Cost: no object

Bought a little bit for the Red Lady today. Wasn't anything significant, just some exhaust manifold studs and two sets of gaskets. A hundred bucks all up. I was offered a few different styles of exhaust manifold fastener and I unthinkingly chose the most expensive. This attitude has pervaded my ownership of this car, this sort of 'cost no object' attitude, though it was tempered by restraint, I never spent money for the sake of it, but I have never cut corners either. I've done what made sense and would yield a good result, with cost playing a lesser role in my decision making.

None of the other cars work this way. They've all been stingy affairs, built by the ethos of what was cheap, though never sacrificing safety or making the car crappy in a functional way, but I've cut plenty of corners where style or appearance was concerned. I think this is why I've been able to have the other cars at all- they're done on the cheap. The upshot though, is that I've learned to be frugal and resourceful. For example, Toddy needed some rust repairs last year when I put the new motor in, and rather than buying new steel, I just cut up a guard of a Commodore I had recently wrecked out. It's also cooled by the electric fan off the truck I wrecked out.

These lessons are valuable, and I am appreciative of the opportunity to have them. I learned how to spend money with the Red Lady, but I've learned how to actually DO things with the others.