does love mechanical things. He already knows a lot of parts by looking at them. For instance, he can point out the alternator, battery, water pump, heads, intake, mufflers, transmission, etc. I just hope he holds his interest in mechanical things as he gets older.
Location: Finally escaped The People's Republic of California
11,314 posts, read 8,655,159 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Egobop
My four year old loves anything mechanical and enjoys helping me as well. I am thinking of getting him a small dirt motorcycle since there is a motocross track near my house that has a 5-6 year old class. He also wants me to build a go kart with him as well. Yes; I did say he is 4 years old (will be five this month) but he really does love mechanical things. He already knows a lot of parts by looking at them. For instance, he can point out the alternator, battery, water pump, heads, intake, mufflers, transmission, etc. I just hope he holds his interest in mechanical things as he gets older.
Oh Boy, that Lad is going to be worth something in 15-20 years, with todays kids not wanting to gt thier precious little hands dirty, a gear head is going to be a valuable comodity in the future....Keep him interested....
Exitus Acta Probat: A "dob" is the cheap way to get light-gathering power. Check out the prices on first-class apochromatic refracors! I agree with jdavid93225, to whom I'd like to add that I've tried model railroading and shooting, and yes, they get expensive too!
traveling: i do normally stay at hostels though. i am young and it is a good way to meet other travelers as i frequently travel solo. the airfare tends to be the most expensive, but day to day things add up.
going out to eat: i enjoy checking out restaurants and just well, eating there. i try not to go out to eat much anymore.
I trial my dogs in agility - I guess "expensive" is a relative term, but it's not cheap. I also dabble in obedience, tracking and whatever dog sport looks fun, but I'm an agility addict.
The last dog I got a championship title on - that took many trials and titles - it cost many thousands of dollars to get there. Classes, seminars, entry fees and all the related costs like gas, motel rooms and so on really adds up. Worth every penny but if all I did with my dogs was give them basic care and let them in and out of the house I'd have a lot more discretionary cash on hand!
I don't think I could afford horses.
I'm into several expensive hobbies, although the expense is in the eye of the beholder. I'm not rich so I am on inexpensive side of some of these hobbies.
Offshore powerboat poker runs
Snowmobiling
ATV/Off roading
Guns
Drag Racing
Diesel Engines
modifiying pretty much everything I own.
I'm actually out of the boating thing for a while.. it just got too expensive. The poker runs I ran were just small local ones, know where near the expense of some of the larger national ones. I've seen people blow thru 400+ gallons of race fuel ($7-10 a gallon) in one day. Not to mention $100k engines (multiple) in half million dollar boats.
I took a small 26' foot sport boat that ran 60mph and rerigged it and repowered it to run 81mph. It was fun but still was expensive for me.
Been out of the car thing for a long time as well... again it just got to costly for the return.
I have fun riding my dirtbike , quad or sidebyside (polaris rzr) ,shooting my guns, snowmobiling and tinkering around with my diesel truck and car. I also spend a lot of time at the family cottage with friends and family. When you have a boat or race car those tend to suck up all your free time so it's hard to try and do it all.
Location: West Los Angeles and Rancho Palos Verdes
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jdavid93225
A somewhat large dobsonian scope may be found for several hundred dollars, but that's not all you can spend your money on, if you are really interested in the hobby. You can always find telescopes that are more expensive than what you have. I've seen 16" models with lots of bells and whistles (GPS, computer control, coated lenses, etc.) that sell for well into the $20,000 range. Then there are accessories such as cameras, filters, carrying cases, and so on. If you really want to do it right, you'll also want to buy some remote property and build an observatory. In essence, astronomy can be as expensive as you want it to be.
I enjoy a Celestron 4" grab & go mounted on a Paragon HD-F2 and with an upgraded diagonal and finder. It's an F/5, so I only use one eyepiece, an Orion 10mm Expanse. The whole rig was just under $500, all of it brand new.
That setup sounds like great fun if you can use it under a dark sky. I want to ride my motorcycle to NM's mountains (again), but I'm torn because I also want to haul my Celestron 8 out there, which I'd have to drive the car to accomplish.
Golf (If you play 1 time per week, you're looking at $200/month. Some months I play 3 times every week)
Guitars (shouldnt have to explain this one, although its 95% up front money needed, then just money for strings, upgrades, etc afterwards) Guitars will range from $50 at a local pawn shop to $10,000 for a classic. Then there are the amps, about the same range
Guns (bullets are getting expensive and hard to find. You can get the cheapos for like $15/box of 50, more expensive ones cost $30-$50/box of 20-30 bullets) You go target shooting, $50 in bullets easily every time plus the $500-1000 for the gun.
Growing up I was into motocross. $3,000-$7,000 for the dirtbike. $200 for the helmet .$200 for boots. Chains ($75-$125 a pop), Tires, etc.
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Amateur astronomy
