How Much Have You Spent On your Hobby Fleet?

The 70K Ford Focus thread got me thinking about how much I've spent on Hobby cars.

I didn't include daily drivers as I would have bought those anyway.  Included in my total are the tow vehicles and trailers.  Also note I am using the net spend; the proceeds from any sold cars were usually rolled into the next purchase. 

Since 1989 I've spent $42,000 on race car / hobby cars.

The Datsun is at $9200, after the sale the F500 cost me $4500 (for 10 years of ownership), The Mustang is at $9100, My Tow Van has $9000 in it, the D-sports cost me $7000, the Showroom Stock Miata was a net of $2500, The Formula Vee net was $1000.  I've made out like a bandit on trailers as my net expense on trailers is $500, being given an enclosed trailer has a lot to do with that.

So this averages out to just on $1200 a year for cars. 

I'd value the current fleet at about $25,000 if I had to fire sale it so call it a net of $17,000 or a net of about $500 a year (we all know I'm not giving up the hobby so the net will never be realized).

As an aside I track every penny; since 1989 I've spent just shy of $56,000 for race entries and consumables for an average $1550 a year. This year I'm on target to spend $4700-$5000 but that's for 5-6 autocrosses, 2 vintage races and 3 track days.

3 questions you never ask:

1. Someone's age.

B. Someone's weight.

III. How much someone spent on a car in front of their spouse.

Never kept track,didn't have much to spend so it was build as much as I could myself and hunt deals for what I couldn't.

 I feel good about that decision lol

kevlarcorolla said:

Never kept track,didn't have much to spend so it was build as much as I could myself and hunt deals for what I couldn't.

 I feel good about that decision lol

I started keeping track on the Datsun for this reason.

I'd have say $500 and I wanted to see what would make the most difference in lap times.

In 1992 I bought a literal trailer full of parts. I sold off all the street goodies which made my net investment $350. I ran the car on those spares for over 25 years.

I got so many smoking deals over the years by virtues of buying up second tier parts. 

I'm still building my own engines.

I track the expenses on my 240Z - I run two columns as one column includes everything I purchase - tools, engine stand, pickle fork, engine hoist tilter, SU carb synch tool... 

I like to track tool purchases separately . (Like it doesn't count??? LOL)

In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :

As for tools I don't add those unless they are specifically for the race cars.

There are certain numbers that are better left unknown... as long as they don't interfere with paying the bills.

I prefer to keep track of the great experiences and happiness my hobbies have brought me.  If I strictly look at numbers, I don't think there's any way to logically justify the expense.

A single transmission failure on a DD has cost me more than any loss or depreciation I've had on a hobby car by a significant amount.

A lot less than I'd like to

Rodan said:

There are certain numbers that are better left unknown... as long as they don't interfere with paying the bills.

I prefer to keep track of the great experiences and happiness my hobbies have brought me.  If I strictly look at numbers, I don't think there's any way to logically justify the expense.

This. I'm a frugal bastard any day, on every aspect of all my builds. Totaling a project's costs would make me unhappy. But it does take money to play. I try to save where I can and have a sense what's been/being spent, and if it's not worth the smiles per gallon, it's time to find something else. I'm not sure how I've convinced myself that consumable costs don't count, probably sunk cost fallacy. I pretend I'm buying sticker Hoosiers with monopoly money...

Rodan said:

I prefer to keep track of the great experiences and happiness my hobbies have brought me.  If I strictly look at numbers, I don't think there's any way to logically justify the expense.

Believe it or not I'm all about the experience rather than just raw dollars but there are two things in play.

1. As a career purchasing guy tracking n the spend is a professional hazard.

2. There is a certain spending level (regardless of being able to afford it) that makes the experience not worth it to me. If I'm spending more than 5% take home pay monthly on racing it quickly.starts to wear on my nerves.

I can justify spending at that level because it brings me great happiness.

Beyond the 5% level I start to find increasingly more absurd.

I could almost buy a town home in SoCal with whats in the garage right now and its way down from where it was a few years back and its easily in the low 6 figures in lost time working,repairs over depreciation.

It's a metal illness.  

Enough that I've had a fun variety of cool toys over the years.

Not so much to cause me significant financial woes, and not so much that I have vehicles I'm afraid to use.

Beyond that I don't feel a need to or see a benefit from tracking it in detail. 😁

Rodan said:

There are certain numbers that are better left unknown... as long as they don't interfere with paying the bills.

I prefer to keep track of the great experiences and happiness my hobbies have brought me.  If I strictly look at numbers, I don't think there's any way to logically justify the expense.

