@Smokin Joe
They DO sell simple work trucks,but nobody wants to buy them,so you usually have to special order one.
Practically everybody I see today is determined to live as far beyond their means as possible. I see people with 100 grand motor homes parked in the driveways of 250 grand houses that are parked next to 50 grand boats on trailers.
NONE of that stuff is used more than 2 weeks a year,if that often. Yet they won't just rent that crap when they need it because you can't impress people you don't know with rental stuff they only see a couple of days a year. You need stuff you can cover your driveway with every day of the year.
I know of one couple in their 50's that don't seem to own a single damn thing but the clothes on their backs,and they both have pretty good incomes. Everything they have is leased or rented,including her car,his truck,and the house they live in. They spend all their money taking expensive vacations to mingle with millionaires. They have a daughter that was 15 when I met them,and they would leave her home alone to watch over everything while they were on vacation.
BTW,you don't want to hook any of your 70's or 80's trucks to my 6.6 turbo-diesel 06 GMC to see who pulls who backwards,and yes it has leather seats,ac,cruise, Allison transmission,AC that will give you a chill,etc,etc,etc. Every time I drive it I want to throw rocks at my 2016 Chevy crew cab 4x4 when I get home. I have pulled 20k loads with it down the highway at 75 mph with the cruise control locked,and forgotten I was towing anything.
I have been through too many boom/bust cycles to get strung out on debt. I have six modest vehicles, a pair of suburbans, a 1 ton van, a Tahoe, a minivan, and a pickup, all old enough to vote, but fully operational (except the ABS on four of them which I disabled because that model block ABS sucks). The house is paid for, and basically no debt.
I'm not making what I was a few years ago, with the drilling end of things pretty much in the crapper around here, but I am making enough to get by.
As for toys, I don't mind calling a friend and chipping in for fuel and bait to go fishing, and I don't camp out much anyway, so I don't need an RV. I really don't care what the neighbors think,
I have friends in lowly places, too, and can get by while others are scrambling to keep their toys.
I have seen it before, I'm just kicking myself for not hanging onto more cash to take advantage of the lower prices, but the boom cycle isn't there yet. There are still a lot of folks making more than they know what to do with, and plenty of others lined up to divest them of it. As long as frac crews are bringing new wells on line, that will persist, just because the landlords can still get the rents they want. I have noticed that there are houses for sale and not moving, and a lot of "now leasing" signs on apartment buildings which used to be full in town.
It's 1984 all over again, here. 'Pubbie in the White House, Dems in Congress, oil down, grain down, and money tightening up...
But with vehicles, there are two schools, one buying the neatest and newest, and others driving pickups from the 70s and 60s, lifted, redone, and sporting pioneer plates (one time fee for vehicles 40 and older). I have a few with those, too.
