Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Stuff, was: Doug DeMuro

[Richard Lindsay (richardolindsay]

You mean like, "There is no point in using the word 'impossible' to
describe something that has clearly happened."

Great books, great man.

On Tue, Dec 16, 2014 at 9:00 AM, A.J. <newgent2tx [at] gmail.com> wrote:
> Bonus points to Rick for paraphrasing Arthur Dent. The only better quote
> would be one from Dirk Gently.
>
> On Tue, Dec 16, 2014 at 7:32 AM, Rick Lindsay <richardolindsay [at] gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> Hello old friends,
>>
>> I just read through the tractor thread and the underlying age theme. (I
>> read the List in digest form now.) Its funny that in the almost-twenty years
>> that I have been here, its not just me getting older! CG is 44?! When the
>> hell did that happen? And Matt's son will be driving soon?! And sadly, a few
>> of us are no longer on this Earth.
>>
>> I was 45 when I joined the list, and bought my 308GTB a few months later.
>> Interestingly, 45 was the average age, at that time, of the first-time
>> Ferrari buyer. Mid-life crisis or finally can afford it? When I got my 308
>> my wife jokingly told me, "If you were going to have a mid-life crisis, you
>> should have gotten a blond. She would have been cheaper and a lot less
>> trouble!" Gotta love her.
>>
>> So here I sit, a few days shy of 64-years-old, with two Ferraris in the
>> garage keeping company with eight other interesting cars. Sadly, no tractors
>> though. I have always wanted to restore a tractor; a little Farmall Super-A
>> cultivation tractor. But alas, EVERYTHING on a tractor is heavy so
>> restoration would be difficult. I only recently got a powered hoist. And of
>> course, I live in a subdivision administered by a Nazi HOA. So my desire to
>> restore a tractor (and a locomotive) goes unsatisfied.
>>
>> Anyone have records of how the Ferrari List membership has changed since
>> Steve first launched it? I have no clue as to how large the membership is
>> now. I also don't know how large it was in 1996 when I joined, or even how I
>> found out about it! There are a lot of things I don't know...
>>
>> I do know that my '78 Lotus Esprit has new front brakes. Well, the left
>> front is back on the car and the right front is rebuilt and on the workbench
>> awaiting reattachment. That's today's job, after a few hours exploring for
>> oil.
>>
>> And a quick aside regarding oil; While sub-$60-oil may be great for those
>> struggling to fill the gas tank, its long term effect is freightening. My
>> friends over at Exxon say, "If oil hovers around $60 for a while, it will
>> soon bounce back. However, if is continues to slip downward, we expect it to
>> bottom out at $45." And while some might cheer, OPEC's plan (read: Saudi
>> Arabia's plan) is to cripple America's shale-oil industry and keep us
>> dependent on imported oil! Yes, Exxon, BP and Shell will survive but I fear
>> the smaller producers will fold. They just don't have the huge reserves of
>> operating capital needed to weather this Saudi storm.
>>
>> Oil exploration is extremely expensive, mostly because of the long
>> concept-to-production time lag. I won't go into that but imagine you have a
>> store and are looking for a supplier to satisfy your plan to buy inventory.
>> Now imagine you must pay for it all in advance. And finally, imagine that
>> you can't sell the very FIRST item to your customers until a DECADE later!
>> Can you weather low product prices? Such is O&G exploration.
>>
>> Yes, we're all getting older. I did hear an interesting statistic the
>> other day, and it is encouraging. It seems we have passed the era of the
>> you-owe-me-everything-millennials! Teenagers are smoking less, drinking
>> less, doing fewer drugs, and accepting responsibilities for their own
>> actions, better than we've seen in the past decades! I've seen that too in
>> the kids I talk with. Imagine teenagers a decade ago, with 5-year plans!
>> They have them today! I find that interesting, and encouraging. It also
>> tells me that EVERYTHING is cyclical.  I had to get old to recognize that!
>>
>> So perhaps I will restore a tractor some day. Who knows. Perhaps I'll
>> stick to my frightfully unreliable British cars. And perhaps a teenager will
>> help me with the work.
>>
>> Gawd, it must be Tuesday. Never could get the hang of Tuesdays.
>> (Reference: paraphrased from Arthur Dent.)
>>
>> Woohoo,
>>
>> -rick
>>
>>
>>
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>