This right here.  After 15 years of regular endurance racing, plus the other fun cars, I could buy another (small) house.  So many great life experiences and new friends have come from it though, so well worth it. 
 

Not going to add up the $$$ of the current fun cars I have.  That takes the fun out of it.

Edit:  These are not race cars these are fun cars.  Hobby cars that I work hard on purchasing them well so while the value may be high I could liquidate them and not really be out much at all. If it did work out to be a bit of a negative should I sell that is the price of date nights with my wife or going out with the family for ice cream or to a weekend car event.     

We gotta spend it somewhere- I know dudes who spend way more on golfing.  Guy I know flies to Central America every year to sport fish for a 5-6 day tournament. Easily a $5-7000 price tag when the lady goes. 

This car stuff lights my fire so it's worth the cost.

Datsun240ZGuy said:

We gotta spend it somewhere- I know dudes who spend way more on golfing.  Guy I know flies to Central America every year to sport fish for a 5-6 day tournament. Easily a $5-7000 price tag when the lady goes. 

This car stuff lights my fire so it's worth the cost.

Yup.

My wife's friends and some co-workers used to comment about the hobby and she would always tell them I'm not spending it at strip clubs or putting money into slot machines. You'd be surprised by the number of locals who pump their paychecks into the machines.

My desire to go racing and play with cars gave me direction in life and that led me to career opportunities.......which of course meant more money to spend on cars.

You want us to actually say how much we've spent here on a public forum? HA HA HA HA! Not a freakin chance on God's green earth!!! That's worse than turning yourself in to the police station for something illegal you did and didn't get caught. Nope, not going to happen. 
 

Let's just say, enough to buy a few new cars or a small house........................

Despite knowing that it was going to bring me to the realization that I'm not really the master wheeler dealer I think I am, I did a little math last night. 
Since 2007, when I started riding again, I have spent a little more than $70,000 on dirt bikes. In that time I recouped almost $30,000 of it, and currently have $26,000 worth of bikes in the shop that I could reasonably  expect to get about $20,000 from. So I've spent about 20 grand on bikes since 07. Way more than I would have guessed, but still only about a grand a year. I don't even want to know what it's cost me to attend events, or what I've spent on gas or oil. 

Datsun240ZGuy said:

We gotta spend it somewhere- I know dudes who spend way more on golfing.  Guy I know flies to Central America every year to sport fish for a 5-6 day tournament. Easily a $5-7000 price tag when the lady goes. 

This car stuff lights my fire so it's worth the cost.

I have friends Ike this. Then they start talking about boats.  And I am thinking my car hobby is not so bad.   

wearymicrobe said:

I could almost buy a town home in SoCal with whats in the garage right now and its way down from where it was a few years back and its easily in the low 6 figures in lost time working,repairs over depreciation.

 

It's a metal illness.  

It is not an illness it is the price of therapy. 
 

I have said this before but no where do I feel at peace more than in a race car. There is a zen thing that happens. A heightened sense of awareness and focus where time slows down. I can actually think and be at peace when this happens.   It is good for the sole. 

Because my parents were always active golfers who belonged to a local club, I have always compared it to the cost of golfing as a member of a club. Cars are less expensive.

I have been at this for a while  now, and interestingly the spend has been going down over the years. I either have the parts on the shelf, know someone who does who will trade, or know how to make what I need with the tools I have acquired.

When i got back into F2000/FC racing i told Mrs Frog it was less expensive than taking up golf.   She replied, "Only if you play golf in Scotland every day."

Tom1200 said:

Rodan said:

I prefer to keep track of the great experiences and happiness my hobbies have brought me.  If I strictly look at numbers, I don't think there's any way to logically justify the expense.

Believe it or not I'm all about the experience rather than just raw dollars but there are two things in play.

1. As a career purchasing guy tracking n the spend is a professional hazard.

2. There is a certain spending level (regardless of being able to afford it) that makes the experience not worth it to me. If I'm spending more than 5% take home pay monthly on racing it quickly.starts to wear on my nerves.

I can justify spending at that level because it brings me great happiness.

Beyond the 5% level I start to find increasingly more absurd.

@Tom. I can see that thinking sucking the fun out of a lot of things.  If it is because of financial necessity I get it but if it is an arbitrary line in the sand I am not sure it is healthy. I am not advocating wasting money. But sacrificing personal enjoyment to hit an arbitrary percentage just seems to not be healthy either.  

Purple Frog said:

When i got back into F2000/FC racing i told Mrs Frog it was less expensive than taking up golf.   She replied, "Only if you play golf in Scotland every day."

Or if golf required that you use a new ball for every shot and they were $50 each.