First on the Block???
 

Maybe it's the way I was raised. We didn't have a microwave until about 1984. My parents still have a CRT television. My dad's first camcorder was used (one that took full size VHS tapes). My cell phone doesn't have a camera. I don't own an ipod. I just don't understand this "First on the Block" mentality.

PS2, Wii, iphone -- people standing in line a week before the things are on sale... Putting down a couple grand on a car you've never seen, than isn't even in production yet... I don't get it.


When there are 15 birds sitting on a wire, how do you know which one landed first? When there are 15 Challengers lined up on the curb, who's going to remember in six months which one was first? I guess for the guys who want the low production number for the 2047 Barret Jackson auction, then maybe. But for a driver?

RE: First on the Block???
 

Just a matter of resources and priorities. :)

2009 will be soon enough for me, as long as it has what I want!

RE: First on the Block???
 

Funny, my parent's got their first microwave in the same year. Nobody in my family has anything besides a conventional tube television. Our first movie recorder was one for a movie projector which had no sound capabilities, our first actual camcorder we got in 1993 that was a microsized camcorder, the one we replaced that with around 2002 still uses the same sized film and we have not updated since. We didn't get a cellphone until 2002. We didn't get a family cellphone plan until 2005. My cell phone does not have a camera either.

My newest game system is a PS1 and I got that in about 1998. We didn't get a color television or VCR until 1991, and didn't get a properly working VCR until 1993. We didn't get a DVD player until 2004. My parents have never owned a car with leather interior. They still consider power windows and locks to be an option. My parents have never had either cable or satellite. We didn't have the internet until 2001. My parent's stereo system does not have a CD player but still has a record player, which they bought in 1993, yet they still also have an 8-track player.

My parents live in the exact same house that my father purchased before he was married in 1977. Our garage door is completely manual and has never been automatic. About the only luxury we have ever had was we used to own half of a single engine base engine 1959 Piper Comanche.

I'm actually content with not being the first at anything. The people who are the first have to pay a whole bunch more, tend to have more problems, miss out on better options offered later, and other issues. I also find that people who have to have the latest and greatest are never content as they always have to have the lastest things.

RE: First on the Block???
 

I think one of our commons concerns was the longevity dictated by the unknown demand. I think after last week and the fact they have a discontinued taking orders, I think it'll be around for long enough.

Not sweating it in the least. I think 09 is going to open a world of opportunities enhancements and information that will help steer anyone who is waiting. I'm happy for those who will get theirs next year. They are helping to ensure that more are in the pipe with their enthusiasm. Everyone has a purpose in the grand scheme and I'm happy they are doing their part.

09 will be a good year as will 08 because we'll be able to see the car we'll own later.

RE: First on the Block???
 

I was wondering about the contentment part. What happens when the "firstness" wears off? Sell for $15k less than you bought for and spent $15k too much on the next "first" thing? (2010 'cuda??)...

RE: First on the Block???
 

Thanks what I'm thinking. Some people go nuts if they don't trade every three years (something that blows my mind), which even takes effort on their part. I've owned the same car for 5 1/2 years and if it didn't have so many miles and need some work, I would be perfectly happy with it. I'm going to get a newer vehicle this summer, but I plan on holding on to it until I get the Challenger.

RE: First on the Block???
 

I've had my K Car for ten years and almost 160k miles (car now has 257k) and I plan on driving it until I can't fix it anymore. I make my car payments to Advance Auto Parts! ;)

RE: First on the Block???
 

Well good for you! Which engine and transmission does it have again?

RE: First on the Block???
 

My family is errerly similar. The only reason we have new stuff is because the old stuff broke. before my dad got the magnum he had a ranger truck that was totaled 3 times. The AC was WD40 (windows down at 40MPH) and aluminum foil and a quart of oil a day kept the car running. You would have to lift the door up and slam it close and the saealt belt didnt work well on the passenger side. It sounded like a gun backfiring when he started up. That is what I got a ride home from when I missed the bus in high school. [sm=icon_rofl.gif] Still i have to count my blessings, it could have been worse.

RE: First on the Block???
 

My car previous to my current commuter was killed by going to fast on an exit ramp right after it rained (yeah I knew the mantra right before I got into the curve too hot "Roads are always most slippery right during the first part of the rain, extracting oil...blah, blah blah....I know it's true...but it makes me wince to hear my mother's voice in my head) did a 360 and then some and t-boned the guard rail....had 240K on that car (Subaru Legacy 96 before they started to get expensive).....anyhoo, my point is to wear vehicles out. My commuter car now was paid for in Cash $10,000 w/ 1000 miles on it less than a year old. I'm at 61k right now (had it for two years last month) trouble free (knock on wood) I will ride it into its or my grave. I was never a leaser....I so badly want to put half a million or a millions miles on a car.....I've had two make 240K before they were killed (first one I gave to a friend told him she burns just enough oil to either replace the rings OR be sure to change it every 3K, he didn't and she's dead now :-( )

Plum70Rag, that's encouraging that a K Car made it that far....wasn't the Dodge Dynasty was it...man I loved those vehicles...what a value...

