The Down Range Forum

Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: TAB on July 16, 2013, 01:54:08 PM

Title: safe queens and other things.
Post by: TAB on July 16, 2013, 01:54:08 PM
CAn some one explain to me the point of owning something and not using it?  Rather its a gun, car, boat  what ever.  I was just checking cl and there is a guy selling a 911 turbo, that is 14 years old and has 600 miles on it total.   I just don't get it,
Title: Re: safe queens and other things.
Post by: Jrlobo on July 16, 2013, 02:30:06 PM
Well, TAB, could be the guy has been very busy, you know, traveling, grand kids, 3 marriages, 4 divorces, IRS, Tea Party, whatever. Or it could be his wife won't let him drive it...haha. Maybe he was saving it to make a killing so he can buy some guns and ammo. Before you buy it, however, I'm sure you will check out the car history, insurance/theft/registration records and do a NIX CK on the dude. Hell, you're a real Californian, you know the drill.
Title: Re: safe queens and other things.
Post by: mortdooley on July 16, 2013, 02:46:40 PM
We are a materialistic culture, I have all kinds of useless stuff that would never be missed or replaced if it disappeared. Goodwill and the trashman took alot but I still have a room that looks like an episode of Hoarders!
Title: Re: safe queens and other things.
Post by: TAB on July 16, 2013, 02:54:26 PM
he wants more for the car then I paid for the house lol.   i always run the vin on a car I am going to buy.  You just can't trust people anymore.  Its sad but true.
Title: Re: safe queens and other things.
Post by: lhprop1 on July 16, 2013, 03:01:40 PM
CAn some one explain to me the point of owning something and not using it?  Rather its a gun, car, boat  what ever.  I was just checking cl and there is a guy selling a 911 turbo, that is 14 years old and has 600 miles on it total.   I just don't get it,

I had a 1/2 quart of moonshine that took me almost 2 years to drink.  It was soooooo good that I really didn't want to drink it because every time I took a bump it meant there would be that much less.  It was quite the dilemma.

Sadly, but with much joy, my brothers and I finished it this weekend. 
Title: Re: safe queens and other things.
Post by: blackwolfe on July 17, 2013, 12:26:54 AM
Just look at the video you have on your post.  You have it, but you're never going to get to use it. ;D
Title: Re: safe queens and other things.
Post by: atmiller on July 17, 2013, 07:17:20 AM
Damn, I can't concentrate with that girl dancing!   :P

It happens all of the time.  Guys with motorcycles or fixed up cars that only get them out to add another coat of wax, afraid to drive them and get them dirty.  I think they spend so much time getting them just right that they can't stand to mess up their hard work. 
Title: Re: safe queens and other things.
Post by: billt on July 17, 2013, 08:13:00 AM
Many things fall into that category. For example, how would one "use" a rare coin collection"? Would you fire a pair for rare Dueling pistols? Many people have things that they don't "use" in the normal manner. Classic, expensive cars are just one of them. I'm sure if you look at the average yearly mileage a Ferrari F-50 or Enzo is driven, it won't add up to the 15,000 miles a year the family Ford Taurus racks up.

It's that way with most things that are valuable and or collectible. Guns, cars, even clothes and shoes if people have many of the same type of thing. A guy that owns 3 guns and shoots 10,000 rounds a year, is going to have a higher round count per gun than someone who owns 50 or 100 guns and shoots the same amount. For many people like this it's simple mathematics. Look at Jay Leno for instance. He owns well over 100 collectible, expensive, rare automobiles. Many get driven just a few miles a year, or none at all.

Another thing is use with many collectible items deteriorates their value. Mileage on rare, expensive automobiles, and ammunition through guns. Rare coins are a bit different. Most that are very valuable are housed in plastic so handling won't effect them. And you obviously aren't going to spend them. Most all of this stuff falls into a "pride of ownership" category, along with the collectible being a type of financial investment. Simply because the longer you own it, the more it will be worth.
Title: Re: safe queens and other things.
Post by: mortdooley on July 17, 2013, 08:58:08 AM
 Since I joined a shooting club my true safe queens have been coming out and speaking again.
Title: Re: safe queens and other things.
Post by: Solus on July 17, 2013, 12:26:54 PM
Some folks have an urge to collect, some don't.

Those who do will buy something just to have it to look at or appreciate in value.

Those who don't will see that as wasted money they could spend on a useful item or another type of investment.

I don't have the urge and tend to see this the same way as TAB.  The closest I come to a collection is a drawer full of different sharp kitchen knives....all bought because I thought they would be more useful than the ones I already had, or books I have read.  I tend to not want to get rid of them.  

There is a difference between a collector and a pack rat.

Might be nice to take a survey.  My guess is that non-collectors would be less likely to have personal jewelery, the exception being a watch, since it has a function, and collectors would be more likely to have rings or other accessories.
Title: Re: safe queens and other things.
Post by: les snyder on July 17, 2013, 01:55:27 PM
over the last 30 or so years, I've played several gun games...some requiring specific firearms like an STC 10/22 that are not used much... and over time, pistols like my single stack .45 comp gun are not really competitive any more, so get relegated to the safe... they were hand built by me, and have nostalgic value above their true value, so probably will never be sold, even if there was a buyer... others like the SW M41, purchased for $350,  have risen greatly in value, but for the same nostalgia reason will probably never be sold... they sit in the safe also.... I have an addendum to my will, listing a group of friends, each to be given a choice
Title: Re: safe queens and other things.
Post by: red364 on July 17, 2013, 03:40:21 PM
Some folks have an urge to collect, some don't. 

