Today is supposed to be the first day that US residents will begin receiving a COVID-19 vaccine outside of a clinical trial. Almost 3 million first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech formulation have been shipped. Their vaccine is given in two doses over a three-week period.
I have written about my bewilderment that a large percentage of the US population apparently has no intention of ever receiving the vaccine. I really can’t comprehend the obtuseness of those who feel that way.
I blame “social media” almost exclusively for this phenomenon. (Fack Fucebook!) Most of the “news” on social media is not vetted, not credible. Your “friend” posting on Fack Fucebook about hearing that her friend’s husband had a bad reaction to a shot is not news and is certainly not meaningful data.
My wonderful wife and I will get vaccinated as soon as possible. I weep for the future.
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Maybe my fascination with mountains in general and the mountains around here in particular stems from having been raised in a part of the country that didn’t really have mountains. The state in which I was born and raised does have the Appalachians running through its extreme western counties, but that was not accessible without a car from where we lived and we never traveled there, at least not that I can remember. The state from which we just moved has hills, but the highest elevation there is only about 450 feet above sea level.
Anyway, much to the chagrin of some of you, below are some pictures of the mountain views around here. I realize that those of you living near the Rockies will probably dismiss these as being of big hills, not real mountains.
That bottom shot looked much more impressive in person than it does in this photo. When distilling the three-dimensional world into a two-dimensional picture, much can be lost in the translation.
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I receive regular emails from Hagerty, the specialty auto insurance company. They consider themselves to be an automobile “lifestyle” company, a view to which they are certainly entitled.
The most recent email featured their “2021 Bull Market List.” Here is a picture from that story:
One would have to acknowledge that’s an eclectic mix of vehicles. Here is the intro to the piece:
“Hagerty ardently upholds the philosophy of “buy what you love.” When that love intersects with cars that are appreciating, so much the better—you might just be able to buy what you love and also drive it for free, which is surely proof of a well-lived life.
Over the past four years, that’s what Hagerty’s Bull Market list has been all about: highlighting fun cars, across a variety of budgets and tastes, that we believe are poised to rise in value over the next 12 months. This isn’t a get-rich-quick list for flippers; it’s a tipsheet to help enthusiasts get their cake and maybe eat it, too. And it’s informed by our analysis of all the market data Hagerty has at its disposal.”
I very much agree with the first sentence. Some people are obsessed with outsmarting or outdoing the world. Most of the time for most of them they just outsmart themselves.
Some people have a knack, often after years of experience, of being able to unearth items that will appreciate in value, whether that’s cars or art or the stock price of certain companies. Most people, though, don’t have the time and/or the acumen to be consistently right about such things.
I consider myself to be fairly knowledgeable about cars, but I would never think I could consistently buy cars that will appreciate. Frankly, I don’t care. I buy cars that I really want to own and to drive, no matter how idiosyncratic those cars might seem to many.
In general, I am usually not concerned with how others view my interests. I like to think that is because I am not an insecure person who needs the approval of others in order to validate my choices. I like what I like and if you don’t like it, I really don’t care.
Still, making decisions can be just as difficult for me as it is for many people. I will not discuss “the car purchase” again except to say regular readers know how much I/we have struggled with the choice. However, what other people might think has never and will never enter the decision-making process. I/we will buy something because I/we like it and it suits our needs. Whether or not that car could appreciate in value will also not be a factor.
I think you will enjoy reading the article about Hagerty’s 2021 Bull Market. I hope you have enjoyed today’s post.
#MondayMusings
#Anti-VaxxerMorons
#MountainViews
#HagertyBullMarket
#BuyWhatYouLove
#somanycarsjustonelife
#disaffectedmusings
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Disaffected Musings 
Good advice from Hagerty! Buy what you want and consider yourself lucky if it even has a slower depreciation than normal. 🙂
As an amateur photographer, I know the struggle of putting a 3-D world onto a 2-D screen. You share the same affection for mountains as I, having also lived where they are not common. North Dakota concluded the state’s mountain removal project some years before I was born. >grin<
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“North Dakota concluded the state’s mountain removal project some years before I was born.”
Hysterical!
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Over the years, as I have mentioned before, I have bought/sold/traded some 150+ vehicles. I would estimate that I have “broke even” or made a little profit on less than 40% of the ones I have sold/traded. The ones where you lose the most money are the ones that you spend many hundreds of hours building or modifying. Unless you find someone with the EXACT same taste as you, and deep pockets, you are going to lose money. If I could go back and change my strategy would I? Nope. I have enjoyed the ownership of all but a handful so I continue to do the same to this day. This current year I have sold 3 cars/trucks and 1 motorcycle and bought 3 cars/trucks (but the year isn’t over yet). 🙂 This coming year I expect I will sell 2-4 vehicles and probably buy 1-3 because even after all these years there are some I still haven’t owned that I would like to.
As always, YMMV
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Many thanks, DDM, for sharing your history with us. You are buying vehicles that you like and think you will enjoy. I think that’s the way it should be done, if you are in a position to do so.
This view relates to my opinion about buying de facto museum exhibits that can’t be driven. DSFDF, but that’s not for me.
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I have owned 1 vehicle that eventually became too valuable to drive regularly. It was a 1967 GTX convertible that had every possible option, except for the Hemi engine. The only reason it didn’t have the Hemi was that A/C was not available with that engine and the purchaser wanted A/C. I bought it from the original owner in 1979 with 42K original miles for less than $1,700. Thru the late 80’s and into the 90’s it was entered in several national Mopar shows and would always bring home a 1st place (unrestored factory stock) or best of class trophy. When prices on them went thru the roof in the 90’s, I started driving it less. I ended up selling it in 2000, with 56K miles showing, to a collector for a sum just short of 6 figures. As far as I know, it’s still a “trailer queen”.
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Thanks again, sir. As for the GTX, it doesn’t sound as if you purchased it to be a trailer queen, but circumstances changed. Good that you recognized the changes and more power to you for earning a nice profit. Usually, successful people are flexible and adaptable.
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Keep the AZ pics coming. They are a balm to my homesick heart, especially during these cold eastern months.
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Thanks, Josh. Glad you like the photos from the desert.
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I started writing a response about Hagerty articles like these, but quickly realized how much bandwidth it would occupy. I guess I can try to sum it up as… it amazes and often saddens me how there are many people who get all up in their feelings over articles that talk about valuation and trends. I’m no expert but it’s not difficult to know that there is a business side to this hobby. As such it’s affected by market forces. You can’t completely avoid it but it’s up to you how involved you want to be.
It’s just information, this is what has been seen and what we think will happen going forward. If you’re trying to make money flipping cars, you want to know that. If you are thinking of getting a car that comes up in their list, that could be useful info. But if you enjoy what you have and plan to drive it until the wheels fall off, why get so upset because some aggregator wrote what they discovered looking at data?
Still too much bandwidth…
I am enjoying the mountain views though!
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Many thanks for your thoughtful comment, sir. As someone who was at the forefront of the application of analytics I know the resistance by those who refuse to believe in data analysis. I also know that, by definition, mathematical models rely on previous data. When the actual relationships between variables change or new variables emerge, those models can become less reliable. Cark Muban can talk about “deep learning” and “machine learning” all he wants, but even when we have computers implanted in our brains that can spit out the history of the universe in seconds, some human behavior will always be beyond modeling.
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