RE: First on the Block???
 

Ouch sounds like you got lucky to survive that. Yes the Dodge Dynasty was an extended K car. My dad had two of those. From what I have seen the life he is talking about is by no means rare on a K based car. I have known plenty of people who have put over 200K on them and they were still going. The Ks might not have been the fanciest (though a few of them were) or the fastest (except for the Spirit R/T, Daytona, and Omni GLHS), but there were reliable as long as you got right powertrain and they were pretty cheap to maintain. This is why I don't believe that the Japanese are automatically superior. I have seen enough K cars to prove that the Big Three have the capability to be just as good if not better.

RE: First on the Block???
 

You're right, RLSH, about the Dynasty being and extended K Car. Matter of fact, nearly every front wheel drive vehicle Chrysler built between 1981 and 1994 was a K Car. Even the minvans. Only the Omni wasn't, but the original K Cars weren't far from being an extended Omni! That platform saved Chrysler's sorry hide in the '80s. The Neon ended its reign; what a piece of junk that was...

I slightly missed on my numbers on my K Car. It's an '88 Reliant with 256k (not 257), and I've put on 116k of those (not 160). That out of the way, it's a 2.5 (Chrysler NOT Mitsubishi as many think) auto. I got it from my mom at 140k, she got it from the original owner at around 80k. I got it in 1997 when my wife was pregnant with our first because the a/c worked -- and despite some soaked hoses, with a K-mart R134 retro, the a/c STILL works!

The trick with the 2.2/2.5 is to keep coolant in them. The aluminum head will warp in a heartbeat if you overheat them. I like to say this car has been abused but not neglected. It's BEAT, but never missed an oil change. Hit two deer... ran paper route for two years... ran a hole in the oil pan at 180k, filled it up and drove 3 hours home through a downpour... You can accumulate a lot of stories in ten years with a car. :)

Here's the crazy part. My kids LOVE THIS CAR. I'm absolutely serious here; I've never tried, but I bet if I told them I had to sell either the Challenger or the K, they'd want to keep the K! They want me to restore it... Ugh.

RE: First on the Block???
 

Plum70Rag, wow very cool I like the fact you were able to rack that many miles on a Mopar. It encourages me to consider the Caravan.

RE: First on the Block???
 

I want to get a challenger, but im not a "wait in line" kind of person...especially for a first-run vehicle. I will admit, that I do have one of the first batch PS3s, but that was only because we found someone on ebay that put the auction up wrong, so we paid almost the same price, shipped to our door, that it would have cost us to buy it at a store with tax...i think that we paid 4 dollars more.
however, amanda has been waiting in a line every morning with the hopes that a Wii will show up, as that is all that her son has really requested for christmas, but after waiting for the place to open at 10, getting there at 6am, and working in the car for those four hours, we still are empty handed...but thats because of the people buying them up only to post on ebay...for three times the price. [:@]

RE: First on the Block???
 

Yeah, a lot of place were cool and would only sell people one (to avoid that same predicament)....Nintendo folks have me confused with their marketing. They spend money advertising (unnecessarily) to drive demand, then don't increase supply (more revenue from more sales), then don't bump the price (good for us, but contradictory to the classic micro economics model, right?)

Keep an eye on EB (call before you go, ask when people are supposed to get in) another thing you can do is hit wal mart, ask when they expect them in, if you develop a little rapport with the person you're talking with sometimes they'll hook you up and put one to the side for you.

Good luck. These things are hoot!

RE: First on the Block???
 

My kid got a Wii for his birthday in July after nagging the crap out of me. Now he's doing the same thing for a Nintendo DS. No way. He's getting a couple more games for the Wii. He can sell his GameCube, Gameboy Advance, and PS2 if he wants a DS. five frigging systems and he wants another. I've been suckered enough! I'm no techo-geek. Never had a Walkman, Discman, or ipod. Don't like crap in my ears. Use my cell phone to call people only. Nver use a cam corder and only use the digital camera to take a picture of the kids or something I want to sell online. Prefer a Desktop to a laptop, but may get one so I surf the web anywhere in the house. But I do like HDTV with flat screens and cool cars.

RE: First on the Block???
 

well, i bit the bullet for the boy and sat outside in the snow from 330am to 830am sunday to get a Wii. while i sat at target in one of the hardest december storms michigan has seen in like 50 years, we got 8 inches of snow..it was unreal, and miserably cold..but i got one...:)

ebgames and gamestop are the devil...they have been hoarding Wii's because of their upcoming BS "voucher program"...

RE: First on the Block???
 

Mikesan, remember Gamecube games work with WII! :-)