  My guess is that non-collectors would be less likely to have personal jewelery, the exception being a watch, since it has a function, and collectors would be more likely to have rings or other accessories.


I guess I have the urge, because I have guns that are just hanging around waiting to be worth more one day. I have jewelry I wear and some that stays with the guns in the safe... I would be so pissed if, on one of the rare days I drive the 57 something happened to it.
But, there are other thing to shoot, drive and wear while my collectibles are just sitting around, so I'm ok with my queens.     :)
Title: Re: safe queens and other things.
Post by: twyacht on July 17, 2013, 04:51:21 PM
There also is (with a family scenario), wanting to depart this world leaving tangible items of value for your kids.  For those that can't afford to leave large sums of cash, gold, property and/or jewelry to their kids,  perhaps a "hardly used" pistol/rifle/collector car,...whatever,, has a personal sentimental family value, as well as an appreciating value depending on what it is.

For example:

Handing down Grandpa's original Winchester, whether NIB, hardly shot, or put meat on the table every year for the last 70 years,
has intrinsic value.

So to the Porsche, There are ALOT of 911's. The older ones will always have collector appeal. Do you want it as an investment to drive around every once in a while, and re-sell later?

Or get it, keep it, drive the crap out of it, and hopefully not get too many tickets?  ::)

A 1955 Mercedes W196 recently sold for $30 Million. Go figure.... :P

http://money.cnn.com/2013/07/12/autos/mercedes-record-auction/



Title: Re: safe queens and other things.
Post by: Dakotaranger on July 17, 2013, 06:11:14 PM
I have two safe queens.  My Grandpa's Winchester .32  I can't afford to get it restored to where I'd feel safe shooting right now but I value it and it will stay in the family.  The  other is my Grandpa Olmsted Boy Scout knife.  I carried for 12 yrs until I got out of college and now it's in the safe.  It isn't worth anything financially but I'd be sick if I lost it.

Honestly, if I came across a transferable Thompson it'd probably sit in the safe quite abit because I couldn't afford to feed it on a regular basis but I'd still want it when I did.
Title: Re: safe queens and other things.
Post by: Timothy on July 17, 2013, 06:24:52 PM
Savage 1903 is my safe princess!  It's 110 years old and probably worth less than the 6 bucks it was worth originally!

Grandad and Dads squirrel gun.  Been fired about five times in thirty years but hitting an 8-1/2 x 11 piece of paper is becoming a chore.  No sense doing anything but clean it these days which happens twice a year just to keep it from pitting further.

Safes are for keeping things safe.  That rifle will become my little girls someday and she'll keep it another fifty or sixty years and give it to her spawn!
Title: Re: safe queens and other things.
Post by: Solus on July 17, 2013, 07:30:13 PM
To clarify my point of view, and perhaps TAB's, I think the question should have been "Why would someone buy something they aren't going to use", rather than "Why would someone own something they aren't going to  use"

Heirloom guns, or anything, items that have faithfully served are another....those were not purchased to be saved...but they are not used so they will be saved.

And I am at the opposite end when it comes to items I've owned and which served well.  I don't want to part with them.  But then, that is were the Pack Rat comes in.

Again, nothing wrong at all with collecting, it's just not something I find enjoyable.
Title: Re: safe queens and other things.
Post by: Timothy on July 17, 2013, 10:02:31 PM
Back to original question.

A 1999, 911 Turbo with 600 actual miles is easily worth what the guy originally paid for it.  It's nothing special other than the last Porsche available in the 20th century.  What someone is willing to pay for it is the question!

An investment, nothing more.  One of my best friends has a 1971, 911 S that he's had since the late 70's.  What's that worth to him vs someone else?
Title: Re: safe queens and other things.
Post by: MAUSERMAN on July 18, 2013, 09:46:04 PM
I have my grand dads P38 he captured and his M1 carbine he some how "lost" and found its way home. ;) I also have my great grand dads M1917 he brought back after his service in WW1.
Title: Re: safe queens and other things.
Post by: philw on July 19, 2013, 12:29:30 AM
time is my main issue  ( that and I don't want to sell any guns )


I have got a .45 BP Hawken I have had for a few years that I have not shot yet  ( this is caus of lack of time )

and recently I have not had much time to rifle shoot or get the shotgun out

the pistols get a little work out   however this is more at the moment for licensing reasons  ( I have a min number I have to shoot a year )

I want to shoot more  however  with work / family and lack of $$ is stopping that at the moment.

so the mrs now wants me to sell most and just keep 1 pistol 1 rifle the 12g and the little ones pink 22...     she has issues understanding that you need different guns for different things.


everyone has there own reasons   be they like my situation,  collecting,  hording  what ever it is,   up to them what they do.